Children of Mana DS
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Release Date: Nov 1, 2006
Children of Mana Image
Metascore
65 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 34 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.6 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 16 Ratings

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  • Summary: In ages past, an island called Illusia floated at the center of the world. At the heart of the island towered an ancient, enormous tree that stretched up to the very heavens. For ages past, chaos and sorrow had engulfed the world until at last its salvation appeared in the form of a boy, a girl, and a holy sword. Time flowed on and peace returned. The sword and the tree remained, and they soon came to be known as the Sword of Mana and the Mana Tree. Followers of the Mana Tree returned to Illusia as the world started slowly but surely down the path to recovery. The eight elemental spirits are a staple of the Mana series. These powerful allies aid you with healing and special status effects. They can also unleash fearsome magic upon your foes. The greatest innovation of this installment of the Mana series is allowing four players to advance the story and solve quests together while maintaining the feel of an action RPG. Players' actions affect each other in a gameplay experience completely unlike previous action RPGS. [Square Enix]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 34
  3. Negative: 3 out of 34
  1. Gamer 2.0
    81
    Since the game is actually a dungeon crawler, Children of Mana may disappoint those looking for their traditional RPG fix. But if it really counts toward opinion, the game just might be the best and most beautiful dungeon crawler ever created.
  2. eToychest
    70
    As a role-playing game, Children of Mana comes up aces, with an intriguing story and characters that you'll recall long after the game is shelved. Sadly however, this game counts itself among the popular action segment of the role-playing genre, and it is in that addendum that it falls short.
  3. Armchair Empire
    70
    For as simplistic as the gameplay seems, there's a simple old school pleasure in dungeon hacking that makes Children of Mana so appealing, even if there are some occasional annoyances.
  4. NTSC-uk
    40
    Children of Mana is ideal as a pick-up-and-play game, if you fancy a quick whizz through a monster-inhabited tower or two, maybe on the bus or train. But playing it at length feels like the most tedious, level grinding and repetitive waste of time, particularly when you consider that the DS has so much more to offer in terms of RPG actioners.

See all 34 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. Helena1313
    8
    great game only had it for a day so far but really getting in to it although could get a bit repetitive its still better than other games of this genre i have played… Expand
  2. [Anonymous]
    8
    This game is actually pretty damn fun to play, even if it does get a bit repetitious after a while. I like the gem frame and think it helps the overall game with more depth.… Expand
  3. ARTTHAO
    7
    This game did offer something new like the gem fusion combination which I think is pretty cool but not very much else beside that. I'm older and am a fan of old school style RPGs. So this is not a game for everyone. Short story, no real world to roam around, repetitive gameplay, and too easy I think. The graphics are beautiful just like in Legend of Mana but the character are sprites! If you're a fan of the Mana series, then check it out!… Expand
  4. Jan
    2
    One of the worsed Games i ever bought full price. Even imported it to play it together with 2 other friends. Well we never finished it. This Game simply has no point. The Itemsystem is too boring to get the "Diablo effect", the Monsters and even the Bosses are far too easy so u wont get any challenge at all in this game. No funny unlockables or any other point to play this game long, twice, or even more than like 4 to 5 hours. So 2 out of 10 from me.… Expand

See all 5 User Reviews