Years ago, I played the Mana series and really loved it. I'm glad that Nintendo has brought it back from the past. It may not have all the bells, whistles, and graphics of modern games but it has the same game play from the past that we loved. It's just one of those, not too hard and not too easy games that you can sit down with and enjoy.

I thought that this game was pretty good for a ds game. It wasnt by any means the best game Ive ever played, but it was good enough to keep my attention when I was bored(which is all you can really ask a handheld to do). I would suggest it to anyone who is a fan of the series or the genre.

FYI, I'm female and 51. I really enjoyed this game. I just finished and am thinking I will play again as one of the 4 possible characters with different skills. It reminds me of the gameboy 2d zeldas. I've not played any other mana game so I can't compare them but if you are hungry for the old type rpg, this one may fill the need. You can keep playing after you beat the last boss but it lost something for me then so take your time, do sidequests, dudbear jobs, collect gems, enjoy killing monsters. Oh, and stylus use is kept to a minimum which is always a plus for me.

The Mana Series has always intrigued me, Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) was excellent, Seiken Densetsu 3 (Japan 'sequel') was even better. After that the series began it's slow and never ending slump.

Children of Mana was the first non-remake in the Mana series in nearly 6 years. The last Mana title, Legend of Mana was a decent game, but it didn't compete against Seiken Densetsu 2 or 3. Eventually, SquareSoft decided to revive the series, but this was the start of their mistakes.

The newly titled "World of Mana" would release 3 of Square-Enix's trashiest games ever.

Children of Mana was the first, released for Nintendo DS. I picked up this game when I first got my DS, incredibly excited to play it. Pop it in, confused by the plot, random sidequests etc., I start playing. Hey, this is kind of cool... Finish the first tower, next world. Hmm, maybe a bit better lets hope! Exact same gameplay, different level setup.

It's basically Legend of Zelda with random gems that give you insanely good powers, and a flail that kills anything touching you within a 3 square radius.

The games a typical dungeon crawler, you have multiple weapon classes, albeit with a different power/ability/special attack. The games incredibly easy. Each level you get percentage completions based on time it took to complete, treasure chests obtained, etc., The only way to get gold ranking is going through each level way later in the game. Even then, miss 1 treasure chest (some require 'puzzles' to obtain), and you lose.

Magic is supposed to play a role in the game, but it's the worst excuse for magic ever. It's horrible, not even worth using. Items are trashy too, theres not really much control of obtaining items, just buy them when you see them.

The only thing I loved about the game was gem fusion. Each gem has powers, and you can bind with other gems to make better gems. Some give double experience, some improve weapons, some improve 'special attacks', some are so useful that it makes the game virtually impossible to not walk through it.

The further you get into the game the more predictable it gets. The dungeons turn into really long mazes that aren't even a bit fun. So here's my final rating.

Gameplay: 7/10 It's not horrible, it's not good. I was kept busy by it, I'll admit I had fun. But, it left a lot to want back. If I had a better RPG at the time (Like Magical Starsign, Etrian Odyssey, or Phantom Hourglass) I'd have played those instead. Nonetheless, I can't say I overly disliked it.

Graphics: 6/10 They aren't horrible, after Legend of Mana I expected really excellent graphics, which they are in the cities. The second you enter the battlefield it's like they went to a small budget.

Interface: 7/10 Nothing special, nothing bad about it.

Length: 8/10 It'll keep you occupied for 20 hours.

Difficulty: 7/10 Not hard, not horribly easy. I never died in the game, which isnt typical :)

35/50, 70/100.

If you're looking for combat similar to Link to the Past, but easier, heres your game. It's okay, I doubt I'd replay it though.

I originally started playing games in the Mana series with the classic SNES game "Secret of Mana", and picked up this game hoping it would be a similar experience.

Unfortunately this game is insanely repetitive, forcing you to return to the same handful of levels over and over again with slightly different enemies and slightly different goals. In addition there is almost no DS functionality at all in this game, and it feels like it was originally meant to be a Game Boy Advance game that was clumsily ported over to the DS.

If you can find it used or at a discount it's worth a few dollars, but for anyone other than the most hardcore RPG fanatic this game will be boring and frustrating.