Dawn of Mana

Play Magazine

Generally speaking, if you like exploration, platforming, physics-based action and a good puzzle, this is as fresh an action-adventure as you're going to find, and the character designs are nothing short of perfection. [June 2007, p.79]

PSM3 Magazine UK

Looks gorgeous, but the obsessive focus on combat can be as irritating as it is exciting. [Aug 2007, p.76]

TotalPlayStation

Dawn of Mana isn't a complete failure as a game, it's just not what most people were hoping for from a proper 3D update. The concepts here were novel, but the execution of the main game still leaves something to be desired.

Game Informer

It may not be the follow-up that fans of the Mana franchise have been hoping for, but cool visuals and an interesting story elevate it above the level of an everyday mindless button-masher. [May 2007, p.87]

RPG Fan

This all goes to show that eye candy and excellent music mean nothing if everything else is weak.

Cheat Code Central

Dawn of Mana has several things going for it that are good - a solid story, a quick and easy to learn melee attack system, graphics that please the senses, a score to please the soul, and voice acting that doesn't cause you ears to bleed - quite a few in the grand scheme of things.

GameZone

Dawn of Mana tries to bring something fresh and interesting but fails to recapture the magic of the classic that lit up our old Super NES consoles.

IGN

Unfortunately, with shoddy character development, some weak combat and story mechanics and gameplay issues, this adventure is a passable successor in name only. It's fun in spots, but not nearly as engaging as the original title.

PSM Magazine

Picture a surfer being tossed into a vicious undertow--that uncontrollable motion is how fighting through Dawn of Mana feels. [June 2007, p.82]

Yahoo! Games

Dawn of Mana looks the part, but fails in most other aspects. If you're hankering for some role-playing on your aging PlayStation 2, pick up "Odin Sphere" -- which released the same day. It's even more beautiful, captures the essence of old-school, and you'll be having too much fun to feel the need to convince yourself that you're having fun.

Console Gameworld

With inexcusable control and targeting issues there is no reason to subject yourself to this game.

Gaming Nexus

Best in small doses, Dawn of Mana continues the downward trend in what really should be a flagship series after the strong start it received back in the SNES era.

Game Revolution

Like Ocean’s Thirteen, there are a lot of amazing individual elements in Dawn of Mana that are worth the price of admission. But they just don’t come together to make a cohesive whole.

GameShark

Dawn of Mana is an interesting action role-playing game that suffers from the same problems that Square Enix's Brave Fencer Musashi for the PS2 had - an unruly camera that is counter-productive to what the player is trying to accomplish.

GameBrink

Sorry old school Mana fans, this is nothing like that gem back on the SNES. This is a pure action game with a gooey artificial RPG coating. The controls are horrible, the level design is seriously lacking, bosses can be frustratingly difficult, and not even the story will keep you playing. [JPN Import]

GameTrailers

Dawn of Mana is a tale full of marvelous art and storytelling that captures the look and essence of the older Mana games, but beneath the veneer is a different beast that has excised most of the gameplay elements that make the old games so memorable.

GamePro

Hardcore franchise fans will no doubt want to play it because the story line does fill in some interesting gaps in the Mana universe's history, but this one's a rental at best. [June 2007, p.85]

GameSpot

Infuriating controls and frustrating platforming sections are among Dawn of Mana's many shortcomings.

Worth Playing

Nothing in the game works right, the physics are embarrassing, the gameplay is repetitive and boring, and the only bright spot is the cut scenes, which are simply nice window dressing for a shockingly boring plot.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

By axing most of the series' normal role-playing elements, the developers have effectively devolved Dawn of Mana into a linear adventure-platformer. [June 2007, p.90]

1UP

For nearly 14 years, fans in North America have been waiting for a true follow-up to Secret of Mana. After playing through Dawn of Mana, I can safely say this: It appears that wait will be, quite appropriately, never-ending.

GameCritics

Plunder-by-panic and slippery experience points are intriguing, but these innovations fall flat without solid, bug-free foundations to support them.

Gaming Age

On top of losing everything at the beginning of a chapter, the music in most places of the game sounds like really bad shopping music.

Hardcore Gamer Magazine

Dawn of Mana is a hodgepodge of ideas that range from nonsensical to decent, all smooshed together in a failure of a game. [June 2007, p.54]

Digital Entertainment News

Dawn of Mana is an extremely beautiful game that is irreparably broken both functionally and conceptually. It may look like a dream, but it’s a nightmare to play.

GameSpy

The game is tolerable if you're really into its style, which is decidedly Japanese (both the art direction and the gameplay). If you are new to the Mana series, this is probably a bad introduction.

Games Radar (in-house)

Nostalgic music and consistent art direction can't save a game from crippled controls, a mulish camera, and painfully tiresome reptition. Dawn of Mana is ultimately remarkable only for being such a bitter disappointment.