One of my bigger gaming peeves is when great franchises go bad. Another is when good gameplay ideas are crippled by poorly implemented mechanics. Dawn of Mana, Square Enix's latest entry in the Mana series, manages to hit on both of these, crippling what should otherwise be a fun experience.

At the very least, Dawn of Mana is a pretty game. As with other games in the series, everything is very colorful while managing to keep from crossing too far into "cute" territory. This is particularly true for bosses, who retain an imposing feel despite having a more cartoon look. Environments share the same traits, though some come off a little bland and empty. Everything is punctuated by great special effects whose only downside is a quick framerate drop.

Sound design is generally good. The voice actors do a good job with the dialogue, despite a few cringe-worthy lines. As with seemingly every Square Enix game, the soundtrack is the most noteworthy aspect.

Dawn of Mana is a prequel to the Super Nintendo RPG Secret of Mana and is told through the eyes of a group of spirits who meet one night to talk about a grand adventure and the creation of the Sword of Mana. At the center of his story is Keldric (or Keldy) and his friend Ritzia, the maiden linked to the great tree Treant. The world is split into several kingdoms that manage to maintain a shaky peace until the Golem Army, lead by King Stroud, invades in order to find the entrance to Malvolia, which is protected by Treant. Ritzia is captured, leaving Keldy as the only person who can save her.

Dawn of Mana can ultimately be characterized as a collection of great ideas bogged down by poor mechanics. Before setting off on his quest, Keldy is joined by a spirit, Faye, who grants special stat boosting magic throughout the game. Keldy is also armed with a sword embedded with a splinter from the Tree, allowing it to shoot vines. Although the vine causes damage, its primary use is as a panic-inducing weapon. Using the vine, Keldy can pick up items in the environment and send them flying into monsters. Once hit, the monsters go into panic, which paralyzes and keeps them from attacking. The mechanic makes good use of the Havok physics engine, at least when it works.

Stunning monsters isn't just a good way to sneak in cheap shots; it also gives you items that are used to power up Keldy and Faye. Keldy can increase his attack and health, while Faye learns new spells and boosts her mana. While it is a different method of leveling up characters, the system is screwed up. Characters cap out at level four and reset to zero at the beginning of each chapter. Early levels in any RPG are usually slow, something you get to experience eight times in Dawn of Mana. The drop back to one also leads to disappointment and is akin to someone letting you use his Porsche one day and his Yugo the next. Worse yet, the pattern from item drops is inconsistent and random; it is completely possible that Faye will quickly power up and Keldric won't, making sections unusually hard.

After completing levels, you unlock arenas where you can fight enemies. Arenas are good for practicing combat as well as unlocking stat-improving emblems and money. Emblems are useful, though will usually require that you complete absurdly difficult prerequisites. Money isn't much of a reward either since there really isn't much you can buy at shops. You can't buy new weapons or items, making the most useful - and underwhelming -- item a pet that can join you in the arena. You can also buy movies or music.

Dawn of Mana is full of platforming areas harkening back to the old days of gaming. There is no shortage of bottomless pits and boulders that just fall out of the sky. At other times, you'll have to jump around narrow platforms while fighting large groups of enemies who can knock Keldy back with even the most basic of attacks. Even the simple act of attacking with the sword is sometimes enough to push Keldy off the edge.

Multiple difficulty levels are available, adding to the mild frustrations induced by the mechanics. New, more powerful emblems are unlocked on higher difficulty levels. Although it is a great way to reward players for trying harder difficulty levels, the requirements are so difficult to achieve that there's little reason to get your hopes up.

Dawn of Mana uses a real-time battle system. Enemies are out in the open (meaning that there are no random encounters). The vine is Keldy's main attack though he can also use a slingshot for ranged attacks. Basic slingshot attacks do little damage, though the stones can be powered-up with totems. These add status effects ranging from fire to poison to sleep.

Both the vine and slingshot suffer from the same problem - target lock-on. Sometimes the target lock will find the right target, though more often than not, it finds the enemy furthest from you. There's no way to cycle through targets, making it impossible to snag specific enemies or objects when the room is full, which it usually is. The bigger the item, the more noticeable the problems; sometimes it will slip off the object you want to grab and pull something else. After a while, you will abandon aiming altogether.

The in-game radar is just as useful as the lock-on feature. The multi-colored spectrum of boxes indicating goals, enemies and objects cause it to resemble a Magic-Eye illusion more than a workable map. Distance isn't clear, so you will easily get lost in the game's giant maps. Normally this would be something you can ignore except that Dawn of Mana rates your performance on levels. Again, something that could be ignored except that rankings are what unlock ability-granting emblems.

There's little reason for Dawn of Mana to rank among the better action RPGs on the PS2. Even the more poorly executed gameplay elements show potential only to be negated by a lack of polish. Even more hardcore Mana fans should rent Dawn of Mana before making a purchase.