The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Reviewed by Marcio Guastavino
October 4, 2007

Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform(s): Wii, GameCube Numbers of Players: 1 ESRB Rating: Teen Website: Click Here

Screenshot from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess . Courtesy of Nintendo. Click image to enlarge.

Here it is, the new Zelda game…FINALLY! After being pushed back so many times it’s finally released for the Wii as a launch title. So after three or so years what has the new Zelda got to show us? Let’s start with the story. Obviously it takes place in Hyrule, but the land is overcome by a strange darkness known as the Twilight. The people of Hyrule cannot see the Twilight, but the land is changed and monsters roam around freely. When one of Link’s friends is taken away by some orcs, he quickly finds himself plunging into danger to save his friend from harm. Before he realizes it he is pulled into the darkness and to his surprise is transformed into a wolf, a proud beast amongst the animal kingdom. Link finds out that he is the chosen one to free Hyrule from the tyrannous darkness that looms over it, and that is why he can survive in the Twilight, but only as a wolf. With his new task at hand Link now has to free Hyrule from this darkness, and with a bit of help from Midna (a being from the Twilight), he may just pull through.

Since the release of Wind Waker on Gamecube, it seems that fans were disappointed to see that Zelda had strayed from its original look. Not that Wind Waker was a bad looking game, but I guess some fans aren’t in tune with the cell-shaded look. So what does Nintendo do? They make a gem and polish it until gamers around the world can’t help but say “whoa”. That’s what I can say about how Twilight Princess looks. The graphics are crisp and the art style goes in the same direction that OoT (Ocarina of Time) was going, except now with much better resolution. I’ve heard some people say that because the Wii isn’t as powerful as the other systems out, games wont look or feel as pretty. Well, I dare someone to play this game and tell me that. Everything from the towns to Hyrule Field itself is full of life and detail. The characters walking around town make it seem like it’s really busy; or in contrast, a town like Ordon village, where everything is peaceful. And of course, the day to night system is still in the game to add realism. The environments are well made, pretty much what you would expect from a Zelda game, and the dungeons are always fun to explore. They still make those puzzles hard enough to make you think your head off, but challenge is one of the traits that makes you love the game even more. Enemies are designed just as well as the other characters in the game and the bosses are larger than life and look really cool. So if the storyline doesn’t captivate you then the sheer vastness of the game will.

Game play on the Wii is smooth. Truthfully I was sceptical about the whole Wii mote thing. I never liked the idea of having to swing the controller in order to hit enemies. Now that I’ve played through the game I can safely say that I was wrong and that I should shut up when Nintendo says they have a good idea. The premise of battle is basically you pull out your sword with the Wii mote (you can actually do the movement of taking a sword from your back or a flick of the wrist will do) and then swing away with the remote to have Link attack. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to literally swing like a sword. You can just flick your wrist and Link will attack. You may get caught up in the moment though, swinging and stabbing to kill your enemies. However, Link doesn’t slash the exact way you swing the control. This is why a simple wrist flick will do just fine. To me it works better that way, especially since there were no problems during my play through. The shield works the same as before, you hold a button and Link blocks and by pressing the A button he does a roll like in the previous games. The spin attack is fun to do, since you do it with the nunchuk in a circular motion. Equipment takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s easy once you get the hang of it. The Z button is used for any active item that you want to use, such as a fishing rod or the bow and arrow. The directional buttons on the Wii mote will correspond to different items to set to the Z button, except for the top directional button which is used to speak to Midna when she has advice to tell you or to just talk to her in general.

When shooting any long range weapon the Wii mote is used to aim and fire on any target you choose. This makes it much easier to pinpoint targets or certain puzzle objects that you need to hit. There may still be some minor bugs when doing the free shooting though, like the target getting out of your sensor range which forces you to point the Wii mote back on the screen to get it to work again. Compared to how well it works period, I’m actually very impressed on how it all turned out. The only other thing that has to be brought to attention is the music. The field music has changed again, but no worries, there are many returning themes that have been changed for a new experience. Some better than others I must say. I can’t really say that most of the music has caught my attention, but it fits the game and the mood. More low tone than anything, so I say the music could have been amped up more. Other than that the game is perfect. Any true fan of Zelda has to pick it up, whether on Wii or the new Gamecube version. While there might be slight graphical downgrades on the Gamecube version it might be more suitable for those who can’t handle the Wii mote experience. Coming from someone who was turning down the idea of the Wii mote in the first place I will tell you now, that I take everything I said about it back and that if you choose to play Twilight Princess on the Wii you will not be disappointed!

I give Zelda: Twilight Princess a High Evolution factor. No matter whether you’re a big fan of Zelda or not, this game will blow your mind. If there’s ever been a time to become a fan, IT’S NOW!

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