Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess

At the end of my very cruel The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker review, I said that there was light at the end of a proverbial tunnel- that Nintendo was doing a new Zelda game that was supposed to make up for all the crap that they had been shoveling in our mouths for the last few years. The game had everything going for it, so far as we had been hearing- a more mature Link, a much more adult storyline, realistic graphics... the works.

And then, like some sort of unannounced bomb, it hit. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess hit stores not two weeks ago, and thanks to the hype of the Nintendo Wii, among other things, no-one really heard about it. Unless you were working at a gaming store at the time (or had gone in one), you probably would have had no idea that Nintendo's new brainchild had dropped in stores. But hey, here it is, in all it's glory- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a shiny new Zelda game, available for both the Gamecube and the new Nintendo Wii.

First, let me say something before you whining fanboys already begin to get your panties in a wad. I am a major Zelda fan. I have been such since I first got my hands on the original gold shiny cart of The Legend of Zelda back sometime in 1989. Ever since then, I have obsessively played any game that had Link in it since day one- even so far as to play all of the very myriad ripoffs of the titles online, such as what was called ?Zelda Online? back in the day. The majority of my life can be chronicled by what Zelda game was out at the time. Therefore, before I go and explain my thoughts on this game, just remember- I'm not uneducated in this stuff. I know what I'm talking about, at least so far as this series goes.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess obviously stars a new version of Link, this time charged with stopping what is called the ?Twilight? from taking over Hyrule. The Twilight, a dark, menacing shadow like substance, has begun to cover Hyrule and turn it into some kind of dark technologically themed menace which cripples all of the unknowing citizens and turns them into floating souls. Link, the chosen hero of Hyrule, can travel through this Twilight by turning into a Wolf, which allows him to go with his semi-partner semi-comedic sidekick semi-fairy wannabe Midna and help save Hyrule from disaster.



This, much like every other Zelda game ever equated, quite nicely falls into the same pattern we are familiar with. Start off. Go to a dungeon. Go to another dungeon. In between this dungeon hopping, enjoy minigames, finding Heart Pieces, exploring, and just doing whatever. Every dungeon has a ?special item? that gives you some sort of extra ability, and every boss you will fight is always vulnerable to the very weapon he stored in his own dungeon. No surprise there.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, however, may be one of the biggest modifications of the tried and true Zelda theory ever. Unlike it's predecessors, Twilight Princess, while trying to keep with it's Zelda roots, attempts to divert from the original path and make the Zelda series more interesting with a variety of new ways to play the game. The most obvious change, the Wolf-Link mode, forces the entire game into a pseudo-Okami like experience, mostly revolving around finding ways for Wolf Link to achieve goals without having the benefit of opposable thumbs. As for normal Link, many new features (such as the ability to sword fight on horseback) add to the mix, making the game a kind of mash of new features on a familiar engine.

But do not let that balk you away from this game. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is, first and foremost, a rehash of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, without much in the layout department changed. Link will get the same Horse, need some of the same items, gain weaponry similarly, and even have the same old burnable shield for a vast majority of the game. One could even make an argument that Twilight Princess alludes SO MUCH to it's very famous predecessor that it carries some flaws because of that.

But let me get back to the core game itself. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is broken up quite a bit like Ocarina of Time (no surprise there), with quite a bit of gameplay in between. In fact, Twilight Princess is so insanely long that this may win the award for being the longest Zelda game ever in pure time spent on the game. Not only does this mean that the normal cutscenes are quite a bit longer, but everything seems much more epic proportioned- small heart piece dungeons, traditionally only one or two rooms, may be as long as any given dungeon in the original Zelda games. Talk about time consuming for one fifth of a heart.

Of course, the twenty million dollar question about this game would be the difference between The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Gamecube and the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii. No-one really knows. And it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the games equal each other in virtually every aspect other than in the method of gameplay. Where the Gamecube version seems a much more traditionally controlled (since you will be using the Gamecube controller), the Wii version seems to be quite a bit more intuitive, but slightly more difficult to control at any given time. It all depends on your concept of ?easy game playing?- some may find the new Wii controls fun, and some may find them limiting. Either way, the Wolf-Link mode may still be one of the most difficult to control sequences in any game period- I cannot tell you how many time Wolf Link ended up dying purely because he ?lunge attack?ed his way off a cliff, rampart, or hill.



The graphics and audio in Twilight Princess float between ?freaking awesome? and ?freaking boring?. The core essentials in Twilight Princess- Hyrule Field, for example- always look stunning and great, and really put a coat of fresh paint on an old friend. However, when you get to things such as the ?Twilight Worlds? or certain parts of dungeons, one must unfortunately admit that the Gamecube and Wii both begin to show age. The majority of the graphical quality on the Gamecube and Wii can only truly be appreciated on a standard television set- the tag ?PROGRESSIVE SCAN? so proudly labeled on the back of the Twilight Princess box meaning nothing other than the graphics will look smooth on your flat screen TV, even if they do look completely ugly blown up in size. Even for the Nintendo Wii, the graphics are far from anything special, and resemble fairly decent Playstation 2 quality graphics. One can now see why they opted for a cartoon look in Wind Waker.

The Audio is a bit of a different story, because I have no real way to explain my feelings on it. One major point I do have on the audio, though, would be that the music is uninteresting and probably the least catchy of the entire series. Other than that, everything is basic Nintendo fare- basic voice sounds (though the game itself is not voice acted), generic sound effects, and cartoonish character emotions. The only new thing that differentiates these sounds from such of Wind Waker seems to be the ?new? Link voice, now voiced much deeper (though by the same voice actor) to make the game sound much more mature. I personally like the sound of the voice, but as I'm hearing from the ?rumor mill?, many gamers are put off by it.

But now comes the fun time in which I tear this game apart and tell you why it's getting nowhere near a perfect rating. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is not the classic Zelda experience everyone has grown to know and love. The addition of Wolf Link and the whole ?Twilight? concept, riddled with irritating collection quests and shallow emotional content, really takes Twilight Princess down a few notches. In fact, the very first time I saw the ?shadow? enemies n the ?Twilight?, I literally yelled ?Kingdom Hearts 3?. Because that is the very experience I got from this game- a kind of stupid plotline intermixed with fake enemies just to make some sort of baddie for the main character to bowl over.

As well, as I mentioned above, the Wolf Link parts are extremely hard to control as well as just annoying. Had Nintendo completely removed the whole concept of Wolf Link from this game, Twilight Princess would probably get a perfect 10 from me and a blessing to go make a sequel. But that is not the case here. Twilight Princess' Link parts are always, without fail, entertaining and enjoyable, and the Wolf Link parts are always forced and the absolute drudge at the bottom of the gaming barrel. Had I wanted to play Okami, I would have gone and purchased Okami. Never before has a Zelda game done something so uncharacteristic that it almost killed it's entire ?fun? factor- and that is the case here.



So where does that lead me? Simply put, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is 50% pure fun and 50% irritating Wolf Link. Had Nintendo simply gone with the roots of it's history- simple Dungeons, a rather basic story- I would have enjoyed it much more than their attempt at making a ?deep? story that inevitably failed. I will not let my bad experiences as Wolf Link completely taint my rating of this game. Still, the addition of Wolf Link, as well as the storyline itself, really draws the fun level down for me. With that, I will give this game four stars- much lower than the infamous 8.8 rating, but still coming from an honest to god opinion of this game. Nintendo: You were a hair close to completely bombing this game. Do not do this again: stick to your roots and stay there.

4 star(s) out of 5

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