The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

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mode of Hyrule transportation: Epona. After spending a bit of time in the village, the game kicks into high gear and you are changed into a wolf with new abilities that completely turns the world of Zelda upside-down. From here on out, you realize that you are destined to save the world, animal form or not, and must do so by navigating a line-up of cleverly designed dungeons.

I had not played an X-box 360 or Playstation 3 prior to trying out this game, so to me, the graphics were outstanding. This is the first time in the history of the series that I felt like the game was alive, with well designed character models and astounding lighting effects. It should also be worth noting that this game has a much darker, more realistic feel to it, which is a sharp contrast to Wind Waker's cel-shading effects which came before it.

The soundtrack for this game is superb as well. All the tracks were wonderfully orchestrated and have that classic Zelda flavor that has been a staple for the series since the beginning. The only disappointment here is the lack of voice work that has been done for the game aside from the short voiceovers that play when talking to a character, but this is nothing new and does not retract from the enjoyment of the game.

Playing this game with the Wii remote is a major draw for this title. With the exception of playing with a plastic sword as a child, this is the first time I got to imitate Link's sword fighting skills without feeling like an idiot. Although you may look silly to your friends and family that happen to pass by as you are flailing your Wii remote in the air, you will be having far too much fun to care. I think having the controls done in this manner also helps reduce the amount of buttons required to control the game. All you need to do is wave the Wii remote to swing Link's swords, and waving the nunchuk gives you access to spin attacks and shield blocks. In addition, the remote makes sounds during combat that help reinforce the feeling that you are actual engaged in sword combat.

We are slowly entering the HD era of gaming, and with that in mind, it may seem like the Wii will lag far behind. But if a majority of Wii titles can maintain the sort of quality that is pouring out of this latest Zelda adventure, I think Nintendo's system can hang with the big dogs with the best of them. If you have a Wii, or are thinking about buying one, you should pick up Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. You won't regret it.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

Pros: Great scenery, Fun gameplay, Huge world, Interesting Story, Good Puzzles

Cons: No voice acting, Gamecube Graphics, Aiming slightly out of sync

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with your remote because it really just takes a drumming motion to get your sword going. You can go crazy with it and pretend it's a real sword, but that's completely unnecessary. Doing the spin attack with the nunchuk is just as easy and takes minimal effort. The aiming with the remote is very enjoyable, but I had some slight sync problems with it. After adjusting the position of the crosshair in the options I still felt like it was a little off. Far Cry feels much better when it comes to aiming.

Overall this game is a must for Zelda fans and adventure fans alike. It's the best game I've played in years. I loved the puzzles and the new environments. The dungeons and caves were great and the overworld is the best I've seen. I strongly recommend this game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

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of fighting/shooting and action-puzzles of the jumping, running, timing type) but also for the memories.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

...

of fighting/shooting and action-puzzles of the jumping, running, timing type) but also for the memories.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

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wallet will only hold a certain amount of $$. DRAT! Also, the ending is really lacking especially if you are a FFX fan.
Bottom line, I am recouping from a broken elbo and not very good at playing games, but I did ok on this one and only had to have my teen beat two bosses. (ok, and the walkthrough helped at times :-) )

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

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element is lacking in TP. Majora's Mask introduced very extensive gameplay before you enter the dungeon, and extensive character interaction and sidequests. All of this is significantly scaled back in TP. Also, whereas in MM, you could transform into three different forms that could hover, roll, or swim rapidly underwater, in TP, you only transform into a wolf that can't do much. Wind Waker introduced an overworld that was realistically large and integrated, meaning it was all one piece--not a bunch of areas with load times between them. TP overworld is smaller than WW's, is fragmented into small areas, and often doesn't match. For example, if you look at Hyrule Castle from the ground, the rooftops you scaled to reach Zelda aren't there. Finally, most Zelda games had a unique feature/ability. MM had masks, Oracle Games had seeds and rings, Minnish Cap had Kinship Stones, etc. TP has nothing like that. So how is it that a game that came out years after its predecessors on Nintendo's most powerful console yet actually REGRESSED in amount of equipment, number of dungeons, overworld size, etc.!? LttP made a huge leap over Zelda II, and OoT made a huge leap over LttP. These games were among defining for their time. TP made little progress over N64 games or Wind Waker, and feels a generation behind contemporary games like Final Fantasy XII or GTA: San Andreas.

The story is strange, too. You don't really learn anything about the Legend of Zelda/Hyrule. The story is all about Midna and Zant, which is frustrating, since TP was supposed to be the spiritual successor to the OoT. Also, the weird cybernetic twilight world with floating square particles, wormholes, and Zant's castle that looks like inside of a computer REALLY clashes with Zelda's medieval theme. Other than the postman from Majora's Mask, there are no characters from other Zelda games, no fairy fountains, no pissed off chickens, no magic, nothing recognizeable, really. So it just doesn't have much Zelda charm. WW was a tropic island adventury with cartoony graphics, but with recognizable Zelda elements, a new chapter to the Hyrule legend, and strong interaction between Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, it felt like a Zelda much more than this one.

Also, there is little innovation here. Other than the horseback combat system, which was awesome, nothing here is really new. Also, collecting three things, and then collecting five more things is getting pretty old by this point, especially on a 3-D system. Can't Nintendo come up with a more involving storyline?

Finally, this all would have been okay if the game were really fun. But it's not. For the first three dungeons, you discover big new areas, but the action is boring. As a wolf, you run around deserted black-and-white areas killing bugs. Human action is a little better, but there's little of it. Soon after the third dungeon, you don't go back and forth between twilight and light, and you barely play as the wolf. Also, the action between dungeons becomes shorter and shorter. After fifth dungeon, you don't discover any new places (except one one-street town) and don't do anything except maybe a couple of really tedious fetch quests or repeats of the early quests. The dungeons themselves are okay. Only walking on walls and ceiling in the Goron Mines and the enitre City in the Sky felt above and beyond what we've seen before. Otherwise, they're too strait-forward and the puzzles too simple. Also, the design isn't very crisp and their theme (interaction with fire, water, etc) isn't developed as well as before. The fire dungeon is a weird combination of mechanical mines, caves, and docks, and the water dungeon has only slightly more water in it than the fire dungeon. The Temple of Time is a complete rip off of the Wind Waker's Tower of Gods. The mini-bosses and the bosses in this game are the best of any Zelda games, although too easy, and they still just wait for Link to hit them.

So, overall, for me the game was a disappointment. And before people discard my opinion because I don't love the game and write how I must be an Xbox or PS fan or that I haven't actually played this game, know that I don't even own these systems and that I played almost every Zelda game, including this one (2.5 times). However, I find it frustrating that whereas Zelda games were among the most cutting-edge on the market in the 90s, Nintendo has not only fallen this far behind the industry standards for RPG/adventure games, but it has fallen the standars set by its own games many years ago.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

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element is lacking in TP. Majora's Mask introduced very extensive gameplay before you enter the dungeon, and extensive character interaction and sidequests. All of this is significantly scaled back in TP. Also, whereas in MM, you could transform into three different forms that could hover, roll, or swim rapidly underwater, in TP, you only transform into a wolf that can't do much. Wind Waker introduced an overworld that was realistically large and integrated, meaning it was all one piece--not a bunch of areas with load times between them. TP overworld is smaller than WW's, is fragmented into small areas, and often doesn't match. For example, if you look at Hyrule Castle from the ground, the rooftops you scaled to reach Zelda aren't there. Finally, most Zelda games had a unique feature/ability. MM had masks, Oracle Games had seeds and rings, Minnish Cap had Kinship Stones, etc. TP has nothing like that. So how is it that a game that came out years after its predecessors on Nintendo's most powerful console yet actually REGRESSED in amount of equipment, number of dungeons, overworld size, etc.!? LttP made a huge leap over Zelda II, and OoT made a huge leap over LttP. These games were among defining for their time. TP made little progress over N64 games or Wind Waker, and feels a generation behind contemporary games like Final Fantasy XII or GTA: San Andreas.



The story is strange, too. You don't really learn anything about the Legend of Zelda/Hyrule. The story is all about Midna and Zant, which is frustrating, since TP was supposed to be the spiritual successor to the OoT. Also, the weird cybernetic twilight world with floating square particles, wormholes, and Zant's castle that looks like inside of a computer REALLY clashes with Zelda's medieval theme. Other than the postman from Majora's Mask, there are no characters from other Zelda games, no fairy fountains, no pissed off chickens, no magic, nothing recognizeable, really. So it just doesn't have much Zelda charm. WW was a tropic island adventury with cartoony graphics, but with recognizable Zelda elements, a new chapter to the Hyrule legend, and strong interaction between Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, it felt like a Zelda much more than this one.



Also, there is little innovation here. Other than the horseback combat system, which was awesome, nothing here is really new. Also, collecting three things, and then collecting five more things is getting pretty old by this point, especially on a 3-D system. Can't Nintendo come up with a more involving storyline?



Finally, this all would have been okay if the game were really fun. But it's not. For the first three dungeons, you discover big new areas, but the action is boring. As a wolf, you run around deserted black-and-white areas killing bugs. Human action is a little better, but there's little of it. Soon after the third dungeon, you don't go back and forth between twilight and light, and you barely play as the wolf. Also, the action between dungeons becomes shorter and shorter. After fifth dungeon, you don't discover any new places (except one one-street town) and don't do anything except maybe a couple of really tedious fetch quests or repeats of the early quests. The dungeons themselves are okay. Only walking on walls and ceiling in the Goron Mines and the enitre City in the Sky felt above and beyond what we've seen before. Otherwise, they're too strait-forward and the puzzles too simple. Also, the design isn't very crisp and their theme (interaction with fire, water, etc) isn't developed as well as before. The fire dungeon is a weird combination of mechanical mines, caves, and docks, and the water dungeon has only slightly more water in it than the fire dungeon. The Temple of Time is a complete rip off of the Wind Waker's Tower of Gods. The mini-bosses and the bosses in this game are the best of any Zelda games, although too easy, and they still just wait for Link to hit them.



So, overall, for me the game was a disappointment. And before people discard my opinion because I don't love the game and write how I must be an Xbox or PS fan or that I haven't actually played this game, know that I don't even own these systems and that I played almost every Zelda game, including this one (2.5 times). However, I find it frustrating that whereas Zelda games were among the most cutting-edge on the market in the 90s, Nintendo has not only fallen this far behind the industry standards for RPG/adventure games, but it has fallen the standars set by its own games many years ago.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

...

element is lacking in TP. Majora's Mask introduced very extensive gameplay before you enter the dungeon, and extensive character interaction and sidequests. All of this is significantly scaled back in TP. Also, whereas in MM, you could transform into three different forms that could hover, roll, or swim rapidly underwater, in TP, you only transform into a wolf that can't do much. Wind Waker introduced an overworld that was realistically large and integrated, meaning it was all one piece--not a bunch of areas with load times between them. TP overworld is smaller than WW's, is fragmented into small areas, and often doesn't match. For example, if you look at Hyrule Castle from the ground, the rooftops you scaled to reach Zelda aren't there. Finally, most Zelda games had a unique feature/ability. MM had masks, Oracle Games had seeds and rings, Minnish Cap had Kinship Stones, etc. TP has nothing like that. So how is it that a game that came out years after its predecessors on Nintendo's most powerful console yet actually REGRESSED in amount of equipment, number of dungeons, overworld size, etc.!? LttP made a huge leap over Zelda II, and OoT made a huge leap over LttP. These games were among defining for their time. TP made little progress over N64 games or Wind Waker, and feels a generation behind contemporary games like Final Fantasy XII or GTA: San Andreas.





The story is strange, too. You don't really learn anything about the Legend of Zelda/Hyrule. The story is all about Midna and Zant, which is frustrating, since TP was supposed to be the spiritual successor to the OoT. Also, the weird cybernetic twilight world with floating square particles, wormholes, and Zant's castle that looks like inside of a computer REALLY clashes with Zelda's medieval theme. Other than the postman from Majora's Mask, there are no characters from other Zelda games, no fairy fountains, no pissed off chickens, no magic, nothing recognizeable, really. So it just doesn't have much Zelda charm. WW was a tropic island adventury with cartoony graphics, but with recognizable Zelda elements, a new chapter to the Hyrule legend, and strong interaction between Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, it felt like a Zelda much more than this one.





Also, there is little innovation here. Other than the horseback combat system, which was awesome, nothing here is really new. Also, collecting three things, and then collecting five more things is getting pretty old by this point, especially on a 3-D system. Can't Nintendo come up with a more involving storyline?





Finally, this all would have been okay if the game were really fun. But it's not. For the first three dungeons, you discover big new areas, but the action is boring. As a wolf, you run around deserted black-and-white areas killing bugs. Human action is a little better, but there's little of it. Soon after the third dungeon, you don't go back and forth between twilight and light, and you barely play as the wolf. Also, the action between dungeons becomes shorter and shorter. After fifth dungeon, you don't discover any new places (except one one-street town) and don't do anything except maybe a couple of really tedious fetch quests or repeats of the early quests. The dungeons themselves are okay. Only walking on walls and ceiling in the Goron Mines and the enitre City in the Sky felt above and beyond what we've seen before. Otherwise, they're too strait-forward and the puzzles too simple. Also, the design isn't very crisp and their theme (interaction with fire, water, etc) isn't developed as well as before. The fire dungeon is a weird combination of mechanical mines, caves, and docks, and the water dungeon has only slightly more water in it than the fire dungeon. The Temple of Time is a complete rip off of the Wind Waker's Tower of Gods. The mini-bosses and the bosses in this game are the best of any Zelda games, although too easy, and they still just wait for Link to hit them.





So, overall, for me the game was a disappointment. And before people discard my opinion because I don't love the game and write how I must be an Xbox or PS fan or that I haven't actually played this game, know that I don't even own these systems and that I played almost every Zelda game, including this one (2.5 times). However, I find it frustrating that whereas Zelda games were among the most cutting-edge on the market in the 90s, Nintendo has not only fallen this far behind the industry standards for RPG/adventure games, but it has fallen the standars set by its own games many years ago.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

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parts of the game, find themselves slashing with their Wiimotes in broad strokes, becoming physically and emotionally engrossed in the action occurring onscreen. The Wiimote also functions as the means by which Link aims his bow and other projectile weapons. The Wiimote allows for a level of precision never before realized in console gaming: the player can easily fire arrows and hit enemies even at great distances, making archery an extremely enjoyable aspect of the game. One of the most memorable parts of the game takes place in an abandoned ghost town, where Link fires arrows at goblins in a old Western-like atmosphere. The tight control provided by the Wiimote enables this adrenaline-inducing battle. The Wii controller also has special uses in many of the minigames. In the frustratingly addictive and challenging Rollgoal, the player tilts the Wiimote to gently guide a marble ball along a small raised path into a goal. In the fishing pond, players use the Wiimost to cast their line and wiggle their lure, then use the Nunchuch to reel the line once a fish bites. These games help to add variety to the predominant fighting/puzzle-solving activites and are extremely addictive because of their creative and immersive controls.


Story elements:


The effective story elements used in Twilight Princess are another key reason for its success. Throughout the game, Link follows the archetypal storyline of the hero's journey. He starts off as a young rancher, leading a humble life in rural Ordon Village. A horde of monsters rides through the sleepy town, kidnapping several children before racing away, impelling Link set out on a rescue mission. Link finds that all is not well in Hyrule: a sorcerer named Zant has deposed the rightful ruler (Princess Zelda) and is transforming the land into a shadow realm, its inhabitants into phantoms. When Link reaches the shadow-infected regions of Hyrule, he is transformed into a wolf and is imprisoned. An imp-like creature named Midna (the Wise Old Man figure as well as a heroic sidekick) rescues Link, and together they search for the weapons that will allow them to destroy Zant and restore the kingdom to Zelda. After many adventures and trials, Link acquires the necessary Master Sword and magical Fused Shadows, but in the battle with their foe Midna is defeated, leaving Link alone to finish him and save the kingdom. This traditional story of good versus evil, a courageous youth coming of age, and bringing balance to a kingdom--as cliché as it may sound--appeals to the player's desire for a classic, mythical story. This story is told through in-game play as well as through various cutscenes scattered throughout the game. Many of these sequences have a cinematic feel to them, and incorporate elements from film to tell the story effectively. Elements of the plot are revealed bit-by-bit, often leaving the player with cliff-hanger moments that impel them to move through the game in order to discover what will happen next. These story elements are primarily what give Twilight Princess the legendary feel that players love.

The cast of characters is one of most endearing elements of the game: the main characters are fully fleshed out with personalities and attitudes that connect the player to the universe of the game. From the morally ambiguous and tragic Midna, to the strong-willed but tender Ilia, to the sarcastic yet ever-amusing Malo, these figures are well-developed. As the storyline progresses, the player becomes more and more attached to these characters, and the desire to protect them and discover their eventual fate motivates the player to continue on through the game. Much of the characterization occurs during the cutscenes of the game. These sequences are remarkably well-choreographed for a video game endeavor: subtle elements like facial expressions and body language serve to give characters life and personality. Often the characters and the situations they find themselves in evoke strong feelings of pathos. For example: in one cutscene, after scouring half of Hyrule to rescue his childhood friend (and love interest) Ilia, Link enters the tavern where she is staying. His face is bright and excited as he approaches her, but as Ilia looks for a moment at Link, there is no hint of recognition or joy: the blow to the head she received when kidnapped caused her to lose her memory. As she walks past silently, Link's face crumples and the player empathizes with the heartbroken and frustrated hero. Moments like this draw the player deeply into the story of the game and cause an investment of emotion and interest that makes playing more satisfying.


Detracting elements:


Despite its many strong points, the greatness of Twilight Princess is limited by small shortcomings, most of which were inherited from earlier Zelda titles. One of the greatest disappointments to many fans is the lack of orchestrated music. As a fantasy epic, the Zelda series has always been an extremely appropriate candidate for a fully orchestrated soundtrack. As orchestration has become more common in games recently, and as Nintendo delayed Twilight Princess for over a year, many fans were hoping to have a fully orchestrated score accompany the game. Nintendo instead opted for the synthesized music they have always used--which, although often very good composition-wise, fails to meet the caliber many fans expected. Nintendo also opted to follow the old road with the script: in a period where voice acting in games was quickly becoming the norm, especially for high-budget projects, Twilight Princess sticks to text-only. Characters gasp, laugh, scream, and even sing a little, but their lines must be read by the player. Good voice acting would certainly have made for a more immersive experience, something that Twilight Princess strives to do in almost every other regard. Finally, as a lesser complaint, the graphics in Twilight Princess are sometimes disappointing. While the graphical style is elegant and artistically appropriate for the game, the quality is simply not on par with many other games of otherwise similar quality. Often the visuals are slightly blurred, detracting slightly from the experience. Again, the level of expectation for this game was raised by its lengthy delay and considerable hype, and in this regard Twilight Princess is somewhat disappointing.


Conclusion:


In the end, however, any shortcomings fail to significantly tarnish the accomplishment that is Twilight Princess. What Twilight Princess has to offer in terms of gameplay, control, and story elements cannot be matched by many other available titles. It is a classic Zelda game, one of the best games available for Wii even today, and an innovative, engaging experience overall. Almost anyone who enjoys playing video games will appreciate Twilight Princess as truly legendary.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

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in so you could have something to kill the dungeon boss with, though. Like the ball and chain, which you use to defeat the boss of the dungeon you get it in and then it just sits in your inventory for the rest of the game.

If Nintendo doesn't start mixing up the formula pretty soon, I'm not sure how much longer I can hang with the Zelda series.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

...

the Wii controls inhibted my enjoyment of the game a bit. This is because I've noticed the best thing the Zelda series has going for it seems to be mechanics, and the controls felt tacked somehow - reaction time isn't always as fast or smoothe as I'd prefer. That said, it is fast enough to prosper with and so should not block your enjoyment of the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

...

the Wii controls inhibted my enjoyment of the game a bit. This is because I've noticed the best thing the Zelda series has going for it seems to be mechanics, and the controls felt tacked somehow - reaction time isn't always as fast or smoothe as I'd prefer. That said, it is fast enough to prosper with and so should not block your enjoyment of the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Nintendo Wii

...

the Wii controls inhibted my enjoyment of the game a bit. This is because I've noticed the best thing the Zelda series has going for it seems to be mechanics, and the controls felt tacked somehow - reaction time isn't always as fast or smoothe as I'd prefer. That said, it is fast enough to prosper with and so should not block your enjoyment of the game.