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Legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess Review
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Dec 07, 2006 02:52 PM
from the hey-listen dept.
from the hey-listen dept.
In talking about perfection in games, there are very few names that deserve that kind of accolade. If the business situation demands it, once great titles may need to be compromised in the name of the bottom line. Even great gaming franchises experience bumps in the road or unexpected problems. Many players considered Wind Waker a letdown; too much ocean, not enough story. Now that Link is back on dry land, he has found his feet again. The Legend of Zelda is gaming at its pure best. Created by a man who enjoyed walking in the woods and exploring the caves near his childhood home, Zelda captures the fun, the excitement, the danger that every game dreams of delivering. For most gamers, the adventures of Link and the story of Zelda have never failed to deliver. The latest chapter in the cyclic Legend, Twilight Princess, had the fate of not only Hyrule but a brand-new gaming platform resting on its shoulders. It has - almost unreasonably well - borne up under the pressure. Link saves himself and the princess from the darkness of evil, and the Wii from the darkness of financial misfortune. Read on for my impressions of the latest chapter in gaming's greatest dynasty - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Publisher/Developer: Nintendo
- System: Wii (GameCube)
What begins to happen, as you pass beyond the introductory period and move into the game proper, is that you stop crawling. You start running. After the long tutorial, your legs stretch out and before you know it you're looking around at a game that demands your continued movement. The element that shifts Twilight Princess beyond Ocarina is the sheer momentum that the game builds as it hurtles forward through the story. There's so much to see, so much to do, that the game stops being 'another Zelda' and becomes Zelda in its purest form. There are references throughout the game to other chapters in the series, and you begin to realize that you aren't just playing some schmo here: you are playing with the Hero of Legend.
That may sound overly dramatic, but it's something that has to be experienced to be believed. The Wiimote control scheme is the first stepping stone. The fear Zelda fans expressed when it was announced you were going to have to waggle to swing your sword was palpable. They needn't have worried; holding your hands apart in your lap, destroying your enemies with a quick flick of the wrist, is the most natural thing in the world. Most impressively, you'll even find there are a few 'Wii Sports' moments in the game. There is no in-game need for you to do a completely elaborate overhand slash into the boss's weak point ... but it's a hell of a lot of fun. The control scheme turns the spin attack into a regular part of your routine, too. With no need for charging up, a simple gesture with your nunchuck hand sends mobs of enemies to their doom.
It's the Wiimote, of course, that makes these bosses and puzzles work so well. Aiming for targets with the boomerang or bow and arrows is just a matter of pointing. Because all of the buttons (A, B, C, Z) are so close together, and so distinctly placed on the two parts of the controller, performing quick presses with any of them is just a matter of reacting. There's never a need to think 'Which one is B, now?' You just know.
The slow buildup at the start of the game is what makes that possible. Your thorough grounding in the 'basics of Twilight Princess' leaves you well-prepared for the unpredictability of the later portions of the game. You'll bounce back and forth between light and darkness, freeing portions of Hyrule as a wolf, and then returning to the light to exterminate the twilight beasts with your sword and shield. In the twilight realm, Midna rides atop your furry back, while in the light she hides within your own shadow. In both realms, she offers advice whenever she feels it's appropriate, as well as hints as to what to do next. Once you've begun defeating shadow creatures, she'll offer you teleportation services across Hyrule as well. It's a truly great experience, to have the option to bop across Hyrule or make your way via more conventional means.
Whatever that unattainable object is, chances are you can see it from quite a ways away. Despite the (relatively) underpowered nature of the Wii, Twilight Princess is a very, very beautiful game. To an eye used to the slickness of the 360 or PS3, some portions of the games textures can certainly appear muddy and dull. The difference in image quality between AV cables and component cables is also quite striking; unartistically abstract portions of the game pop to life with the increase in visual quality. What the game lacks in graphical power, though, is more than made up for by the sheer amount and precision of the graphics. Zelda's huge environment is lovingly laid out, with every portion of the world having received careful attention. Places like Hyrule Castle, Death Mountain, and Kakariko Village are instantly recognizable, but look quite different from previous incarnations. The game's audio needs no qualifiers. I've been a fan of the music in Zelda games since the original 8-bit theme kept me up at night. This title's score is equal parts tradition and originality. The twilight realm, especially, moves the horizon of the game's musical landscape. Twisted, vaguely mechanical sounds are now a part of the instrumental selections, and the game's use of music to build mood is carefully laid down. Both visually and auditorally, Twilight Princess is a feast.
The game is not flawless, of course. If you don't like adventure games, or the Zelda series, there is nothing here that will change your perspective. Likewise, while I don't think the extreme visual style of Wind Waker would have been appropriate here, I wouldn't have objected to some slightly more stylized graphical elements. Titles like Okami and Final Fantasy XII have proven what you can get out of an aging console if you focus on style over realism; it might have been interesting to see what such a marriage could reap with a Zelda title.
The path the designers have laid down leads from the last generation to the next. They've built this game on series traditions, and fitted the stones into place with the tools of their 'new gen' console. The highest praise I can think to give to a game is to say that it is fun. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an awful, awful lot of fun. Not only is it a reason to buy a Wii, it's proof that despite all of our doubts, despite the fears that they'd gone crazy-nutso with this 'waggling' thing, they really know what they're doing. Truly, perhaps, the best part of this whole scenario is the date on the calendar. This was a launch title. If they can so finely craft the entertainment experience of a Wii title this early in the console's life, one can only hope that future titles will be able to build on the lessons of Twilight Princess. Zelda won't be the best game on the system. Down the line, I look foward to more memorable, physically involving, and deeply moving experiences on Nintendo's little white box.
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Twilight Princess Mirrored on Wii 178 comments
conigs writes "As some of you may or may not know, Link will appear right-handed in the Wii version of Twilight Princess (as opposed to the left-handed Link seen since Ocarina of Time). In order to accomplish this, Nintendo has mirrored the entire game. This includes maps, since they were apparently designed with a left-handed Link in mind." Kotaku says that this will even be true in the GameCube version of Princess, to avoid confusion.
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Extensive Twilight Princess Previews 117 comments
All this week, and last week, Nintendo has been inviting game journalists up to their manse to have some extensive hands-on time with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. At 1up Jeremy Parish has an extensive look at the game, with screenshots, impressions of the Wii control scheme, and a detailed look at the title's first few hours. From the article: "The bulk of swordplay, however, is controlled by moving the entire Wii Remote. Contrary to common opinion, this doesn't entail making massive swiping motions. Although it's certainly possible to wield the remote like an actual sword, a simple flick of the wrist will cause Link to attack. How you move the controller also has no bearing on the kind of strike you make. By default, Link sweeps horizontally; for a vertical slice, you must first lock on to a target. And a swing executed while pressing forward on the analog stick results in a stabbing thrust." Other features on the game include pieces from GameDaily, Kotaku, Gamespot, IGN, Gamasutra, and Game|Life. If you've been wondering about whether or not the controller is going to be tiring, then Chris Kohler's assurances for the worried gamer will be especially appreciated..
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The Final Fantasy series is almost twenty years old. When Square developed the first title in the series, the game's name was meant to coincide with designer Hironobu Sakaguchi's retirement. Instead, the game's popularity set the stage for a series that has now reached twelve 'main' titles and more than half a dozen offshoots. Almost everything about the series has changed over the years, except for popularity and a generally high level of quality. Final Fantasy XII has changed almost everything from the series norm, except the quality. The result is a game that very well may be considered the best Japanese RPG in years. It's a smarter, more adult, and absolutely beautiful title; the perfect balm for anyone not taken with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion . Read on for my impressions of the newest and most ambitious chapter of the Fantasy that's never quite Final.
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Entire Twilight Princess Script Available Online 54 comments
1up notes, briefly, an enormous present for any dedicated Zelda fan that hasn't been able to work through Twilight Princess yet. The extremely cogent 'Mgoblue201' has uploaded a massive text file to GameFAQs, with the entire script of the game available to read. The author means business: he has jotted down every line of dialogue in the game, including the ones where you as a player try to do something nonsensical, or when you do something out of the ordinary. Mgoblue also offers a good deal of interstitial text to connect the various scenes. Here is some of his work from the very first scene of the game: "FADO: Hey hey, where are you goin' without Epona? Hurry on up an' bring her with you, bud. [Link rushes through the shadowy coat of the forest, which parts ways to let in the path to the springs, where he finds Ilia bathing Epona in the eerie glow of the twilight]" At the end of the document he looks at some of the apparent inconsistencies between the Zelda games, and attempts to make sense of the fractured 'Hero of Time' timeline. If you want to find out how the game ends, or don't understand something you breezed past, Mgoblue has you covered.
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The Reinvention of Zelda 74 comments
Gamespot reports on a lecture at GDC on Thursday, with commentary from Nintendo's manager of software development Eiji Aonuma. Aonuma went through the very long process involved in bringing Twilight Princess to the American audience. Realistic graphics were chosen for the US playerbase, but many other decisions came about via unorthodox thinking and the intervention of a higher power. "It was around this stage that Aonuma was talking to Nintendo senior managing director Shigeru Miyamoto, who told him something along the lines of, 'It's as though the Revolution (later renamed the Wii) was designed just for Zelda! Why don't you try making a Zelda for the Revolution?' In the end, believes Aonuma, the kind of direct control offered by the Wii Remote was exactly what was needed to breathe life into the game."
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In the 80s, kids of my generation cut their teeth on Super Mario Bros.. They went through high school with Mario Kart, and bonded with college friends playing Super Smash Bros. By 1999, though, the N64 had long since proven that Nintendo's dominance in American videogaming was over. The GameCube that followed was largely a disappointment. Nintendo failed to interest third party developers, and frustrated fans with long-delayed chapters of the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid franchises. Coming into this no-longer-next generation of consoles, Nintendo announced they were aiming for a Revolution, and then confused everyone by renaming it Wii. Their actions left a lot of people wondering if the company still had what it took to compete with committed powerhouses like Microsoft and Sony. The launch lineup is kind of tepid, and the controls really do take some getting used to. We've already established that they're not aiming to compete in the graphics race. So what is the console really like? Why is it selling so quickly? What does it have to offer? I've had two weeks to find out. Read on, so that you can get a feel for the system you'll definitely be playing (if not owning) at some point in the future.
Offsite: Gamespy Review
Offsite: Gamespot Review
Offsite: 1up Review
Offsite: IGN Review
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Any Gamecube reviews? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Any Gamecube reviews? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
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Chuckle.. heheh.. sorry..
Anyways Nintendo has been shipping out a new batch of Wii's almost every week. You might have to wait till after Christmas, but you might not either. The local stores that are carrying it have been getting used to this, and can generally by now tell you when they expect their next shipment in.
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Re:Any Gamecube reviews? (Score:5, Informative)
Twilight Princess was originally developed for the cube, then ported to the Wii late in development. So it's likely that the controls will not feel unnatural to anyone who's played Ocarina of Time.
Parent
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Ocarina of Time is at least a seven year old N64 game, not a gamecube game.
Re:Any Gamecube reviews? (Score:4, Informative)
Twilight Princess is more of a direct descendent of OoT than of Wind Waker. While those who played Wind Waker loved the game, it was met with some rather critical reactions from Zelda fans. So Nintendo went back to the tried and true formula established in OoT to produce a new, yet traditional Zelda for the Gamecube. Unfortunately, development took a LONG time. (A couple of years, in fact.) By the time they were ready to release, they decided to just delay the game and release it for the Wii.
Parent
Re:Any Gamecube reviews? (Score:5, Interesting)
I dunno if I would agree that everyone who played Wind Waker loved it. Most of us got over the "but it looks like it's for little kids" bullshit, the artistic style was the least of my worries (as well as most other people who finally played it, that I've talked with), but the "huge boring ocean" does really cut into the enjoyment factor quite a bit, it turns what could have been an "excellent little game" into a "excellent but extremely flawed little game".
Twilight Princess is neither flawed nor little, though. Sure, the OoT references are many, and the traditional dungeon progression is back, but it's not OoT for the sheer reasons that the story is about 10x as deep, the atmosphere is darker than Majora's Mask (my previous favorite in the series), and its character portrayal could go give a contemporary Final Fantasy a run for its money, any day of the week... not typical for Zelda.
I now understand that when Nintendo was talking about making Zelda a more mature game, they weren't talking about adding gore or death or sexual references, they weren't talking about making Link into the 15-year-old male's teen idol... they were talking about making the whole experience more sophisiticated, for lack of a better term, and I think they outdid themselves in this regard.
Unfortunately, it's holding at 11th best game at GameRankings.com, when OoT has always remained #1... strangely, however, almost everyone who pits it against OoT agrees that it is a far superior game, so I don't know how they get off with that. I think TP is even more gutsy, breaking away from its traditionally 2-dimensonal (story and character-wise) roots, then OoT was for its time.
Parent
The Wind Waker is the Only Zelda Game I never ... (Score:3, Interesting)
The new control scheme is second nature to me, and the six or eight hours straight do
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Gameplay is about the same, the only difference is how you move the aiming reticule, and how you attack (press a button, wiggle the controller)
All in all it's the same review, and easily worth the price. I say that with out playing the cube game, but knowing it's a faithful port.
Re:Any Gamecube reviews? (Score:5, Informative)
I honestly can't imagine playing it without the Wiimote, though. Slashy slashy!
Parent
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For example, I was having terrible trouble putting in the golf portion of Wii Sports. My stepfather (a non-gamer, but a golfer), noticed how I was trying to use the same motion for driving as I was for putting. The Wii seems to be more contextually aware than you would think.
In any case, digression aside, I found that
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Me, I'm a computer gamer. I spend lots of money on great PC hardware. However, there are always a few console games I really want to play. Wind Waker and the Resident Evil remakes are two of them. My plan? Wait until the Wii is out (which it is now, apparently) and buy a Gamecube on eBay. Why not? If I cared about the bestest graphics for my console, I wouldn't be buying a Nintendo anyway.
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All said and done... (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/920500.asp [gamerankings.com]
I thought Zelda was *very* good, but I think the controls turned out a bit... awkward, for lack of a better word. I think they worked quite well, but it never felt really natural. Also, it's honestly time for some voice acting Zelda. All in all a fantastic game though!
Re:All said and done... (Score:5, Insightful)
Text works perfectly fine and you don't have to deal with crappy dubbing as it crosses the ocean. Just use your imagination and you have all the voice acting you want.
Parent
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They'd also have to come up with some dialogue for Link on the first place. He never says anything - we just fill it in. They'd have to do a spectacular job of that, and it would have to be better than anything the player could have imagined Link saying. It's a tall order.
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-Z
Re:All said and done... (Score:4, Insightful)
But this is an adventure gaming genre where "Magic sword east. Good luck!" tends to be considered the height of exposition. So the bar isn't particularly high after all.
Parent
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Guitar Hero I/II and God of War should be your other 2 reasons to buy a PS2. =)
Cheers,
Fozzy
I agree (Score:2)
480 resolution? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:480 resolution? (Score:5, Interesting)
How about snapping your own, Zonk? Or at least making note that Nintendo basically handed these out?
Parent
Re:480 resolution? (Score:5, Informative)
I agree with the implication you're making: Twilight Princess did *not* look that good on my TV. But, it didn't look half bad either. I just got the component cables for the Wii the other day, and on my set (which does up to 1080i), it looks really really nice. I'd rather have slightly nicer-than-the-real thing images than nothing at all, which is what my choice was here.
The request you're making, that I take my own screenshots, is something that I'd very much like to do myself. However, I'm just not set up for such a thing here. See, the first step along that path would be to hook a PC up to my home entertainment setup. As I have a.) a wife and b.) no spare PCs lying around, that plan pretty much stalls out before it even leaves the hanger.
Parent
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To be completely honest, The Twilight Princess is an ugly game. Before you flame me -- I loved the game. Dearly. It's one of the best games I've ever played, and certainly one of the best in the entire series. The artists responsible for all of the game's graphics did a fantastic job. The problem, for the most part, is that
Weirdest Wii attachments (Score:5, Interesting)
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That being said, there are already games announced/in development with ideas of such attachments. Since the Wiimote itself can do most of the things one might need, you just need the attachment to make it more immersive, thus making said attachments incredibly cheap (as opposed to, let say, Light Gun games of old that required a full fledged light gun to be bundled in in many cases, etc).
So expect to see them semi-frequently.
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So I don't "exactly" control the sword? (Score:5, Insightful)
But...
I am all for the new innovation the Wiimote offers, but after playing Zelda TP for about 20 hours, I really don't think its integration with the Wii is anything special. I understand it was originally a GameCube game, but even as great as the game is, I think it still is a GameCube game for the Wii. Where with Wii Sports the movements of the players mimic what you do, with Zelda you just shake the Wiimote when you want Link to strike with his sword. I noticed in the E3 vids showing gameplay of Mario Galaxy (or whatever its called) you shake the Wiimote to do a superwarp or superjump. That struck me as weird, like it wasn't an instinctive motion. Why can't you just map that to a button? Did you need to put the motion sensitivity in there somewhere so sword equals jiggle the Wiimote, THERE YOU GO? If the motion can be replaced by a button, I don't see it causing excitement. I see a lot of developers thinking "How can we incorporate the wiggle?" I hope soon enough they figure out how this new interface really works. Hopefully Trauma Center and Elebits can be used for a future template on why there is motion sensitivity in the first place!
Re:So I don't "exactly" control the sword? (Score:5, Interesting)
But I still think the best part of the Wii controller is that I can use what amounts to a Gamecube controller cut in half. I don't have to sit with my hands cramped together.
Parent
Whatever Nintendo does they'll always be bashed... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wow. You're not the first one to say that. It's funny how Nintendo were completely lambasted for making the Wind Maker cell shaded so they decided to take Twilight Princess in the art direction that the fans wanted. And now they're criticized to making the game too dark and gritty?
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Re:Whatever Nintendo does they'll always be bashed (Score:4, Interesting)
As for Princess's look, I just think that the art style they used in the twilight realm was infinitely more interesting than the off-the-shelf fantasy feel of the light world. I'm like most gamers: I like seeing new stuff. More newness in the visual style would have just been even more icing on an already delicious cake.
Parent
Creativity from Japan is amazing... (Score:2, Interesting)
Most gamers, maybe... (Score:4, Interesting)
Only because most gamers were spared the horror of playing one of the two CD-i Zelda games. I picked up a refurb CD-i dirt cheap for the time ($100 w/the MPEG cart) for the 7th Guest and decided to try out the Mask of Gamelion (sp?) while I was at it. Not only was that easily the worst game I've ever played (and I've played ET for the 2600), I was dumb enough to pay $35 for it. That is one scenario where the "adventures of Link and the story of Zelda" SERIOUSLY failed to deliver.
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The only reason that Philips was able to crap out (not one, but) three games with Zelda in the title is due to a rather messy breakup between Nintendo and Philips that left them with temporary legal rights to some of Nintendo's properties.
So really, they are games with "Zelda" in the title, but they are non-canon and are ad
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You can call us "heretics" all you like. But we have just as much right to define the Zelda canon as you do! And we say the holy CD-i titles are just as sacred as the rest!
-Eric
There was no CD-i (Score:3, Funny)
Stop spreading your evil lies, heretic!
You're just as dangerous as those sinners who claim that the Wachowskis made not just one, but two sequels to The Matrix. Burn the lot of ya, I say!
Controls (Score:3, Informative)
A slightly different perspective (spoilers ahead!) (Score:4, Informative)
First, the battle camera- it's like it actually got worse from Wind Waker. When using Z-targeting, the camera tends to slowly circle Link and his locked-on foe. As it does so, the directions changes in relation to the analog stick, so if I'm trying to do a forward slash I might wind up doing a side jump. This is annoying, especially when I need to be able to look straight on.
Second was movements with the Nunchuck. Perhaps I just need more practice, but actually doing a Shield-Knock (or whatever it is called) was rather annoying. More often than not I wound up doing a Spin Slash instead. And, speaking of the Spin Slash, the movements I had to make with the Nunchuck never seemed completely constant- sometimes a little shake was enough, sometimes I'd have to flail my arms to get it to work.
Finally, I am saddened that a lot of the additions in Wind Waker weren't included in Twilight Princess. First, the ability to use the weapons of enemies. Even if they'd been less effective, it would have been fun to pick up one of the ginormous swords of the new (and much bad-ass) Iron Knuckles. Second, I kind of liked the whole picture collection thing, though there are lots of other collecting to do in TP to make up for that. Finally, the ending.
-----(SPOILERS AHEAD! SCROLL FAST!)-----
After finally defeating Ganondorf (following one fun as hell horseback fight), you kind of stand there with Zelda, and the Light Spirits bring back Midna in her true form. She says a witty line, and then credits. To me, this seems like the least cohesive of all Zelda endings, even worse than Ocarina of Time. Yes, in the middle of the credits we have a scene where she goes back to Twili and destorys the mirror on her way out, but still- what happened to Ganondorf? Did he completely die? Was he just defeated enough to be sent back into the Light/Dark World? These are really only necessary if you're trying to fit into continuity, but still... I feel like the ending was severly lacking.
------------(END SPOILERS!)-------------
And then they don't even give us some sort of New Story+. Granted, I still have 30 hours of content to go through for this initial game, but you don't even get to save at the end and unlock some nifty little things. WW allowed you the use of your normal clothes, an extra heart, being able to understand the Guardian beasts (which was well worth it) and the Photo box early on after initially beating the game.
For all that though, it was still a great game. A lot of the new items were great, too. The Ball & Chain is fun as hell, the Spinner adds new gameplay elements, and the double hookshot is also nifty keen. My $50 was definately not wasted.
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chill out guy. it's a video game review! you don't like it, move on!
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If you've got no other choice, go ahead and pick up the GC version. No matter which you play first, it'll be kind of a new adventure when you try the other system's
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Oh, and 9 hours in you've not even gotten to the cool stuff yet. The game does get better as it goes along. You'll get completely new items too. IMO the 6th dungeon is the best in the entire Zelda series.
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Hm, your comment about easy bosses actually makes me think I'll like it. Bosses are always more of an annoyance to me than anything. I'd much prefer having moderately easy bosses and harder puzzles when you're trying to get around places.
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