"An often overlooked action-RPG gem full of unique ideas and concepts"

On the Super Nintendo, nearly each entry into the action-RPG genre had quite a tough standing on the console due to the game that had become the epitome of greatness in that genre early in the system´s life cycle: "The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past", a milestone in the history of video games each following action-RPG had to face comparison with, which is, quite honestly, an almost unsurmountable seeming task, and in some ways, pretty unfair as well. Nevertheless, there are developers that managed to overcome this comparison with the enormous Nintendo mega seller, like Squaresoft with their formidable "Seiken Densetsu II" and "Seiken Densetsu III", and Enix based studio Quintet with their so called (unofficial) "Soul Blazer" trilogy, consisting of "Soul Blazer", "Illusion of Gaia" and "Terranigma", each of them standing out with a premise that sets them apart from the legions of mere Zelda-clones by offering some interesting and unique gameplay and story twists. While "Soul Blazer" was marred by some gameplay flaws, "Illusion of Gaia" ultimately became a worthy competitor for Zelda III and the title to gather the series quite some popularity.

The story of the game revolves around a young boy named Will, who´s living peacefully in his home town of South Cape, together with his friends Lance, Erik and Seth. His mother had died years ago, while his father, Olman, had mysteriously disappeared during an expedition to the Tower of Babel, with Will somehow having been able to return home safely, and despite leading a happy life with his grandparents Lola and Bill, it´s his fondest wish to go search for his father one day. However, Will´s life changes quickly as he finds the princess of the continent South Cape is located on, Kara, in his house. She has run away from home due to the behavior of her father, the king, as of late, but it is only when the castle guards come to take her home again when her true identity is revealed. On the same day, another mysterious event occurs as Will finds a strange portal that leads into the so called Dark Space, where he meets Gaia, "the source of all life". She tells Will about his true destiny being about to unfold soon, even though he does of course not understand at first, despite the fact that he indeed has special powers ever since his early childhood, the ability to use psychokinesis. Shortly after, Will is being summoned to the castle by the king himself because of a ring his father once possessed, but as Will denies knowing about such a ring, he´s being thrown into the castle dungeon. After escaping the castle dungeon, he meets Kara again, and the two of them decide to go find out more about what has been going on lately, as well as the upcoming return of the Chaos Comet, which seems to be the reason for the king´s behavior as well as the key to Will´s destiny. It might sound surprising at first, but in terms of story and characters, "Illusion of Gaia" definitely beats Zelda III. Not only is the plot itself more complex and unique than in the Nintendo title, the main character as well as his allies also have real personalities. In Zelda III, for example, not even Link or Zelda got proper character development and remained faceless throughout the game due to a serious lack of personality enhancing dialogue. In this game, on the other hand, even Will´s friends, who happen to be NPCs, are given a personality and an interesting background story, with each of them serving a purpose throughout the game. In fact, you will truly be able to relate to the characters and their problems, and you will actually care about what is going to happen to them, with quite some surprising twists lying ahead - especially near the end of the game, when some secrets are being solved in an intriguing way. Another novelty about the game´s story is the actual setting, as during the course of the game, you won´t just visit fictional places. Instead, you will also encounter places you might know from real world history, like the Inca Ruins, the Tower of Babel, Angkor Wat or the Great Wall of China. While the stories surrounding those monuments are, of course, completely fictional, it´s still a very cool idea by Quintet to use these world famous creations of mankind as locations for the game, giving the game a unique feel. Sure, it might not be the best story around by today´s standards, but for a game from 1994, it´s top-notch, and it´s still able to draw you deep into the game until you finally manage to beat it.

The gameplay in "Illusion of Gaia" is roughly divided into 3 realms. First, there are the well known town explorations, where you have to talk to the townspeople in order to gather information or to find a certain item. Then, there are the monster filled ruins, the game´s equivalent to dungeons, where you will be fighting your enemies and of course a boss at the end. It must be said, though, that some of the boss enemies can be pretty tough (and in some ways, creative as well) - just take the battle against the two vampires, where you also have to face a strict time limit. Challenging, and ultimately fun as well. As for the third "realm", there´s the overworld, which is being presented from a mode-7 perspective, like in so many other RPGs and action/adventures of the 16-Bit era. However, you cannot directly control your characters, as they will move over the world map automatically once you chose the next destination (accompanied by a truly beautiful piece of music, by the way), with you being able to see all members of your current "party" following Will. As for party being in brackets, well...you may be accompanied by your friends on your long journey, yes, but they won´t join you in battle. When you a enter a ruin/dungeon, Will is on his own, fighting his enemies with his flute - which sounds quite strange at first, but works well in the end and represents a nice change from the common use of a sword in such games. However, that does not mean that Will is your sole character throughout the entire game. At certain spots in dungeons, you can enter the aforementioned Dark Space, where you will meet Gaia again. Not only does she provide you with the ability to save your game there and restore your energy, but also to transform into two different characters. First, there´s Freedan, a human warrior carrying a big sword, and then there´s Shadow, a human shaped being made of pure energy, and both of these characters have their own advantages in dungeons. Freedan, for example, might be a good choice for some boss battles due to his strength, while Shadow is quite helpful when it comes to solving certain puzzles in the game due to his ability to "pour" through the ground, so you can reach a lower level of a dungeon. It´s not just a great idea in theory to include basically three characters for the game, it also works perfectly, adding a good deal of strategy to the exploration of dungeons, as you have to think of what character to choose, since they all have their own special attacks as well. For example, if there is a far away switch Will can´t reach, he has to turn into Freedan, who can reach the switch with one of his attacks, and hence continue to the next room. As for the dungeon design itself, it´s amazingly well done most of the times. Generally, they´re huge, full of brain teasers and enemies, and they simply don´t get boring, even though some dungeons might offer puzzles that could be too difficult for younger gamers (like the Sky Garden, for example...almost drove me insane as a kid). As for the controls, they´re always spot on. Controlling Will through the dungeons and towns always is a smooth affair and poses no problems, and his (as well as Freedan´s and Shadow´s) moves are easy to execute. Amazingly, the game also offers some replay value thanks to a nice little side quest: throughout the game, you can find some well hidden jewels which you can bring to a collector, and if you find them all, he will reward you by unlocking a secret dungeon, offering a whole new challenge. Overall, "Illusion of Gaia" is a wonderfully well playable game, offering a lot of new and fresh ideas for their time and making the game stand on its own among the dozens of action-RPGs.

The visuals in this game are, in a word, beautiful. Well drawn, colorful, detailed and recognizable (not to mention big) character sprites placed into excellent and intriguing locations - it´s essentially what 2D games are supposed to be. The high quality of the character sprites also helps to bring the characters to life and to make you care about them even more, since you´ll be able to have a better idea of what they look like, and having a good visualization of your main characters always is extremely helpful, especially in a 16-Bit game, where their charm can be displayed even more effectively thanks to the 2D technology. Another visual highlight are the large boss enemies that will impress you with their great design as well as their nearly flawless presentation in the game, with only some minor slowdowns occurring from time to time. Other than that, the visuals are excellent for their time and live up to the power of the Super Nintendo.

The same goes for the music. While none of the pieces is particularly outstanding or memorable, they´re all perfectly fitting and help the game to establish the right mood and atmosphere for each situation. Whether it´s the sad and depressive tune you´ll hear for the first time in the Inca ruins - fittingly describing their downfall in the game aurally - or the upbeat and happy theme of South Cape, you will never grow tired of the music. The same goes for the dungeon and boss themes, driving you forward with their intensity and dramatic approach. Interestingly enough, music also plays an important part in the storyline as well, since Will is carrying a flute with him, which he does not just use for battle, but also in order to solve certain puzzles by playing some (beautiful) tunes on them, like Lola´s song. It´s a great idea to bring in music as a means of solving puzzles, and it speaks for the creativity of the developers, since these parts of the game work perfectly. So in the end, "Illusion of Gaia" is a real treat for the ears only its successor "Terranigma" can surpass.

With their second action-RPG for the Super Nintendo, the developers of Quintet delivered a vast improvement over "Soul Blazer" and give the ultimate proof that there´s more than just "The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past" in terms of action/adventures on the SNES. It manages to stay true to the standards of the genre and offer several unique elements at the same time, making it an outstanding game on the Super Nintendo no action-RPG fan should miss - even though Quintet managed to raise the bar even higher with the unofficial sequel "Terranigma".

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07