Editor’s note: This review was written by Aaron Crawford, an avid gamer and a student at Full Sail University. He has always been interested in designing and producing videogames. Every since Aaron and his brother designed their first Double Dragon (for Nintendo) level, Aaron has been thinking up ideas and analyzing every game he plays. Aaron can’t seem to pick up a game without finding ways to improve gameplay and lifetime value. His eventual goal is to work with a company like Bethesda, Valve, Blizzard, Ubisoft or Eidos.

If you want to experience an epic tale full of fun puzzles, lovable characters, heartbreak, hope and change, then Illusion of Gaia will be your best friend — as it was mine. Taking an average of 15 to 20 hours to beat, Illusion of Gaia is a role-playing game that rejects the all-too-common random battles in exchange for what I think is a better leveling and fighting system.

The actual fighting in Illusion of Gaia is action-based and real-time. There’s no turn-based strategy here. Although I enjoy strategy games, a good button-mashing game poised with awesome character skills is a great alternative play style I suggest you all experience. Instead of gaining experience in battle and leveling up, you are rewarded with extra Life, Strength, or Defense when you clear an area of monsters. This not only encourages full exploration, but also adds a feeling that you are more of a hunter than a survivor; that’s a mindset I’ll always prefer.

The bosses in Illusion of Gaia are fun and varied and are as much a puzzle as, well, the puzzles, which are well-designed. Enough clues are findable, and none really stumped me. One dungeon is a maze of vines and mushrooms, but with a little perseverance, it was possible. Character selection is often the solution, as varying abilities open new paths.

Although Illusion of Gaia presented some excellent concepts to the RPG world from its static enemy/puzzle systems, by far the best part is the suspenseful story. Introducing the main character, Will, I experienced his life-changing events almost from get-go. Taking me to key ancient ruins of the world in the process, I witnessed vast changes in Will’s attitude as well as his companion’s. As the story progressed, Will discovered his true nature on his quest to find his father. He also made and lost friends along the way.

In basic RPG fashion, Illusion of Gaia presents stories of love, loss and greed, but mostly of hope. I personally enjoyed the story overall; however, some politically driven elements are included in the story. One such belief that is assumed is the status of animals being equal to humans. I do not require games to be politically correct, but I always take a look at the meaning behind game story elements and think about why game designers so often include topics like these. Another major topic is the plight of starving communities. On a visit to one such community, Will and party witnessed a tear-causing sacrifice by one of the party members, and only after defeating the monsters in the area did the people once again have food to eat. Such an outlook on the situation brings me to ponder my actions toward helping those in need or not. After Will’s efforts, the people are freed from their plight, and my journey continued.

I think that the creators of Illusion of Gaia want us to walk away from this game having thought about these topics from their own perspectives. The journey of Will and party shows the fallacy of humanity, the irony of fate, the illusion of prosperity and, most important, the hope that perseverance and love bring.

Graphically, Illusion of Gaia is well-made for a 16-bit game. From breeze-blown hair to the near sci-fi dark space, I got quite the treat visually. The sprites are well-made, and Will’s actions are animated very well. Monsters are well-animated, and collision boxes match them perfectly or at least on the forgiving side. Level design is innovative and often puzzle-oriented. Sky Garden is probably the best in the game.

Sound wise, Illusion of Gaia is a treat. The repetitive sounds are not annoying but are actually helpful as they cue some enemy attacks or help with timing. Music is well-made, and although some dungeon music is repeated, it is good enough to keep you happy. The town music is especially addictive. I enjoyed the sounds of this game.

Although not always offering the most engaging cutscenes, Illusion of Gaia is fun to me because of the great battle system and because of Fredan, Will’s alter ego Dark Warrior. Transforming into this powerful form brings new light to Will and hints at his true nature. Story revelation is always enjoyable, and finding out what happens next kept me playing long into the night. An RPG without random battles may seem flawed, but the designers made the game fast-paced enough that finding each monster in every area becomes part of the fun just as much as the boss battles and puzzles without the annoying interruptions.

Be sure to save herbs for big boss battles and use dark spaces for healing throughout the game. Don’t be afraid to use one to two herbs each, as you can only find about 12 total in the game. Also, if red jewels are clogging your inventory, you can equip and use them to send them away to Gem the Jeweler. Although Young Will is the weakest of his forms, his special attacks provide invulnerability. Attacking in any direction, pressing toward that direction performs the jump attack. Besides doing an additional point of damage, you are invulnerable during the attack. You can even avoid projectiles. This attack is available from the start.

Buy this game if you can find a copy. If Illusion of Gaia was put on the Game Boy Advance, it would fit right in with the other comparable titles currently being played by today’s gamers.