When comparing Secret of Mana vs Godus, the Slant community recommends Secret of Mana for most people. In the question“What are the best Android tablet games?” Secret of Mana is ranked 12th while Godus is ranked 78th. The most important reason people chose Secret of Mana is:
Twenty some odd years later and Secret of Mana is still considered one of the best action role playing game experiences there is.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Has stood the test of time
Twenty some odd years later and Secret of Mana is still considered one of the best action role playing game experiences there is.
Pro Unique ring command system allows for easy menu selection
The ring command system used for selecting equipment and other options is still as innovative today as it was back in 1993.
A first at it's time, the ring command system allowed for users to select their weapons and equipment easily without having to leave the main game screen, making for selecting quite easy.
Pro Shift in gameplay for Squaresoft/SquareEnix made RPGs
Secret of Mana features a top down real time battle system akin to other action role playing games such as Legend of Zelda that at the time was a large shift from the turn based fare that Square created. Even today Square Enix does not foray too often into the action role playing genre, making for a unique experience when it comes to Square created titles.
Pro Considered one of the best stories in RPG's young and old
While the outline of the story is the normal RPG fare, where a young boy is tasked with saving the world, the characters and their journey still holds up as one of the best ever written.
Pro Colorful 16bit era graphics
Secret of Mana was created at the height of the 16bit SNES era and utilized some of the most colorful and stylized fantasy role playing game graphics. While it would have been nice to see Square polish them up a bit for HD devices, they still hold up, especially in a market that has many games designed with bit graphics as a current trend.
Pro The player always feels powerful enough to reach the next area
There is a progression of player powers in Godus, but they feel very natural. For example, the player starts with the ability to sculpt one level of terrain at a time. After the player reaches a certain point, they unlock the ability to sculpt three levels of terrain at once. These powers are introduced in a way that makes them easy to grasp but never leaves the player feeling like they don’t have the tools needed to advance.
Pro Varied gameplay
Godus features a couple different types of gameplay, which helps to prevent the game from feeling stale. There’s the main aspect of sculpting the land to allow the player’s followers to expand. Then the player can send some of their followers on mini-game-style voyages to advance their powers. Finally, hidden throughout the world are chests which requires the player to use their sculpting powers to find and help the player become more powerful.
Pro Controls are easy to understand
Godus does a good job of explaining how the player can interact with the world. The player can easily predict the effects of their actions, which allows for very easy to understand gameplay.
Cons
Con Graphically, almost a direct port
Square Enix has done nothing to polish the graphics in this port which for the price point is a little disheartening. The black borders on both sides of the screen are also disappointing. To see Square do so little to accommodate HD devices and their swath of screen sizes, it makes one wonder how they get away charging the prices they do.
Con Not complete
Godus has been in early access since 2013, and still does not have an official release date. Many early players claim that Godus has been abandoned by the developers, and nothing has been publicly released since early 2015. Some of the initially promised features, such as realistic AI for the player’s followers to make the world seem alive, are still not available in the game.
Con Game abanodoned on pc
the devs have stated that the game will never be completed on pc as they are focused on the mobile version of the game
Con "Freemium" game model for desktop PC
IRL timers are attached to many actions. You will find yourself arbitrarily waiting 30 minutes or longer for certain actions unless you pay IRL money for gems to reduce these times for a short period. The in-game store has been non-functional for some time now.
Con Players spend a lot of time waiting
Godus uses a real-world timer for completing follower buildings. The times used in game seem arbitrarily large, the player can encounter 20 minute wait times after the first 30 minutes of playing. This results in the player spending a lot of time waiting for the game instead of playing.