The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess


Platform: Wii, GC
Multiplayer: No
Online play: No
Developed by: Nintendo
Published by: Nintendo
Genre: Action Adventure
Controls: Wii remote and Nunchuk

Pros and cons
+ A solid 40 hours of adventuring
+ The graphics are fantastic
+ Mesmerising sound
+ New controls are great
- No voice acting!
- No optional classic control

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is one of the latest installations of Zelda games, although Link has always played second fiddle to Mario, the Zelda games tend to appeal more to older gamers as it more mature, darker, has a darker interesting storyline and is much more in-depth. However fans were divided when Windwaker arrived, as one of the most pre-ordered games ever (300,000) at release, a lot of fans were disappointed as they saw its unrealistic, cell-shaded graphics. I quite liked it, however. The graphics have had a complete revamp this time round and fans won’t be disappointed.

Firstly there are but few differences between the Gamecube and Wii versions – the Wii game is mirrored to make Link right handed as you hold the remote in your right hand, the Wii version makes annoying sounds (sword, bow, etc.) which you get used to or can turn off, the Wii version can support 16:9 display and the Wii version has additional on screen display such as Wii remote buttons and the fairy cursor. Moving on to the game…

The layout is pretty much the same as other games, the temples, dungeons, item and weapon collecting, the same formula is used but which a new ingredient added each time to make it the extra bit special. I wont explain the plot of the game to it as it will ruin your experience and wont sound nearly as exciting coming from me, though I will say that there is a big plot twist somewhere in the middle that will make you go ZOMG *gasp*.

If you are familiar with the N64 games you will be delighted to know that Epona is back, well a horse that looks exactly like her but you can name it yourself, anyway, goodbye to those annoyingly long sailing sections in Windwaker as you’ll be able to breeze through Hyrule field in style while taking part in horse battles and jousting sections with the new feature that allows you to use you sword, bow and various other weapons while on a horse. If you get bored there’s also the alternative ride in the form of a warthog, yes knock a moblin of one of these and its yours for the taking. Its charge is insanely fast and powerful (allowing you to destroy certain obstacles) but out of control, you can’t use weapons on it so its best used in emergency situations.

There’s been a lot of hype about Link being able to transform into a wolf. It’s a new feature that’s…different, its probably the most interesting feature of the game as offers new control options over link. Firstly fighting is pretty much the same, sword fighting is replace with biting, but what most people want to know is what the hell that thing on wolf Links back is. That weird thing is Midna a twilight being that you encounter some hour or so into the game, she’s like the games guide, explaining various controls for wolf Link and helping him in puzzles. She also helps you fight deadly twilight beasts. Yes quite a mysterious character, why she is helping is revealed little by little throughout the game. You first become wolf Link when being dragged into the twilight realm, at first you don’t have the freedom to switch between Link and wolfy freely as you get dragged into the twilight realm by Midna but this is just because you get used to being wolf Link and using the new features such as sense which lets you see invisible enemies and npcs and follow scent trails and digging which opens up new passages and items. And instead of Instruments this time round its wolf howling, learning different tunes allows you to uncover secret moves that give you the edge in combat.

Not forgetting the minigames in the Zelda games, fun, addictive, they pull you away from the story a while or a frustrating puzzle you are stuck on. One of the most in-depth mini games is fishing, proper fishing on a boat I mean, your first fishing rod which you can use anywhere is pretty rubbish and nothing compared to boat fishing at the fishing hole. Somewhere in Lake Hylia the fishing hole is hidden somewhere, you get to rent your own boat, use a selection of different reels that attract certain fish, the first time round you get a guide that explains of the different reels and fishing techniques. Its pretty in-depth and at the same time addictive. There’s also quite a few other minigames, such as canoeing and fruit balloon popping.

There’s so much more I haven’t explain such as the new weapons, the great controls that make aiming a breeze, the mesmerising graphics and sound. But to be frank if I were to explain everything in one review we would be here all day.
James Routledge

Overall Score: 97%
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Intuitive: 7/10
Value: 8/10

Posted on 01 Oct 2008 by KrikenKing 0 comments.