The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo Wii)
Reviewed by: Lucky_DAWG
Reviewed on: 5-Jan-2007
- Summary
- A refreshing installment of Zelda that brings back the mechanics of Ocarina while adding crisp graphics and a darker story.
- Ratings
- Overall: A-
- Gameplay: A+
- Graphics: B+
- Learning Curve: A
- Replay Value: B-
- Sound: B+
- Pros
- Great new graphics that liven up the genre
- Goes back to the classic feel of Ocarina
- You get to play as a wolf!!!
- Darker storyline
- Very long story
- Very diverse environments
- Cons
- Wii controller elements feel tacked on
- Lacks replay value
- Bosses are very easy
- Links
- Gamespot Review
- IGN Review
- Nintendo
- Images
Description
Taking nearly 10 years to come out since the Ocarina of Time, Zelda fans will all agree that Twilight Princess was well worth the wait. This game has a much darker story than before, one that will pull you away from the child-like feel that you get from these type of games. It has enough of the old elements in it that you will recognize old characters, items, and locations. But, it does offer all new characters and a massive new Hyrule that dwarfs the size of the old one.
The game starts off in a small village where you must do ordinary, menial chores to learn how to play the game. Trouble then strikes and you must go into the forest for your first mission, but when you get back, your friends are taken away.... Link then embarks on the quest to win them back, a journey of self discovery and one where he finds out his true purpose as the hero chosen by the gods in shape of the hero of old (Hero in Ocarina).
The world is not a safe place to go off adventuring in any more though, because all of Hyrule has been enveloped in what is known as Twilight, where darkness and light meet. The Twilight King Zant has taken over Hyrule Castle and imprisoned Princess Zelda and turned the whole world into a living hell. Whenever you enter the various twilight zones, you must collect all of the energy of the light spirts to return the area to normal. The catch is you must do this in the form of a wolf, for you have been cursed by Zant.
This is how Link goes on his journey to save his friends and the Princess. Whether he makes it to the end of his journey depends on your patience.
The story is very long and will last you probably about 40, 50 hours in total. The graphics are amazing and they offer support for 480p, if you have the money (and the TV) to go out and get component cables for the Wii. The lighting is stunning and the way the water reflects looks almost on par with 360 or PS3. Sometimes you can notice how hazy the backgrounds look though, which brings you back to reality of the graphical barriers of the Wii.
The sound is really good and it reminds you of the good old days when you heard the soundtrack on Ocarina. It's almost nostalgic though because it seems very outdated, seems like they did very little to change the old songs. Even though they were almost perfect back then, it still seems like they could have done a little bit more. I find myself turning down the speaker on the Wii remote because the horrible scratchy noise it makes when your sword hits something is unbearable.
The Wii controls feel pretty comfortable overall, but it's a bit difficult to aim your bow or slingshot sometimes. It is something that you get used to though. All of the upgradeable items are very fun and there are plenty of sidequests that will keep you entertained if you wander off of the main quest.
For the controls, you still walk around using the control stick in your left hand, like on any other system. But for aiming, you use your right hand by tilting the controller. You don't use it all that often, only when fighting, so your right arm doesn't get all that tired all the time. Swordplay is done by combinations of tilting the Wii remote forward, slicing and spinning the nunchuck or hitting certain buttons. The huge array of different things you can do with the Wii Remote makes it so that you can learn all types of moves. On top of the six moves you learn at the beginning game tutorial, you can learn seven more hidden skills throughout the game that are often necessary to beat certain monsters. From shield bashes to skull crushers, all of the moves help a lot, whether you are dealing with an extremely nimble enemy or a heavily armored one.
The controls will take getting used to, and the menu selection feels really wierd. But using items is pretty easy, as you can put items on the d-pad and switch them in as your main object by pressing the B button on the bottom of the remote. You would use this when you need your hookshot, bow and arrow, bombs and other items.
New gameplay features include the ability to play as a wolf, a bigger map, golden bugs to collect, a fishing journal to keep track of, on top of all the old things to do like hunting down heart pieces. You face pretty much the same puzzles in each dungeon, but Twilight Princess is still a REALLY long game. You get the illusion in the beginning that it might be short, but then.....suddenly.....you are not even half done with the game. Although they follow the same patterns, virtually all enemies in the game are brand new and all the environments will remind you of old ones but are look refreshingly different and updated.
This is a very exciting game that I loved very much. If you loved any of the old Zelda games, then you MUST pick this up as it will remind you of your old games yet offer you a whole new appreciation for the series. If you are new to the series, then pick it up anyways because there is a good, gripping story that will keep you up playing all night.
Warning: Don't buy this game if you need sleep.
I recommend this game highly.
The game starts off in a small village where you must do ordinary, menial chores to learn how to play the game. Trouble then strikes and you must go into the forest for your first mission, but when you get back, your friends are taken away.... Link then embarks on the quest to win them back, a journey of self discovery and one where he finds out his true purpose as the hero chosen by the gods in shape of the hero of old (Hero in Ocarina).
The world is not a safe place to go off adventuring in any more though, because all of Hyrule has been enveloped in what is known as Twilight, where darkness and light meet. The Twilight King Zant has taken over Hyrule Castle and imprisoned Princess Zelda and turned the whole world into a living hell. Whenever you enter the various twilight zones, you must collect all of the energy of the light spirts to return the area to normal. The catch is you must do this in the form of a wolf, for you have been cursed by Zant.
This is how Link goes on his journey to save his friends and the Princess. Whether he makes it to the end of his journey depends on your patience.
The story is very long and will last you probably about 40, 50 hours in total. The graphics are amazing and they offer support for 480p, if you have the money (and the TV) to go out and get component cables for the Wii. The lighting is stunning and the way the water reflects looks almost on par with 360 or PS3. Sometimes you can notice how hazy the backgrounds look though, which brings you back to reality of the graphical barriers of the Wii.
The sound is really good and it reminds you of the good old days when you heard the soundtrack on Ocarina. It's almost nostalgic though because it seems very outdated, seems like they did very little to change the old songs. Even though they were almost perfect back then, it still seems like they could have done a little bit more. I find myself turning down the speaker on the Wii remote because the horrible scratchy noise it makes when your sword hits something is unbearable.
The Wii controls feel pretty comfortable overall, but it's a bit difficult to aim your bow or slingshot sometimes. It is something that you get used to though. All of the upgradeable items are very fun and there are plenty of sidequests that will keep you entertained if you wander off of the main quest.
For the controls, you still walk around using the control stick in your left hand, like on any other system. But for aiming, you use your right hand by tilting the controller. You don't use it all that often, only when fighting, so your right arm doesn't get all that tired all the time. Swordplay is done by combinations of tilting the Wii remote forward, slicing and spinning the nunchuck or hitting certain buttons. The huge array of different things you can do with the Wii Remote makes it so that you can learn all types of moves. On top of the six moves you learn at the beginning game tutorial, you can learn seven more hidden skills throughout the game that are often necessary to beat certain monsters. From shield bashes to skull crushers, all of the moves help a lot, whether you are dealing with an extremely nimble enemy or a heavily armored one.
The controls will take getting used to, and the menu selection feels really wierd. But using items is pretty easy, as you can put items on the d-pad and switch them in as your main object by pressing the B button on the bottom of the remote. You would use this when you need your hookshot, bow and arrow, bombs and other items.
New gameplay features include the ability to play as a wolf, a bigger map, golden bugs to collect, a fishing journal to keep track of, on top of all the old things to do like hunting down heart pieces. You face pretty much the same puzzles in each dungeon, but Twilight Princess is still a REALLY long game. You get the illusion in the beginning that it might be short, but then.....suddenly.....you are not even half done with the game. Although they follow the same patterns, virtually all enemies in the game are brand new and all the environments will remind you of old ones but are look refreshingly different and updated.
This is a very exciting game that I loved very much. If you loved any of the old Zelda games, then you MUST pick this up as it will remind you of your old games yet offer you a whole new appreciation for the series. If you are new to the series, then pick it up anyways because there is a good, gripping story that will keep you up playing all night.
Warning: Don't buy this game if you need sleep.
I recommend this game highly.