Terranigma review

 So, in response to my Illusion of Gaia review, some people told me that Terranigma was that game but better in every way. Considering how Illusion of Gaia had fallen somewhat short of its great ideas, this easily grabbed my attention.

Turns out, the truth is a bit more complicated.

Terranigma starts out great. The initial hook is quite convincing, the protagonist feels a lot more fluid, and has far smoother moves. The "dungeons" in Act 1 are rather simplistic, but this can be easily overlooked, as it is effectively the game teaching the player the ropes.

Act 2 is even better, as that's when the protagonist begins to revive life on Earth, and the player gets grand payoffs from guiding him around. The dungeons are a bit too action oriented for my liking, but it's still fine, they're all mostly well designed for their purpose and are decently fun romps. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the bosses, which randomly block all use of magic and are designed mainly to waste the player's time.

Then comes Act 3, and, oh dear.

Act 3 is all over the place. It loses sight of the initial premise, and instead has the protagonist meander around the now fully populated Earth. Some moments are still charming in their own right, like voting in fantasy France's first election, but for the most part, the habitations are uninteresting, and the story completely loses its momentum. The dungeons also become a pale shadow of themselves, first by getting long in the tooth, and then by blatantly reusing tilesets and concepts. They even throw in a stealth section there, and it's as good as it sounds, i.e., not very.

Thankfully, the game starts picking its pace back up with the introduction of Beruga, aka Evil Lenin. Everything about his portrayal is sincere, and paints him as a competent mad scientist who's just gotten a teeny tiny bit unhinged. The protagonist frees him from cryosleep, which results in some cool twists, though not without one last bit of tedium. He dies, and the village elder, the protagonist's former instructor, turns out to be evil and the manifestation of the evil earth or something. He too gets his just desserts. The protag gets one final day in his peaceful home village, and the credits roll.

On the whole, I would say that Terranigma suffers from being too overambitious for its own good. I think that with a year or two more of development time, and a stronger console, it could have been a much better game. Still, it's not a bad game. It is enjoyable enough and charming enough to almost compensate for the big bad parts. Both it and Illusion of Gaia could surely benefit greatly from a remake, if it were made meticulously under a bold and clear vision.

Off to their progenitor, Soul Blazer! Hopefully, it will hold up better.