Landstalker is well known among a lot of Climax fans and with a lot of RPGers who owned the SEGA Genesis. I myself am a fan of Climax's Alundra, so when I received Landstalker I expected an epic adventure. Instead I ended up with something somewhat close.

Landstalker isn't anything spectacular, but that doesn't mean it won't hog some hefty game time. Landstalker is a fairly large game, with lots to explore and discover. A lot of Lanstalker, though, can be frustrating. The controls are hell the first time you play, due to the 3/4 design of the areas. But after a long while you may get used to it, but God is probably the only person who will ever master the horrible control setup. And there could have been shadows to mark the area of certain platforms so some jumps could have been made a lot easier, thus reducing the frustration levels.

But despite its frustrating controls and lack of shadows to guide you, I got used to moving around, and thus found all the bright sides of Landstalker. Landstalker has a big focus on exploration and puzzle-solving, all on innovative (Innovative back in 1993) 3-D 3/4 perspective landscapes. On the battle side, Landstalker's battles aren't as exciting as Zelda or Alundra. Basically it's just (trying) to maneuver around an enemy while slashing multiple times, and the boss battles are pathetic. About only 4 bosses could be considered a challenge, the rest are just pitiful. But despite poor fighting Landstalker has enough taxing puzzles, 3-D platform jumping, and exploration to please any fan of the adventure genre.

The visuals in Landstalker are exceptionally bland, due to the Genesis's lack of a variety of colors. But even with the limitation of only being able to show 64 colors at the same time, Landstalker has some detailed maps and objects. Landstalker's soundtrack is exceptional, but nothing earth shaking. I liked a lot of the boss songs and the music for exploring some of the last areas in the game, but the rest is dead average (examples: cave tunes, Village tracks, etc.). But average isn't a bad thing, but I wish there were more tunes that would stand out from the other typical RPG stuff.

In the story department, Landstalker couldn't be more average. As an elf named Nigel (who, despite his looks, is 80 years old.) you will travel with Friday (A fairy) and search for the treasures left behind by an evil king. Nothing else much to say. It's sorta disappointing after seeing the job Climax did on Alundra's storyline, but one must remember this was made before Alundra and in a time where RPG storylines were considerably weaker.

In the end, Landstalker comes out as an exceptional adventure game. It doesn't stand up to the likes of Zelda or Seiken Densetsu, but Landstalker still provides a decent quest that will keep any Action/RPG fan entertained. Just don't expect too much from this "classic".