Illusion of Gaia/ Illusion of Time/ Gaia Gensouki

Review by Evan G

A comet of doom is coming. A bounty hunter is after you. Evil lurks. These are just some of the many problems are being faced down by the hero, Will. A year has past since his father’s mysterious disappearance, and now he is forced to go on a journey to collect mystic statues to correct the flow of time.

Graphics: 8/10

Nothing mind-blowing, but they do look better than most games in the genre. Everything is well animated and the background graphics look all right. There are some nice touches, such as the wind blowing through Will’s hair. Probably the most disappointing thing is that some bosses aren’t as brooding as they should be.

Sound: 8/10

The music is above average for a snes game, showing off the works of the composer of many of Enix’s games. The boss music was especially good, and gave a sense of urgency to the battle. Sound effects seem pretty standard for an action rpg, and in fact many of the effects were borrowed from other games, like Actraiser.

Control: 8/10

For the most part, the control is responsive. The only problem is with some of Will’s moves, in particular the power hit, where you have to press forward twice sometimes doesn’t work as well as it could.

Overall Score: 8/10

This is a better than average action rpg. It doesn’t reach the level of Zelda 3, but admittedly, the storyline is far more enthralling in this game. Unfortunately, the action sequences don’t offer very much variety, and most puzzles are easy enough to solve. You will likely play through it once with relative easy, although the story is so good, that you will probably want to play through it again.