Most people have heard of Nintendo’s “Legend of Zelda.” Even if you are not much of a videogame fan, the Zelda series has been around for so long and it has been almost as important to Nintendo’s success as the famous pair of super powered, mushroom eating Italian siblings have been, that it’s a hard game to ignore.
The hero of the Zelda series has always been a short, green-clad swashbuckler named Link and although the story changes and it appears various heros names Link have had separate adventures, the main elements of all Zelda games remain the same. Link is the hero, usually he is an ordinary boy who needs to do some small , yet heroic task and is then wrapped up in a bigger adventure when he dons the “legendary hero’s green suit” making him look the part. Then there is Zelda, she’s always a princess, but sometimes, as in “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,” she is more than a damsel in distress and is able to help fight against the forces of evil. And, evil is personified by an wizard named “Gannon” who sometimes appears as younger version of himself called “Gannondorf” and everything usually circles around an item of infinite power called “The Tri-force”.
These elements are all winners and they have been in place ever since the 8-bit “Legend of Zelda” was released for the Nintendo console in 1987. In fact, except for three Zelda titles for the Phillips CD-I, (an ill-fated attempt at a console and I’m ashamed to say that I owned one,) games that were the only Zelda games that Nintendo had no hand in creating, all Zelda games have met with critical success.
Anyway, aside from that ill-fated effort, Zelda games are usually videogaming gold, and the newest title “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess”, is no exception.
This is a high-tier title for Nintendo and it shows. Once you put this game in your console, there is no skimping on production values. Everything is superb. For a game released on an underpowered system like the Nintendo Wii, the graphics are incredible. At times, images can blur due to intentional graphic effects, but it’s never unpleasant. The sound quality is good, even if there is little to no voice acing, and the sound effects are crisp and clean. Also, veteran players will have to smile every time they hear the “Do-Do-Do-Da” of the “Get Item” sound. If you’ve played Zelda games before I’m sure you know what I mean.
I played this game on a Nintendo Wii and I found the controls to be relatively intuitive, but not as impressive as they were for the “Wii Sports” game.
For example, fishing and attacking with your sword are both handled relatively well with appropriate hand movements controlling the actions, but when you try to use a zoomed in arrow shot or ride a spinning top, the motion controls do nothing and instead you need to rely on the thumb joystick. It’s fine but it’s easy to see how this game was originally meant to be a title for the Nintendo GameCube, with it’s standard controller, and the motion controls were added in later.
What I like most about this game is the constantly changing gameplay. Throughout the title gamers will need to switch between a human form and a wolf form that Link is cursed with at the beginning of the game. Both modes work well, and the player is never too confused by this mechanic. Players will need to use both forms to find items and traverse the levels, and when they get used to these forms, the game will throw new challenges at them. I especially liked the metal boot puzzles and the time spent riding the mechanical top. I don’t want to ruin the experience for gamers, but fighting one of the dungeon bosses while riding the mechanical top was some of the most fun I've had playing videogames in a long time.
There’s nothing bad I can really say about this game. It would almost seem like sacrilege to complain about a Zelda game in the first place because of the stellar history this series has had up to now.. “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” does nothing to change that fact. Nothing is perfect, but this game is mighty close.
If you are the proud owner of a shiny new Nintendo Wii, get this game, it’s great fun and shows off the new system. If you don’t have the hard to find Nintendo Wii yet, get this for the GameCube. It’s the perfect swan-song for the aging GameCube console.
No comments:
Post a Comment