Magical Vacation hands-on impressions

[12.20.01] » The Griswolds missed out on this vacation, but we didn't. Take a peek at the GIA's travel guide to Brownie Brown's first title.

   Long-time fans of Square�s games will immediately point to the Seiken Densetsu series as one of Square�s most exotic and memorable efforts to date. In the SNES days, Secret of Mana and its domestically unreleased sequel, Seiken Densetsu 3, presented rich, hand-painted worlds with diverse characters and a unique multiplayer scheme. These traits and others gave each game a cozy and sweet spot in the hearts of many gamers.

   When a group of these same creative minds left Square last year to form their own company, Brownie Brown, fans eagerly awaited their next game; the wait is over, as Magical Vacation, a Game Boy Advance title and Brownie Brown�s first, has already hit Japanese store shelves. It may not be the Seiken Densetsu series in name, but after a few hours with the game, it�s safe to say it carries the spirit and high artistic standard of its predecessors.

   First, Magical Vacation is a much more traditional RPG than the more action-oriented Legend of Mana. Battles are completely turn-based, with six character parties and pre-combat preparations reminiscent of the Suikoden series. Additionally, your selection of party members is limited only to the gender and name selection of your taciturn main character. Rather than the episodic and nonlinear style prominently featured in LoM, Magical Vacation seems to follow a straightforward plot, proceeding from event to event, adding and subtracting party members as the story demands. The game features sixteen different playable characters, from the anxious hound dog Pistachio to the robotic Caf�EAu Lait, and further into the game lets you customize your active party members.

   The story begins as these sixteen diverse youths, all students at the Will O�EWisp Magic School, set out in their magic school bus on a camping trip to the beach. This vacation marks the end of these students�Etime at the magic school. On the first evening of the vacation, however, their revelry is set upon by large monsters, sent by Enigma to pull the children into the Plane of Light. When your character awakens, he (or she) finds himself in a dangerous wilderness, with his friends scattered to parts unknown. Armed only with the magical skills he learned in school, he sets off in search of his schoolmates.

   Your hero is armed only with his learned magical abilities; indeed, with the exception of single-use items like cherry bombs, combat takes place entirely without weapons. At first, this can be worrisome, with each round of combat consuming Magic Points. But characters regenerate a small amount of MP per round - combined with a healthy dose of significantly less effective kicks and punches, the MP gauge rarely ever rides on empty. Instead, the player�s focus is on the strategic deployment of elemental attacks and prodigious use of more powerful spells. MV also relies on an uncommonly large pool of sixteen elemental alignments. In order, these include Fire, Wind, Poison, Beauty, Blade, Sound, Stone, Insect, Tree, Beast, Water, Lightning, Old Age, Dark, Light and Love. But rather than pairing elements together, as is often the case, MV employs a more complex system of balance and counterbalance. Stone negates Insect, because bugs can easily be crushed beneath rocks. Beast counteracts Water, because animals can easily drink the liquid right up. And so on.

   Things are complicated by the introduction of elemental summons, a key tactic in Magical Vacation. After encountering the Spirit of a specific element, characters aligned to that element can call the Spirit into play, where he sits on the sidelines and waits for someone to cast a spell of his alignment. When someone, friend or foe, does just that, the Spirit disappears from combat and doubles the effectiveness of the spell. If two characters have called the same Spirit, the spell is quadrupled. If there are three Spirits, eight times the effectiveness, and so on. To counter such extreme potential, however, a player only needs to cast a spell of opposing elemental alignment, which clears the board of its target element. The result of this unique organization is a very refreshing and entertaining combat system, even from the very early stages of gameplay.

   Magical Vacation�s visuals are sure to delight Mana series�Efans and dazzle newcomers with their incredible detail. Backgrounds motions are nearly nonexistent, but Brownie Brown�s ability to nearly recreate the beauty and intricacy of Legend of Mana�s artwork on a handheld system is astounding. Character and enemy art is also top-notch, though occasionally light on frames of animation. Overall, Magical Vacation is an artistic feast, and without a doubt one of the most visually impressive GBA titles to date.

   Musically, MV also doesn�t fail to deliver. The limitations of the hardware�s audio capabilities hold the sound quality back to some extent, further hampered by a relatively small selection of tracks. But when the score shines through, it does so with memorable tunes that fit whatever scene they're matched to.

   Some gamers may at first mistake Magical Vacation for a simplistic, niche-market title designed for children. But make no mistake, this game is deeper than it looks, backed by the experienced creators of the Seiken Densetsu series. This game stands tall on its own merits, and is a worthwhile addition to this gamer�s Game Boy Advance library.