#13

Illusions of Gaia (Originally released in 1994 on the SNES.)

Playing RPGs and learning about history, who would have thought it was possible! Well it is, to an extent in Illusions of Gaia. IoG is a pretty low key game that I picked up due to its hype in Nintendo Power the magazine. It acts as a Zelda clone for the most part, but has its own flare and design that makes it one of a kind. You start the game as a teenager named Will who attends a small school in a small city outside the outskirts of a castle.

When Will was very young, his father took him along on a trip to visit the Tower of Babel. Something went very wrong during this expedition and Will was the only survivor to come back home. He still believes his father is alive somewhere and one day he wants to go out and find him.

Will walk, talks, and acts like all the other kids in his class, and he is best friends with each of them, but Will is very different then everyone else. Will is able to hop into another dimension almost at will and is able to talk to Gaia, who acts as a seer and a spiritual guide to Will. He also possesses physic powers and can move objects with his mind. Much to his friends delight he is a card shark and can find any card asked of him on the spot.

Eventually the local princess runs away to Will's grandparents house and Will is accused of kidnapping her which starts his journey more or less. there in the prison cells he finds out he has the ability to shape shift into more powerful biengs. He gets two alternate forms, the first looks like a knight based off of Lancelot lore and goes by the name of Freedan. The second and more powerful form is that of a faceless shadowy figure that goes by Shadow. Will can fight as well and does so by using his flute as a weapon. He may be the weakest of the three forms, but even he is needed to complete certain dungeons that require some of his special abilities or songs that are only avaialble in his boy form.

Like I said earlier, this game has real life areas that you can explore. Some of the sights you can vist include Machu Pichu (Of Inca ruins fame), the Great wall of China, Angkor Wat, the Nazca lines, and even some good old fashion Egyptian Pyramids. The Tower of Bable is also in the game, but who knows if that is an actual historical landmark! It's ncie to see a game use some real life geographical sights as part of your adventure. It adds a real twist to the experience.

IoG is a fun game. You get stronger by stomping out all of the enemies in the dungeons. It is very linear, but is has some puzzles that will keep you guessing and perplexed. It was fu when I was younger and fun still to this day. What can I say, old games never lose their charm for me.