Mana Khemia

Click the image above to check out all Mana Khemia screens.

While the game presents itself as some kind of school simulator, with a class schedule, assignments, grades, and even jobs, all of these are simply clever disguises for fetch-quests, boss battles, and grinding typical of just about any Japanese RPG. Once you make it to your first class, however, Mana Khemia flaunts its good side. After you get your first assignment -- the odd task of sending three small children to a forest infested with monsters to round up 12 spinach herbs -- you're introduced to a refreshing combat system. Presented in a tolerable 2D style, characters have a variety of skills that are different enough to establish a class but tuned so that each complements another. It starts as a turn-based system with characters each taking turns onscreen -- strategic in its own right -- and then adds real-time elements, allowing you to switch characters in battle and perform combo attacks that are introduced in one of Mana Khemia's many, many tutorials. It's fast, flashy, and challenging enough to make the endless encounters you'll face bearable.

Outside of the visceral battle mode, however, are visuals that could be outdone by some PS1 games. The environment design, some strange missing link between Q-bert and Super Mario, looks washed-out, with stiff character sprites and bland textures all wrapped in a pea soup fog not seen since Turok on the N64. Enemies dart around onscreen as pink gelatinous slugs no matter what monster(s) they represent, essentially defeating the purpose of not having random battles. Other than an eye-catching HUD, battle mode, and menu system, the game really doesn't give you anything else to enjoy looking at.

Click the image above to check out all Mana Khemia screens.

The further you trudge through each week of class, the more Mana Khemia rewards you with an addicting alchemy and leveling system that lets you create items, armor, and weapons and experiment with ingredients to create enhancements that constantly evolve as new recipes and discoveries are made. It's not only the best part, but it's also the only place in the entire game where the music is tolerable. Later, as your party grows, you can assign other characters tasks like gathering ingredients or creating items while you go finish your assignments. It's easy to lose an hour or two just messing around in menus, trying dozens of combinations to create new items. It's also great incentive to explore the levels and grind through battles to find rare ingredients.

People will often criticize a game for having too much visual wizardry and not enough meat. With Mana Khemia, it's the exact opposite: The core gameplay is sound, so it's a shame that it's burdened by a derivative plot, generic characters, and archaic visuals (reminiscent of the 32-bit era in a bad way).