Shadow Legend is healthy in the sense that the graphic tiles vary from part to part. In the beginning of the game you'll see a lot of forests, but as you keep travelling you'll find ice caverns, mountain passes, and all other types of terrain. The graphics aren't so spectacular though, so it's the gameplay that helps get you into the game.

The thing I liked most about Shadow Legend's graphics are the various animations that take place during battle. When you move the hero Rynn into an enemy, your various attacks and magic spells all activate animation tidbits. If a monster tries to torch you, you'll see Rynn burn. If you try to heal, you see the light rays come down and heal your body. In terms of the flashiness, the sequences certainly aren't Final Fantasy calibur, but the smoothness and quickness of these animation sequences really help to give Shadow Legend a well-rounded feel. 

As a result of the previous review, Random Projects did a little extra research and found out who really composed the piece that was used in both games so that credit could be given to the composer. Of course, there is no true replacement for good, original music... but the combat sound effects do make up for the familiarity of Shadow Legend's music library. Every spell and attack in battle is backed up with a sound effect, which help to make combat that much more exciting. And with a pretty long quest ahead for you would-be forest dwellers, every detail counts.

Suddenly it became clear that Shadow Legend has absolutely nothing to do with anything we've ever experienced in an RPG before. Unlike most RPGs, Shadow Legend relies entirely on your survival instincts. There isn't some weapons store where you can pump up your character; you have to find your own tools. There isn't an Inn to sneak into whenever you're running low on energy; you have to find life-restoring water or be overwhelmed by an army of lizards and shadows. 

In this very immersive universe, Shadow Legends forces you to be very involved. Battling to gain the experience to fight Darkstar is but a fraction of your true quest. Often you'll find closed passageways, which will force you to search for keys, scurry about for hammers to break open walls, master new spells, and find secret rooms hidden behind fake walls.

The end result? The gameplay of this game is a formula where you have to do a lot of battle, find a lot of items, do a little bit of thinking, and participate in an adventure. And that's fine enough for me.

What I didn't like about the execution of the game's story is the fact that it shows up everytime you start up Shadow Legends. After the first time I read it, I had a pretty good idea of Shadow Legend's plot is like. But there's no way to skip the intro! This intro, which takes about thirty seconds and doesn't come with any cutscenes or graphics, makes playing Shadow Legend somewhat discouraging if you're always getting killed because you have to see the thirty-second intro over again after each Game Over.

The critical part of Shadow Legend is the use of secret passages. Random Projects wasn't kidding when they said that Shadow Legend is full of them; there were two secret passageways at the very start of the game! It comes to a point where finding these fake walls becomes a bigger challenge than battling the enemies.

With so many secrets to discover, I found myself playing the game immediately after beating it because I wanted to backtrack to some of the rooms I felt I haven't fully investigated!

What else can I say? Sure, Shadow Legend may not have the graphics or sound to compete with the SNES RPG look that makes up a majority of the Internet's QBRPG titles. But the kind of fun factor created by Shadow Legends is a rare breed indeed. All in all, this game is a lot of fun and it whole-heartedly deserves recommendation.