Here I am, peeps, with my REAL review for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I know that I reviewed this game a long time ago, but I had made the foolish mistake of reviewing it before I finished It (at that time, I didn’t own the game, but my cousin did and I played it whenever he came over). It became apparent that I should finish games before I review them when I discovered that Super Mario Galaxy had more gameplay elements than I talked about in my review as I got farther…a lot more. While I won’t review that game again, I DID decide to review this game, and besides, I’m gonna review all of my Christmas presents, anyway, and this was one of them.
So, yes, as you can see by the title, I still love the game…a lot. But do I still think it’s the greatest game ever? No. I wanted a favorite game, and I blindly chose this. It’s not due to any major flaws or anything--I’ve just decided it’s not my favorite game anymore. But what is? I’m not entirely sure, but as you can well imagine, it leans somewhat toward Sonic Adventure. I still believe this is the best Zelda ever, though--yep, it still stands above Ocarina of Time.
Well, now that that’s out of the way, we have the matter of general reviewing. That is, I’m going to review the game now. Thus, I will start with the most important part of any game: the gameplay. Now, as usual, it’s a Zelda game. It’s a mix of adventure, RPG, and hack n’ slash. Now, did this Zelda deliver? Yes. It mixes up these elements as perfectly as Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and The Wind Waker, making for a really fun experience. But otherwise, how is the game?
Now, most Wii games are pretty much built around the Wii’s unique controller. That is, Wii games that were originally meant to be Wii games. But Zelda Twilight Princess wasn’t originally meant to be a Wii game, and a Wii version only came out because of the excessive delays. Because of this, the controls are a bit tacked on. While items utilizing the Wii Remote feel perfect, the sword swings do not match up with your arm movements. It’s fun to swing your “sword” in real time, surely, but it would have REALLY been better if Nintendo had taken just a month more to make sword swings match up with your hand movements. But the good part? Not only is it really fun to do, but you can swing your sword while moving now!
An Ocarina of Time-style fairy is used as your cursor to choose items and whatnot. When you move it over something, it turns into a target marker. A similar cursor is used when using an item, such as the Bow or Boomerang, which must be aimed using the Wii Remote. Unlike the sword controls, these work better and don’t seem tacked on.
The item equipping system is much cooler now. While you can only use one item at a time, you can have up to four equipped at once. The D-Pad replaces the four C-Buttons from Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask and the Y, Z, and X-Buttons from Wind Waker. Similar to Ocarina and Majora’s Mask, you equip items to the Down, Left, and Right directions on the D-Pad, while pressing Up allows you to talk to the helper character who is tagging along with you (in this case, Midna). However, there is a catch this time: rather than using all three “item buttons” you have items equipped on, you use ONE with the B-Button on the back of the Wii Remote. If you press a direction in which an item is equipped on, it will move to B. You can have three items equipped to the D-Pad, and one equipped to B (the one you’re currently using), and thus, you can have up to four items equipped at once, unlike past games, in which you could only equip three (two in the GameCube version of Twilight Princess, since the Z-Button is apparently used to talk to Midna).
The trademark Zelda items reappear: Hookshot, Bow, Boomerang…you get the idea. However, there are several new items as well as changes to the old ones. For instance, the Hookshot has evolved into the Clawshot, which has a claw on the end of it rather than a hook, hence the name. An advantage of this is that you can hook, or, rather, “grab” onto things such as metal grating, which the Hookshot wouldn’t be able to get you to. Another advantage is that, when you “grab” onto something, you hang there rather than fall off. Thus, when hanging by the Clawshot on the ceiling, you can lower yourself downward or move upward by using the control stick. The only disadvantage is that you can no longer hook to treasure chests or torches, but otherwise it has the same basic functions and uses as the normal Hookshot. You also get a second Clawshot later in the game, which allows you to “grab” onto something using your other Clawshot while hanging from something you’ve already “grabbed” onto. The Boomerang has evolved into the Gale Boomerang, which sends out a tornado when you throw it, allowing you to perform wind-related tasks. There are also Water Bombs, which are Bombs you can use underwater. The Iron Boots reappear as well, not only with the same functions as their Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker counterparts (walking underwater and standing still in harsh winds, respectively), also have two new functions, allowing you to sumo wrestle a Goron (yes, I said sumo wrestle a Goron) and magnetize to walls and ceilings that have magnetic crystals on them, making them, eh…much more fun to use, heh. There are also several new items like the Spinner and Ball and Chain, which have varying uses.
Now, on to the subject of the boss fights. They are epic. VERY epic. More epic than the series has seen yet. Plus, there are some interesting ways to beat them. For instance, one boss fight is a strange creature poking out of a hole. First, you only have to pull its moving eye out of its tentacles and slash away, but, after repeating this a few times, it will come out of its hole as a HUGE creature and begin swimming around (this boss takes place underwater). Then you must catch up to it and latch onto its back using the Clawshot, then slash away. A similar strategy is used for the second phase of a later boss fight. I must also mention the boss right after it, a giant skeleton. First, you must break off parts of its vertebrae using the Spinner. After that, you think it’s dead…until you raise a tower. Then, the boss will spring back to life as only a head and knock you off the tower, and you must move up the tower using the Spinner tracks, and, once you get between his head and the wall, you jump into his head and knock him down, after which you repeatedly slash the sword on his head. When repeating this, you will repeatedly have to jump between the Spinner tracks on the tower and wall, because now there will be spikes that will knock you down when you hit them. The sheer speed of this boss fight is what makes it so awesome. You go up the tower at a speed to at least RIVAL Sonic’s, and, as you can imagine, it’s really fun.
There are several hidden skills to learn, the first of these the Ending Blow, which lets you stab and enemy once you’ve knocked it down. They are all taught to you by this wolf-skeleton-knight, who appears after howling (as a wolf, of course) at a Howling Stone (rocks that make noises before you howl next to them), and you have to find it as human Link, and he’ll teach you a Hidden Skill, which you can use at will after learning.
Now, as a wolf, you won’t be able to do everything that normal Link can do, but you’ll be able to do things normal Link CAN’T do, as well. For instance, Midna will ride on your back, heehee! And you use your claws and teeth to attack, but that’s not very important. What IS important is that you can use your senses to track scent trails, find good digging spots, see hidden things, and listen to the spirits of the Twilight Realm. Also, as a wolf, Midna can teleport you to different places by using Warp Portals created after defeating groups of certain enemies, and also help you jump farther than normal. You can also talk to animals and howl at Howling Stones. The only downside is that, the first few times you are a wolf, you have to search for sixteen Tears of Light to restore light spirits. While easy (since they’re all marked on your map), it’s a long and annoying quest. At first, you can only turn into a wolf while in the Twilight Realm, but later in the game, you can turn into a wolf whenever you want.
Epona (the horse, for those who don’t know) returns and you have her from the beginning of the game. You can FINALLY use your sword on Epona, but she just tramples enemies anyway. By pressing A, you can dash, which is a lot faster and more fun than her Ocarina of Time dash. Sadly, rather than having a useful Ocarina song that can call her to you whenever necessary, you have to find horse grass to call her. You EVENTUALLY get a Horse Call, but you get it long after Warp Portals (as mentioned earlier) have completely ruled out its usefulness. However, there are some unforgettable moments on Epona, such as fighting a huge boar-riding ogre and his also boar-faring Moblin cronies while riding on Epona, the joust on a bridge directly after (yes, I said joust), another joust later in the game on a different bridge, helping a wagon get to Kakariko Village while defeating more pig-faring Moblins right after, and the third phase of the final boss fight that is fought on horseback.
Now, I know that I’ve been mostly giving this game praise (there have been a few rants). And it deserves it. But there is one more rant I have here: the fishing. Fishing was one of the main things Nintendo was talking about. They said the Wii Remote would revolutionize it, and it would be more fun than ever. But what happened? Bobber fishing is okay, despite being mostly useless, but what about lure fishing? Let’s go over the Wii Remote controls for fishing first:
You press and hold A first, then raise the Wii Remote, then throw it out and let go of A to cast it. Then, you can spin the nunchuk around to reel the line back in. Problem is, catching fish is almost impossible, and when one DOES hook on, it’s impossible to reel it back in. Besides, pretty much the only use of lure fishing is one Piece of Heart, which you fish off a rock rather than getting it as a reward for catching a huge fish (unlike OoT), so why bother for any reason other than that?
Now, before I conclude our talk about the gameplay, I must mention two more things: playtime and difficulty. The game is bigger, longer and harder than any game the series has seen yet, so don’t worry. There is much to do before you even enter the first dungeon--much, much to do. Hyrule Field is bigger than it has ever been, and filled to the brim with secrets. The dungeons are the biggest and hardest, with some pretty tough puzzles along the way. That, coupled with the epic boss fights (as mentioned earlier) gives you a strong sense of accomplishment when you complete one. As always, the water dungeon is a pain in the butt, following in the footsteps of the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, the Great Bay Temple in Majora’s Mask, and the Temple of Droplets in The Minish Cap (the Tower of the Gods in Wind Waker, which I consider its water dungeon since it’s partially submerged, was actually not that much of a pain), but it’s not NEARLY as painful as the snow dungeon later in the game, ugh. The game takes about 40 hours to beat--about as long as most RPGs, but still longer than most Zeldas. There are nine dungeons in the game--as many as Ocarina of Time had (FINALLY!). You need five Pieces of Heart to complete a Heart Container now--and there are two scattered about in each dungeon. Yeah, the compass and dungeon map are actually going to be put to good use this time!
The story is, in a word, beautiful. The game chronicles the adventures of Link, of course, as he fights Zant, an evil king who is slowly covering Hyrule in twilight. This twilight-covered Hyrule, known as the Twilight Realm, is a result of Zant stealing light from the Light Spirits, who guard various areas of Hyrule, thus plunging those areas into twilight. The Hylians can no longer live in the light, and thus become spirits, while all others become the Shadow Beasts that rule it. All other indigenous life become “Twilit” versions. Link turns into a wolf, because, of course, he’s a descendant of the legendary hero from Ocarina of Time. Thus, Midna, a twilit freedom fighter (and coolest character in the game) helps Link to get Fused Shadows to defeat Zant. More plot twists appear later on that I’m keeping my mouth shut about.
Outside of Majora’s Mask (since it’s Ocarina of Time’s sequel), Twilight Princess is the most related game to Ocarina in its story. Many places, such as the Sacred Grove and Hidden Village, are obviously areas from Ocarina, but you’ll have to find out which ones for yourself. Once you get to them, it’ll be pretty obvious which ones they are. The Temple of Time reappears--in dungeon form! Link’s hometown, Ordon, is obviously the Kokiri Forest, and the Faron Woods next to it are probably the Lost Woods. Ganondorf reappears, as well, but I’m keeping my mouth shut about his role. Other plot elements relate to Ocarina of Time as well. There is only one problem with the story. While the story, like everything else, is the best the series has seen yet, its more cinematic approach requires voice acting, which the game lacks. But, it’s not that bad, so who cares?
The sound is your usual Zelda fare: sword slashes, trademark chimes…it’s all here. But the only difference is that it comes out of the Wii Remote’s speaker! While not exactly necessary, it is pretty dang cool! As far as music goes, it’s normal as well: an upbeat Hyrule Field theme, Kakariko Village theme, the Goron village theme--it’s all here, in updated form.
Now, last, but not least: the graphics. As with all Nintendo games, the game’s artstyle overcomes its “GameCube-ness.” That is, because the Wii isn’t as powerful as 360 or PS3, it wouldn’t have as good-looking games had it not been for Nintendo’s beautiful artstyle. Seriously, it almost makes this game look next-gen!
So, there you have it: my REAL review for Twilight Princess. The foolish mistake of reviewing games before I finish them I will not make again. I know I don’t have a very different opinion from my last, but I just thought I could write a better, more informative review now that I’ve beaten the game.
----------------Summary-----------------
Gameplay: Pure Greatness!! It’s Zelda--but better.
Story: Awesome! The best the series has seen yet. Too bad there’s no voice acting…
Sound: Awesome! Zelda with a speaker.
Graphics: Pure Greatness!! It’s artstyle overcomes its “GameCube-ness.”
Overall: Pure Greatness!! I thought that they could never top Ocarina of Time, but I was wrong; this is the one they’ll never top, at least until another ten years have passed.
So, yes, as you can see by the title, I still love the game…a lot. But do I still think it’s the greatest game ever? No. I wanted a favorite game, and I blindly chose this. It’s not due to any major flaws or anything--I’ve just decided it’s not my favorite game anymore. But what is? I’m not entirely sure, but as you can well imagine, it leans somewhat toward Sonic Adventure. I still believe this is the best Zelda ever, though--yep, it still stands above Ocarina of Time.
Well, now that that’s out of the way, we have the matter of general reviewing. That is, I’m going to review the game now. Thus, I will start with the most important part of any game: the gameplay. Now, as usual, it’s a Zelda game. It’s a mix of adventure, RPG, and hack n’ slash. Now, did this Zelda deliver? Yes. It mixes up these elements as perfectly as Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and The Wind Waker, making for a really fun experience. But otherwise, how is the game?
Now, most Wii games are pretty much built around the Wii’s unique controller. That is, Wii games that were originally meant to be Wii games. But Zelda Twilight Princess wasn’t originally meant to be a Wii game, and a Wii version only came out because of the excessive delays. Because of this, the controls are a bit tacked on. While items utilizing the Wii Remote feel perfect, the sword swings do not match up with your arm movements. It’s fun to swing your “sword” in real time, surely, but it would have REALLY been better if Nintendo had taken just a month more to make sword swings match up with your hand movements. But the good part? Not only is it really fun to do, but you can swing your sword while moving now!
An Ocarina of Time-style fairy is used as your cursor to choose items and whatnot. When you move it over something, it turns into a target marker. A similar cursor is used when using an item, such as the Bow or Boomerang, which must be aimed using the Wii Remote. Unlike the sword controls, these work better and don’t seem tacked on.
The item equipping system is much cooler now. While you can only use one item at a time, you can have up to four equipped at once. The D-Pad replaces the four C-Buttons from Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask and the Y, Z, and X-Buttons from Wind Waker. Similar to Ocarina and Majora’s Mask, you equip items to the Down, Left, and Right directions on the D-Pad, while pressing Up allows you to talk to the helper character who is tagging along with you (in this case, Midna). However, there is a catch this time: rather than using all three “item buttons” you have items equipped on, you use ONE with the B-Button on the back of the Wii Remote. If you press a direction in which an item is equipped on, it will move to B. You can have three items equipped to the D-Pad, and one equipped to B (the one you’re currently using), and thus, you can have up to four items equipped at once, unlike past games, in which you could only equip three (two in the GameCube version of Twilight Princess, since the Z-Button is apparently used to talk to Midna).
The trademark Zelda items reappear: Hookshot, Bow, Boomerang…you get the idea. However, there are several new items as well as changes to the old ones. For instance, the Hookshot has evolved into the Clawshot, which has a claw on the end of it rather than a hook, hence the name. An advantage of this is that you can hook, or, rather, “grab” onto things such as metal grating, which the Hookshot wouldn’t be able to get you to. Another advantage is that, when you “grab” onto something, you hang there rather than fall off. Thus, when hanging by the Clawshot on the ceiling, you can lower yourself downward or move upward by using the control stick. The only disadvantage is that you can no longer hook to treasure chests or torches, but otherwise it has the same basic functions and uses as the normal Hookshot. You also get a second Clawshot later in the game, which allows you to “grab” onto something using your other Clawshot while hanging from something you’ve already “grabbed” onto. The Boomerang has evolved into the Gale Boomerang, which sends out a tornado when you throw it, allowing you to perform wind-related tasks. There are also Water Bombs, which are Bombs you can use underwater. The Iron Boots reappear as well, not only with the same functions as their Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker counterparts (walking underwater and standing still in harsh winds, respectively), also have two new functions, allowing you to sumo wrestle a Goron (yes, I said sumo wrestle a Goron) and magnetize to walls and ceilings that have magnetic crystals on them, making them, eh…much more fun to use, heh. There are also several new items like the Spinner and Ball and Chain, which have varying uses.
Now, on to the subject of the boss fights. They are epic. VERY epic. More epic than the series has seen yet. Plus, there are some interesting ways to beat them. For instance, one boss fight is a strange creature poking out of a hole. First, you only have to pull its moving eye out of its tentacles and slash away, but, after repeating this a few times, it will come out of its hole as a HUGE creature and begin swimming around (this boss takes place underwater). Then you must catch up to it and latch onto its back using the Clawshot, then slash away. A similar strategy is used for the second phase of a later boss fight. I must also mention the boss right after it, a giant skeleton. First, you must break off parts of its vertebrae using the Spinner. After that, you think it’s dead…until you raise a tower. Then, the boss will spring back to life as only a head and knock you off the tower, and you must move up the tower using the Spinner tracks, and, once you get between his head and the wall, you jump into his head and knock him down, after which you repeatedly slash the sword on his head. When repeating this, you will repeatedly have to jump between the Spinner tracks on the tower and wall, because now there will be spikes that will knock you down when you hit them. The sheer speed of this boss fight is what makes it so awesome. You go up the tower at a speed to at least RIVAL Sonic’s, and, as you can imagine, it’s really fun.
There are several hidden skills to learn, the first of these the Ending Blow, which lets you stab and enemy once you’ve knocked it down. They are all taught to you by this wolf-skeleton-knight, who appears after howling (as a wolf, of course) at a Howling Stone (rocks that make noises before you howl next to them), and you have to find it as human Link, and he’ll teach you a Hidden Skill, which you can use at will after learning.
Now, as a wolf, you won’t be able to do everything that normal Link can do, but you’ll be able to do things normal Link CAN’T do, as well. For instance, Midna will ride on your back, heehee! And you use your claws and teeth to attack, but that’s not very important. What IS important is that you can use your senses to track scent trails, find good digging spots, see hidden things, and listen to the spirits of the Twilight Realm. Also, as a wolf, Midna can teleport you to different places by using Warp Portals created after defeating groups of certain enemies, and also help you jump farther than normal. You can also talk to animals and howl at Howling Stones. The only downside is that, the first few times you are a wolf, you have to search for sixteen Tears of Light to restore light spirits. While easy (since they’re all marked on your map), it’s a long and annoying quest. At first, you can only turn into a wolf while in the Twilight Realm, but later in the game, you can turn into a wolf whenever you want.
Epona (the horse, for those who don’t know) returns and you have her from the beginning of the game. You can FINALLY use your sword on Epona, but she just tramples enemies anyway. By pressing A, you can dash, which is a lot faster and more fun than her Ocarina of Time dash. Sadly, rather than having a useful Ocarina song that can call her to you whenever necessary, you have to find horse grass to call her. You EVENTUALLY get a Horse Call, but you get it long after Warp Portals (as mentioned earlier) have completely ruled out its usefulness. However, there are some unforgettable moments on Epona, such as fighting a huge boar-riding ogre and his also boar-faring Moblin cronies while riding on Epona, the joust on a bridge directly after (yes, I said joust), another joust later in the game on a different bridge, helping a wagon get to Kakariko Village while defeating more pig-faring Moblins right after, and the third phase of the final boss fight that is fought on horseback.
Now, I know that I’ve been mostly giving this game praise (there have been a few rants). And it deserves it. But there is one more rant I have here: the fishing. Fishing was one of the main things Nintendo was talking about. They said the Wii Remote would revolutionize it, and it would be more fun than ever. But what happened? Bobber fishing is okay, despite being mostly useless, but what about lure fishing? Let’s go over the Wii Remote controls for fishing first:
You press and hold A first, then raise the Wii Remote, then throw it out and let go of A to cast it. Then, you can spin the nunchuk around to reel the line back in. Problem is, catching fish is almost impossible, and when one DOES hook on, it’s impossible to reel it back in. Besides, pretty much the only use of lure fishing is one Piece of Heart, which you fish off a rock rather than getting it as a reward for catching a huge fish (unlike OoT), so why bother for any reason other than that?
Now, before I conclude our talk about the gameplay, I must mention two more things: playtime and difficulty. The game is bigger, longer and harder than any game the series has seen yet, so don’t worry. There is much to do before you even enter the first dungeon--much, much to do. Hyrule Field is bigger than it has ever been, and filled to the brim with secrets. The dungeons are the biggest and hardest, with some pretty tough puzzles along the way. That, coupled with the epic boss fights (as mentioned earlier) gives you a strong sense of accomplishment when you complete one. As always, the water dungeon is a pain in the butt, following in the footsteps of the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, the Great Bay Temple in Majora’s Mask, and the Temple of Droplets in The Minish Cap (the Tower of the Gods in Wind Waker, which I consider its water dungeon since it’s partially submerged, was actually not that much of a pain), but it’s not NEARLY as painful as the snow dungeon later in the game, ugh. The game takes about 40 hours to beat--about as long as most RPGs, but still longer than most Zeldas. There are nine dungeons in the game--as many as Ocarina of Time had (FINALLY!). You need five Pieces of Heart to complete a Heart Container now--and there are two scattered about in each dungeon. Yeah, the compass and dungeon map are actually going to be put to good use this time!
The story is, in a word, beautiful. The game chronicles the adventures of Link, of course, as he fights Zant, an evil king who is slowly covering Hyrule in twilight. This twilight-covered Hyrule, known as the Twilight Realm, is a result of Zant stealing light from the Light Spirits, who guard various areas of Hyrule, thus plunging those areas into twilight. The Hylians can no longer live in the light, and thus become spirits, while all others become the Shadow Beasts that rule it. All other indigenous life become “Twilit” versions. Link turns into a wolf, because, of course, he’s a descendant of the legendary hero from Ocarina of Time. Thus, Midna, a twilit freedom fighter (and coolest character in the game) helps Link to get Fused Shadows to defeat Zant. More plot twists appear later on that I’m keeping my mouth shut about.
Outside of Majora’s Mask (since it’s Ocarina of Time’s sequel), Twilight Princess is the most related game to Ocarina in its story. Many places, such as the Sacred Grove and Hidden Village, are obviously areas from Ocarina, but you’ll have to find out which ones for yourself. Once you get to them, it’ll be pretty obvious which ones they are. The Temple of Time reappears--in dungeon form! Link’s hometown, Ordon, is obviously the Kokiri Forest, and the Faron Woods next to it are probably the Lost Woods. Ganondorf reappears, as well, but I’m keeping my mouth shut about his role. Other plot elements relate to Ocarina of Time as well. There is only one problem with the story. While the story, like everything else, is the best the series has seen yet, its more cinematic approach requires voice acting, which the game lacks. But, it’s not that bad, so who cares?
The sound is your usual Zelda fare: sword slashes, trademark chimes…it’s all here. But the only difference is that it comes out of the Wii Remote’s speaker! While not exactly necessary, it is pretty dang cool! As far as music goes, it’s normal as well: an upbeat Hyrule Field theme, Kakariko Village theme, the Goron village theme--it’s all here, in updated form.
Now, last, but not least: the graphics. As with all Nintendo games, the game’s artstyle overcomes its “GameCube-ness.” That is, because the Wii isn’t as powerful as 360 or PS3, it wouldn’t have as good-looking games had it not been for Nintendo’s beautiful artstyle. Seriously, it almost makes this game look next-gen!
So, there you have it: my REAL review for Twilight Princess. The foolish mistake of reviewing games before I finish them I will not make again. I know I don’t have a very different opinion from my last, but I just thought I could write a better, more informative review now that I’ve beaten the game.
----------------Summary-----------------
Gameplay: Pure Greatness!! It’s Zelda--but better.
Story: Awesome! The best the series has seen yet. Too bad there’s no voice acting…
Sound: Awesome! Zelda with a speaker.
Graphics: Pure Greatness!! It’s artstyle overcomes its “GameCube-ness.”
Overall: Pure Greatness!! I thought that they could never top Ocarina of Time, but I was wrong; this is the one they’ll never top, at least until another ten years have passed.
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