Sword of Mana Critic Reviews

Stakes its claim as one of the best free-roaming action adventures of the year...Deep and compelling. It lives up to its legacy.

Bursting at the seams with all the great elements that make this franchise so remarkable. This is by far my top pick for greatest Game Boy Advance title of this holiday season.

With two different quests, multiplayer support, awesome graphics, and rock solid gameplay this game is a hands down winner.

Certainly one of the top RPGs on Game Boy Advance. It shines most in its subtleties, but unfortunately those are all too easy for many players to miss.

The inability to save at will is the only real weakness in this title. It is one of the few immersive Gameboy Advanced titles out there.

A beautiful, fast-paced, fun game that can be recommended to all fans of role-playing games. It may not be the best RPG on Game Boy Advance, but it is certainly in the upper echelon of the genre.

One of the biggest drawbacks of Mana is the story. Any RPG—especially any RPG made in this day and age—had better have a great story if it’s going to keep your attention. But Mana’s tale is lacking conflict, its characters are dull, and its towns are full of…well, not all that much interesting.

Even though it's a bit on the short side, Sword of Mana offers above average gameplay with nary a string attached.

If you’ve played "Final Fantasy Adventure" and were looking to have as great of an experience with this game, you might be a little let down. Thankfully, Sword of Mana does not continue the downward slide that the Mana series seems to be suffering from in recent installments.

Fans of the series won't be disappointed, but they definitely won't be blown away either.

Fans of Secret will be sorely disappointed with this - but as we said, for all its failings, the 20 or so hours it takes to finish it are still enjoyable. It's just that the quality isn't as high as we expected.

Has a surprising amount of depth for a GBA action RPG. The leveling system is pretty unique and engaging and the forging system is very deep. However, the controls are clumsy and frustrating and the teammate AI is very lousy.

Most people will find Sword of Mana to be a mediocre game, while staunch series fans will find that it gives them exactly what they want.

There are better portable RPGs on the market, but this stroll down memory lane will keep you busy.

There aren’t many puzzles in the game, which help to eliminate constant battling in RPGs, and therefore the game can become a repetitive - albeit enjoyable - hack and slash adventure, often leading to lower motivation to keep playing.

The lack of multiplayer is especially rough since your AI partners have all the intelligence of your average oak tree.

There's a ton to do, and it lasts for a respectable number of hours.

It definitely just barely squeaks in there a little higher than the "above average" moniker, with a lot of little things that drag the experience.

Makes a great entry-level gateway for the uninitiated while offering veterans a breath of fresh air from their stuffy, convoluted, multi-layered, overly complex next-gen games.

Frustrating because of the repetitive, mapless dungeons, and stupid because of the lame story.