he Mana Tree continues to grow in size, stretching high into the heavens. Powerful magics course through its branches and are believed to keep the forces of evil at bay. With all power comes the desire to possess it. Someone has disrupted the tree and is siphoning its power, plunging the world into a dark age. This, of course, is a problem that only a handful of annoying prepubescents can handle.

To be quite frank, the story is tacked on and as ridiculous as could be. The game’s true star is the combat system. In past Mana games, the battlefield wasn’t covered with foes. You could pick enemies apart one by one. In Children of Mana, you are almost always surrounded. Hacking away three hit combos with the sword still works well, but now you’ll have to strategize. Maybe your best bet is to launch an enemy into another one. Maybe you have to summon one of the eight elemental spirits to clear a path. Or maybe you’ll have to use props in the environment, such as barrels and rocks, to send your foes flying. You can even dual-wield weapons, but not in the way you would want. You can have both equipped at once, but must alternate between the weapons with each strike, which is pretty weak. In all, however, the action is always fast-paced, challenging as all get out, and loaded to the hilt with different enemy types. The game also excels in multiplayer, allowing up to four players to unite and tackle the game through cooperative play. The frenzied approach to combat is perfect for multiplayer sessions, and is only hindered by moments of slowdown. Single player is fun, but co-op is where this experience shines the brightest.

The Mana games have never been terribly deep in the RPG sense. Holding true to this, Children of Mana offers up a simple, yet highly effective gem system that allows players to assign attribute points to boost their character’s effectiveness in certain combat areas. The game isn’t shy about empowering players with new weapons, either. You just have to wait until you reach certain zones before you can equip them. Nothing sucks more than getting a sweet new flail and not being able to use it against a difficult boss. Getting to these pivotal encounters is another design mis-step; the goal of each dungeon is to find a glowing orb and bring it to a beacon of light to reach the next floor. Repeat this several times and you’ll fight a boss…a boss that screams of nostalgic (yet awesome) 16-bit design.

Children of Mana is not the longest game in the world, but it sure is a fun ride while it lasts, especially if you have friends that are into it as well.