After just two weeks of Wii ownership, I have just closed the latest chapter in the Zelda saga, Twilight Princess. Despite numerous claims of 70 hours worth of gameplay, I finished at just over 42. That’s no speed run either, I collected more than half of the hidden heart pieces and got almost all of the equipment upgrades. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel cheated, and in fact I am kind of relieved. 70 hours of gameplay is a very long time. Although there were some very minor annoyances along the journey, I have to say that after the final boss battle, it was one of the most satisfying game endings I have seen. Now I know there are still some readers out there who are about to start their epic journey through Hyrule, so this post will be free from spoilers.
Before Twilight Princess came out, a lot of people were calling it the best in the series. Obviously this is purely subjective, but I can see someone saying that about Twilight Princess. It got me thinking, what is my favorite Zelda? I mean there are so many Zeldas, and so many unique things that each one does. Here are some of my favorites. Ocarina of Time is my favorite story. It is the equivocal Zelda/Link/Gannon story, and is the most pivotal story as well. A Link to the Past has my favorite overworld exploration. Wind Waker has my favorite Link. And finally, going back to the game originally being discussed, Twilight Princess has my favorite combat and action sequences. It sounds ridiculous, but I really love all of the Zelda games, I don’t think I can pick one.
Twilight Princess has a lot of amazing moments. The graphics are beautiful (from art direction, not a GPU), the story is really good, and the dungeons are really fun. There are a couple of things that keep it from being perfect. Early in the game you must collect certain things in your Wolf form, that can get tiresome. And I still wish we could actually hear some voice acting instead of reading text. However, Twilight Princess has some really great looking dungeons, that are downright fun to navigate. There are some new items that bring a new twist to puzzles. As with all previous Zelda titles, puzzles play an important part of the game. In fact even the boss fights are more puzzles than action sequences. What I thought was one of Twilight Princess’ greatest parts was just how simply fun it was to fight the bad guys. Swinging your remote to slash a sword, and pointing your remote at the screen to aim your bow are definitely pluses. Many times I found myself just running around on my horse killing things for no reason. That sounds odd, but it is a compliment to the game. Twilight Princess is definitely worth your time. If you don’t have a Wii, don’t forget that Twilight Princess is coming out next week for the Gamecube.
If you weren’t confused about the way the Zelda games fit together, watch this.
Comments