Those of us who have played Final Fantasy Adventure are well familiar with this title already. Sword of Mana is a very nicely upgraded version of Seiken Densetsu, which was originally released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure. How well does Square-Enix’s effort to make old, new once again work?

Few games have the visual vibrancy that Sword of Mana has. Nearly each area of the demo I tested contains a rich palette of colors, and character animations were smooth and fluid. The battle system is very similar, if not exactly alike Secret of Mana, and my Hero was able to level up his sword one level during the demo. If you played and liked Secret of Mana’s battles, you will feel right at home here.

There was a great deal of plot involved for this short demo. The main character is known only as Hero, and in the beginning is a slave who fights against beasts in a great colosseum. He and his friend win a battle and manage to escape. After being separated, he runs into a female who is aptly named, Heroine. The two then journey towards the village of Topple, where the demo meets its conclusion.

I came into the demo expecting some great gameplay, and Sword of Mana delivered exactly as I hoped. RPGamers looking to have a complete Seiken Densetsu collection would be wise to pick this one up when it is released sometime this year. Now we can only hope for a localization of Seiken Densetsu 3.