Illusion Of gaia is one of those games you don't really hear about much I mean sure big Super Nintendo fans know what the game is but it's more of a hidden gem that not a lot of people talk about, and that's a shame because this deserves to be talked about, this is a really memorable game and definitley a must own for the Super Nintendo.
Story: Their really is a lot of story, for quite a short game so you will really need to play the game to get all of it, but I will explain some of it. So the main plot to this story is that basically Gaia who I believe is supposed to be some sort of God in this universe, she tells Will(our main protagonist) that he needs to go on an adventure to stop a comet from destroying the world. This might sound very strange to you right now but the comet Gaia is talking about is not an actual comet it's some sort of life form that is trying to mess with humanity... yeah it's a bit strange but once you come to know the world of Illusion of Gaia you will love every part of the story no matter how askew it may seem. So Will along with a girl he meets later on the journey by the name of Kara along with his other friends, and also some people he meets upon the way must find the six mystic stones to stop this catastrophe from happening. I also wanted to mention that this game's story has a lot of dark theming to it their our parts of the game where you will find slaves working in the cole mind, and since this game was probably marketed towards kids at the time, one of the slaves actually say that this happens in your world to, if your a young kid seeing this, it's definitly a wake up call and I'm glad they were bold with many parts like this to show people the world isn't as perfect as we make it out to be. I also just wanted to say that this games themeing is constantly showing you less fortunate people and kind of giving the player a sense of feeling that your life isn't half bad. I will go into more depth of the story later in my review
Presentation:Illusion of Gaia's presentation is done perfect, this game doesn't push the super nintendo to it's limits when it comes to it's graphical look, but it still looks really good for a Snes game. Also one thing I wanted to mention was that the character sprites were definitely a bit big for my taste, it's a little nitpick of mine but I wish they were a little smaller because I feel like it's really noticeable and a bit distracting. I have to say also I wasn't crazy about the characters designs at first either but after playing with them a while I have to say maybe it was just their likable nature or maybe I just started to dig the design more, but I did end up liking them more in the end, The character development in the game is done outstanding their our no throw away characters, and each character are a great contribution to the group, and many of the characters are also very memorable too. The soundtrack in this game is pretty much perfect, their wasn't a whole lot of tracks to the game, but the ones that were in the game were some of the best Snes music you could listen too. The presentation as a whole was done beautifully.
Gameplay: Illusion of Gaia is played out in a very unique system its' part RPG and part action game, it's not a traditional RPG where you fight and wait turns, instead you attack with will's whistle he has and once you defeat certain enemies your abilities level up like your health, strength, defense, ETC. each enemy also drops orbs, and when you pick up one hundred they act as an extra continue, well, sort of, you can't die in this game but if you do lose all your health in the temple with not enough orbs you will have to start the whole area over and have to beat all the enemies over again, which definitely is a pretty big punishment. Each temple has certain upgrades you can get and also later in the game you will be able to transform into the dark night Freedan, who is two times stronger then will and a huge help in the game, and even further in the game you will be able to transform alien like life form Shadow, another great transformation the adapt this in to the game fairly also because their will be parts in the game where you will need to be will in order to progress further into the temple, so they definitely don't make these transformations overpowered. Each temple has a lot of variety when it comes to this game not one feels the same and each one of them has different gimmicks to them making them feel completely dissimilar and making each one feel like a new experience when you play it. The boss battles in this game are creative and challenging a winning combination that make the bosses really memorable, most of the bosses in this game are not pushovers and you better have definitely looked for all the power ups in the temple because if you don't you won't stand a chance against them, Their done just right and you have to make a strategy to beat these guys cause if you don't you wont stand a chance. There is not a whole lot to say when it comes to Illusion Of Gaia's gameplay since it is very straightforward, but the RPG system they use in this game is very rewarding, and the whole adventure is a lot of fun the gameplay is amazing.
(Spoiler Alert) The final boss battle is the comet, Will and Kara turn into a being like Shadow and must defeat the comet, which is some kind of crazy monster. This guy is probably the hardest boss in the game and you better be ready for a fight because he does not hold back you are definitly going to get beaten quite a few times from this guy, the only true way to beat this guy is to keep practicing. The boss battle itself is awesome and a great ending fight. So basically in the end it is explained that the world is changing and not in a good way. The only way to change it is for humans to change Will's father tells Will that the world is going to start again and that Kara and Will, will have their memory's wiped because of this Will and Kara promise that no matter what they will find each other again and the final scene show that they are in the same school and Will and Kara and their friends are all together again, so quite a happy ending for them but it also shows that the world does not learn from its mistakes and continues to kill the earth with the progression of mankind by pollution, starvation and many other things that they ignored, this a very true ending and tells it like it truly is the games story is not afraid to tell us that we are going to ruin this world if we do not take care of this and this is why I love this story so much, I would say that this is one of the best story's on the Super Nintendo.
Overall Illusion Of Gaia is an overlooked gem that anyone should pick up, this game is a must own for the story alone, and everything in the game is definitely great also, while I believe this game is not on the virtual console for the Wii or the Wii U, this game is pretty cheap for the Super Nintendo, if you like the Super Nintendo you need to get this game.