Illusion of Gaia

"The "Illusion" here is that this game is any fun."

As should be painfully obvious from the score that I've given it, I don't care much for this game. I could go into detail about how it's basically an idiot foster child to the Secret of Mana and a Link to the Past; two games similar in gameplay that did everything excellently that Illusion of Gaia screws up. But that's not my style; I prefer to rate games without comparisons, on their individual merits alone. And Illusion of Gaia simply doesn't have too terribly much to recommend.

Let's start with the story, what might be considered the back-bone of any good adventure/RPG-type game. It's stinks. When you're not confused, you're going through the standard, cookie-cutter RPG tales that have festered and molded over since the dawn of time (rescue princess, save kingdom, etc). This in and of itself isn't all that bad, but spastic leaping from one objective to another with no real, clear idea of what your ultimate goal is definitely detracts from the fun or interest of this cart.

The characters aren't particularly interesting either. They're all one-dimensional and as flavorless as a communion wafer. A couple of shoddy attempts at character development are tried here and there, and the results are two of the longest, most boring, worthless "cinematic" sequences I've ever witnessed ("Drifting" and the "Underwater Tunnel"). These are further flushed down the toilet by your inability to SKIP OVER THEM. Yes, that's right, you have to sit there and watch, trapped like an animal in a drug-testing lab, and watch as your posses of misfits spouts poorly translated English about their current, vapid surroundings.

The only very interesting thing that occurs during your quest to do....something, is the red jewel sub-plot. You'll run into this guy named Jeweler Gem during your travels, and he'll give you stuff in exchange for the any red jewels that you find. There are 50 in all and once he has all 50....well I won't spoil it. Suffice to say, I really didn't see what happens coming and it provided me with my one delighted surprise during this entire game (and lead to the only real difficult area and boss too).

Finally, though your main character Will can transform into the Dark Knight Freedan and the more mysterious being known as Shadow, WHY he can do this is never clearly explained. Also, the ending is just as obtuse and confusing as the rest of the plot, making you feel relieved that it's all finally over rather than triumphant that you finally defeated the ultimate evil (in this case, a tree).

The graphics are fairly eye-pleasing I'll have to admit. They're large, well detailed, and quasi-anime in style. I'd call them above average for the time, and they go well enough with the accompanying sound effects. Most of these are attack sounds, by the way, coming from either you or your enemies as you battle it out. There are a few moves which, inexplicably, lack any accompanying effect (the Dark Friar for one), an anomaly that left me scratching my head.

Gameplay is pretty much a straight-forward matter of whacking things when they get too close to you. All three incarnations of your main character have certain powers and abilities that are helpful in some situations and aren't in others, giving the title some differentials for you to experiment with. The mazes, however, are either ridiculously straight-forward or annoyingly confusing, where you'll spend twenty minutes trying to figure out how to proceed to the next area only to have the solution staring you in the face.

The music tries to evoke the same kind of awe and intensity that certain other games with similar gameplay accomplished. It falls flat on its face unfortunately. All the tracks in this game are thoroughly forgettable. That's not to say they're bad, necessarily. They just aren't very good. I beat this game only a month ago or so, and I couldn't tell you off the top of my head how any of the tracks sound. Not even the boss music is notable, which since boss fights are usually more intense and frenetic than most you'd think would be more likely to stay with a person then not.

And if that last sentence hasn't made things abundantly clear, most of them are pathetically easy, with only simple patterns to anaylize and maneuver around. Even the final boss can be taken out with a minimum of fuss, leaving to your imagination what the regular enemies are like (wimps for the most part). This game, though fairly long, is a cake-walk and easily beatable in less than a day. If you can stomach it for that long.

Ultimately, Illusion of Gaia is a game that drives home the point that adventure games in general and RPGs in particular need to have some kind of coherent story. Otherwise all other aspects of the game are dragged down into the abyss. Such is the case here. It's confusing, confounding and totally uninteresting to play. Case closed.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 06/20/06