****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This collection includes the first 3 games in the Mana series on a physical cartridge. Essentially, this series is Final Fantasy meets 2D Zelda. This collection is an excellent way to play these game again, or to play them for the first time. So far, I've played all the way through Final Fantasy Adventure and started Secret of Mana. FF Adventure was alright. Not an amazing game, but for a Gameboy release it was pretty good. Similar to The Legend Of Zelda Link's Awakening. However, I'd only recommend playing this game if you're into that kind of thing and can withstand old and sometimes poor game design. It's not a terrible game at all, but definitely the worst out the three games included in this collection. Next is Secret Of Mana. For most people, this SNES game is going to be one of the main reasons for purchasing this collection. So far, I haven't played enough of it to truly review it, but from what I can tell 5+ hours in, it's a good game. It improves on almost every aspect of the first game. The soundtrack and art style are specifically outstanding. The combat is an improvement over FF Adventure, but it takes a little getting used to. And there are a few little things that get on my nerves like the weird options for text boxes and less than desirable hit detection. Again, I can't speak for the game as a whole since I haven't played all the way though yet, but from what I can tell it seems like a great game. Finally, Trials of Mana. This is the first time this game has been localized outside of Japan. I haven't played it yet, but most people seem to agree that it's even better than Secret of Mana. From what I can tell, it also has a great soundtrack and art style. The combat looks improved as well. Probably also a very good game. Other than those three games, the collection doesn't have much else to offer. It does have a soundtrack player, save states, and a few video filter options, but other than that, nothing. I would have liked to have seen maybe the inclusion of scans of the original game manuals. Especially for older games, a lot is explained in the manual, so it's kind of important. Because of this lack of extra features, a lot of people have claimed that the 40 dollar price tag of Collection of Mana is too high. I would disagree. Yes, it's pretty much just three 90s RPGs slapped onto a Switch cart. However, each of these games are 20-30 hours long. There's a lot of content here. And, despite these games being older, that doesn't automatically devalue them. Sure, games have progressed over time, but it doesn't mean these older games aren't still worth money. It would cost a lot more than 40 dollars to purchase each of these games individually, even today, so the 40 dollar price tag isn't that bad. Also, I was able to preorder the collection for only 30 dollars or so on sale, which is about 10 dollars a game. That seems pretty fair to me, especially when you take into account that this is a physical release, so that costs extra to manufacture, and they went through the trouble of translating Trials of Mana into multiple different languages, which is costly and time consuming. So in the end, what you're looking at is a simple collection of 3 good Action RPGs that is well worth the money and will provide you with a good amount of play time. If you're interested, you'll probably enjoy it, especially if you like Final Fantasy and The Legend Of Zelda.
