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Review by Harbinger
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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an action adventure game that sticks its roots - roots that had been planted over twenty years ago. It maintains the story structure that has been rehashed over ten times in the past two decades. While there are many innovations and improvements to the core game-play, this is a game that takes one step forward, and one step back - or perhaps two.
While not exactly the same as any of the past installments, the story revolves around Link. As with previous games, he is a silent protagonist who is looked upon as an outsider to the people he lives with. To adhere to the strict formula, Link begins the game without any items, and is forced into action after tragedy befalls his village. In this case, Link's love interest is taken by beings of the twilight realm. And so begins an adventure that this reviewer could consider Ocarina of Time 0.75.
The Zelda franchise could be considered one of the most innovative franchises in video game history. When the original came out for NES, it was an epic feat of coding that hadn't been attempted before, and brought into existence a new genre. While the same couldn't be said for the second, A Link to the Past, and Ocarina of Time both could be hailed as two of the best games of their time. Link to the Past greatly improved the graphics and scale of the original, and Ocarina introduced a free-roaming world with a day/night cycle. Even Wind Waker, a game both hated and revered, drastically changed graphical, navigational, and fighting style - all arguably for the better. So what does Twilight Princess bring to the table? The short answer is - not very much.
While there are a great deal of new things in Twilight Princes (TP), the designers also dropped things as well. Do you gain more than you lose? I don't believe you do, and there are many reasons why.
Weapons
One staple of Zelda is the addition of weapons that can be used throughout the game. This time around they have added a great deal of new items, such as the ball and chain, the spinning gear, and the pretty nifty double claw shot. There is of course the returning bow and arrow, as well as the sling shot and bombs. The bombs now have an expanded arsenal, with three different types depending on the situation. However, that leads to a problem with the game.
Each item/weapon in the game is purely situational, with exception to the sword, bow and arrow, and slingshot. While you could indeed use the ball and chain to kill enemies, you'd have a terrible time doing it, and the sword is much better in almost every situation in the entire game. Another draw-back is that you find the master sword and shield at the very beginning of the game. If you're the type of player that likes to have upgraded items (such as the Goron Sword in Ocarina) you will be very disappointed. This means the designers have different ideas to mix up combat.
Combat
Combat is both truly unique, yet stale at the same time. Attacking this time around is done through shaking the Wii Remote. Luckily for all the out of shape people out there, all that is needed is a simple flick of the wrist. Throughout the game you learn new moves that are mapped to different movements of the Wii Remote/Nunchuck attachment. Most of the time it is very entertaining, but some of the time it just plain doesn't work like it was supposed to. For example, one move is meant to have link spin around behind an enemy and perform an up-strike. It's a move that has a vicious learning curve that even toward the end of the game had me frustrated.
Firing the bow and arrow/sling shot is where this game truly excels. Riding on horseback and shooting goblins in the face becomes second nature very quickly into the game. Which leads me to another addition to the game. Fighting on horseback has been included. Will you do it that often? Not really. Is it responsive? For the most part. Is it fun? Sort of. There's very little to do other than flail your sword around while getting as close as possible to the enemy. It's cool, but loses its appeal quickly with the shallow move set of "attack left" or "attack right".
Also worth mentioning is the inclusion of Wolf form. In the beginning you have no choice of being in wolf form, but as the game progresses you can pick and choose when you want to be the wolf. When will you want to be the wolf? Mostly never. Wolf Link controls mostly like human link, with the exception of being able to target multiple enemies, and kill them all at the same time. It's a spectacular move, but can be rather cheap when you aren't required to use it. You can also dig for special items such as coins, but I'll get into that later.
Dungeons
With TP, there is a record amount of dungeons in the game. All are extremely different from eachother, but most are what you'd come to expect from dungeons you've played in any video game since 1985. There will always be a fire dungeon, an ice dungeon, a forest dungeon, a sand dungeon, and a temple/castle dungeon. That's just how it goes, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. However.
The Zelda franchise obviously puts dungeon exploration as the main concept in the game, with combat coming second. That formula has worked in the past, when the idea hadn't been covered. Wind Waker mixed the formula up by adding time-based dodge combo's that greatly expanded the mundane combat system. While combo's still exist, they are greatly less effective, and one will probably stick to the three hit strike for most of the game. So that leaves you with the physical puzzles the dungeon offers you.
While the puzzles are indeed well thought out and interesting, it grows increasingly obvious that no architect in their right mind would ever create a dungeon the way that they are made in the Zelda universe. In TP, it's as if the dungeons were created, and then a story was tacked on to them to give you an incentive to play through them. Even if you can look past the ridiculous design of temples, and suspend your disbelief, this is where the Zelda franchise has begun to grow stagnant. Use an item to get into the dungeon. Explore, and find a map and a key. Use the key to get an item. Use that item to get the boss key. Fight the boss. Repeat. The only place where Zelda shines is in the boss fights, which are massive, and entirely unique every time. However, even the bosses can be easily killed after a minute of observation. Anyone who has grown up with video-games will easily be able to beat the obviously designed dungeons - with a few exceptions such as the sky temple. Over-all, I've reached a point where the dungeons are simply annoying. I'd want to beat it as soon as possible so that I could get to the next dungeon, which would then annoy me, and make me want to beat it fast. It's a vicious cycle.
Other Things Worth Noting
Gone is the magic meter. You may ask yourself, "But there's a magic meter on the back of the box. What's up with that?" Well little timmy, you're screwed. They decided to remove that function, and replace it with.... nothing. There are no fire, ice, or light arrows, or anything else that would require magic. Instead, as stated before, you are stuck with purely situational items that have little to no use outside the dungeons they were created for.
So what can you do in the way of side quests? You can get heart pieces, and get bottles. You can collect bugs, and beat time trials for certain things. The time trials get you rupees, but your wallet is always full. You can max out heart pieces, but you never seem to take much damage. You can capture faeries in bottles, as well as lamp oil and health, but since you rarely die, need lamp oil, or hearts, there's really no point. You can also collect bugs. Why would you want to collect bugs? You can get a new bottle. Also, you can get magic armour that takes rupees instead of damage. While that would actually put rupees to good use, you won't be taking any damage through most of the game anyways, so it truly doesn't matter.
Then there's the cave of trials. While it could be touted as the most difficult part of the game, it is also one of the least rewarding parts of the game. For beating each combination of ten chambers, you unlock faery springs. This means you can bottle faeries easily. As stated before however, you never need faeries - unless you play the game backwards with the Wii remote clenched between your buttcheeks.
Other Other Things Worth Noting
While TP is on the Wii, the graphics are of Gamecube quality. That means that they aren't bad, but they aren't good. Artistic design, while incredible this time around, can only take it so far. This doesn't necessarily detract from the game, but gamers have come to expect evolution in both gameplay and graphics. This game does neither of those, or at least not that much.
The story in the game is actually rather strong , and is filled with plot twists and interesting characters. Tingle is not in it, which is also a plus. However, as stated before, the story takes a back seat to the dungeons, with combat riding bitch.
The traversable world is very large this time, but feels very segmented. In Windwaker, one could travel the entire sea without load times. This time around, you will enter a medium to small segment, travel to the end, and enter another segment after a quick load. It would have been much nicer to be able to ride from one end to the other without stopping, but I guess that's too much to ask for from a gamecube port.
Conclusion
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is by no means a bad game. In fact, it's a good game. It's entertaining, has a great art style, and has a very entertaining story. However, the combat is shallow, the dungeons are starting to become an overdone concept by themselves, the graphics are mediocre to current standards, and the formula is starting to show it's flaws. If you are a gamer who loves playing dungeons, and doesn't care much for combat or innovation, you will love this game. It has some of the most unique and puzzling dungeons in the genre. However, if you are like me, and are starting to want a little bit more than Ocarina of Time minus some of its features, then you'll feel a bitter-sweet sting of disappointment and nostalgia. It's a game that's better to own, but mostly due to its length of 25+ hours. You will enjoy it - of that there is no doubt. How much depends on what type of gamer you are. Hopefully it's the type this game was made for.
StinkyCheese on 04/29/2008
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grognard66 on 04/30/2008
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grognard66 on 04/30/2008
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