Title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Date: 12.04.2006

Genre: Action RPG

Platform: Wii

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

You must play this game. No, really. Do you like Zelda games? If so, then you shouldn't even be reading this. You should be playing this game right now. Do you like Nintendo games in general? Ditto. Do you like video games period? You most definitely should play this game, even if you don't own it or a Nintendo system. You might just pick one up just for this game, it's that good. Yes, it was initially designed for the GameCube. Yes, the graphics aren't anywhere near the level of the top games on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. No, it does not matter in the least. The sheer size and scope of the game is incredible. It is without a doubt the biggest, longest, most in-depth Zelda game ever made. Rough numbers say 60 hours to beat straight through, up to 100 or more if you want to fully explore and engage in side quests, and those numbers are not even close to exaggerating. The fact that there are no crazy next-gen graphics going on doesn't matter at all. The art direction is absolutely stellar, the environments are huge and the framerate never falters, and the game is simply beautiful despite it's graphical shortcomings. The control scheme has been reworked for the Wii-mote and it functions beautifully.

I can say without hesitation that once you play with the new control scheme, you will never go back. The marriage of the analog control with the pointer and motion sensing is just incredible. The dungeons are the most impressive ones ever seen in a Zelda game. They are simply huge, and sport some of the most intricately designed puzzles the series has ever seen. The boss fights are massive, and are some of the most creatively designed and intense in video game history. The story is easily the best ever seen in the Zelda series. Series veterans are in for a real treat, to say the least. The game takes the cinematic feel of Ocarina of Time to new heights, and the results are nothing short of breathtaking. I can't possibly cram any more information into this (extremely) brief summary. This is the best Zelda game ever made, and that is saying a LOT. You need to either go out and buy this game right now, or keep reading to find out why you should.

Like a Fine Wine

Nintendo fans are an odd bunch. They're extremely loyal and extremely vocal. Similar to Blizzard, Nintendo's games usually face an onslaught of delays, sometimes for several years. Does this deter their fans? Not in the least. While it might seem crazy, this supposedly blind faith in Nintendo's abilities is anything but blind. Rather, it is a trust that has been earned with over two decades of stellar games, many among the best ever created. The hardcore Nintendo fans know that if Nintendo is not releasing a game, it's because it's not good enough yet. More importantly, they know that when the game finally does come out, the wait will most definitely be worth it. This is undoubtedly the case for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It represents the epitome of why Nintendo fans are completely unfazed by months of delays, even a jump to a new system. For further proof of this concept, let's briefly jump back to December, 2002.

Six months prior to this, at E3 2002, Nintendo announced that the next big Zelda game was coming out by Christmas in Japan. Known for their optimistic release dates and numerous delays, most people scoffed at Nintendo's claim. Lo and behold, December came and with it came The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Of course, North American gamers had to wait until March 2003 to get their hands on it, but still Nintendo delivered on its release and shocked pretty much everyone. However, while The Wind Waker was certainly an excellent game and a fine entry into the series, there were a few notable shortcomings. The second half of the game felt rushed with the tedious Triforce hunting parts, and after the requisite introductory three dungeons there were only two additional ones in what was supposed to be the meat of the adventure. Furthermore, the final two dungeons suffered from somewhat bland designs and were not overly large, though the fantastic boss fights somewhat made up for it. Overall, though the game sported a massive overworld that fans had been clambering for since A Link to the Past, it ended up being on the short side as far as Zelda games go, despite its excellent presentation and story.

So what happened? Well, months after the fact, Nintendo revealed that they had in fact cut two full dungeons out of the final half of the game in order to make the December release date because they weren't up to their high standards. And lo, did I turn to my cynical brother and proclaim "THIS is why you don't rush them". It seems Nintendo learnt their lesson as well, because they took their sweet time with Twilight Princess. Over four years in the making, and delayed further so they could utilize the unique opportunities of the Wii remote. The game was originally designed for the GameCube (they started it right after The Wind Waker was released) and was eventually relocated on the Wii as a launch game. The GameCube version of the game is still being released (several weeks after the Wii version actually), but if you have the choice between the GameCube and Wii versions, frankly you'd be crazy not to get the Wii version.

Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

Let's get pretty much the only major negative point against the game out of the way right now. Never has this saying been truer. Since Twilight Princess was originally developed for the GameCube, it looks like it. If you're looking for the next generation of graphical realism, don't look here. There is no bump mapping, no high resolution textures, nothing of that sort. The game does support 480 progressive scan, if you have a TV that supports it along with some component cables. This isn't to say that the game looks bad, far from it. What you will find here is absolutely stellar art direction. Every part of the game has its own unique look and charm. Characters are fairly detailed, and environments are absolutely huge with no pop-up whatsoever. Remember how it felt the first time you looked all the way across Hyrule Field in Ocarina of Time back on the N64? Now take that and make it even bigger. The first time you pull up the map screen and zoom all the way out, you can't help but be overwhelmed by the sheer size of the game. Even more impressive is the fact that the framerate remains constant at 30 FPS the entire time with no slowdown at all. Throughout the entire game, I have never seen the framerate falter once. There are lots of nice small graphical touches too, like some nice looking water (honestly the water looks good enough to not be a GC game) and great dynamic lighting and shadows, even little environmental details like vines growing on structures in the forest.

The other perhaps slightly underwhelming element is the sound, but much less so. Once again, we have a full MIDI soundtrack in lieu of actual orchestral recordings. This is not a bad thing, however. The music still sounds great, and several prominent tunes make a comeback here in cleverly reinvented arrangements. Only true audiophiles will complain about the lack of a real orchestrated score. But MIDI also has its own advantages. If the score was prerecorded, you couldn't have music dynamically changing on the fly in response to the situation, something that was handled expertly in Ocarina of Time and remains so here as well. The compositions themselves are very good. You'll definitely hear familiar Zelda themes from previous games (most notably Ocarina of Time) but the melodies have been mixed into new and inventive arrangements that should please the ear of any Zelda fan. Despite the fact that this is MIDI, it's extremely good MIDI.

Sound effects are also very solid, which plenty of yells from Link as he explores and fights. Link's boots make different noises depending on the surface he's currently walking on, and all the sword slashing sound effects (say that three times fast) are also put out the speaker on the Wii-mote. This is a topic of debate amongst reviewers, as the audio quality of the speaker is not very good, but you can adjust the speaker volume on each remote individually as a basic feature of the system so there are no worries if it's driving you crazy. I personally found the speaker effects to be a nice touch that adds to the immersion. The other hotly debated aspect of the sound is the voices, or lack thereof. Once again, Link plays the silent hero voiced only by grunts and yells during the action, but the supporting characters are also without voices yet again. It is a shame that Nintendo hasn't added this yet, especially since the characters are more personal and emotive than ever before, but overall it does little to detract from the admittedly cinematic experience.

All Work and No Play

I'll say this right away. If you're looking for something drastically different from previous Zelda games, don't look here. You won't find an insane reinvention of the series. If anything, Twilight Princess goes back to its roots with strong influences from both A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, but this is hardly a bad thing. Like a fine wine, Nintendo has taken the tried and true Zelda gameplay, which has stood the test of time better than almost any other setup out there, and aged it to perfection. This isn't to say there's nothing new to see, because there's plenty. But there's lots of familiarity as well, particularly in the first 10 hours or so of the game. During this time you'll be (re)introduced to the horseback riding and fishing of Ocarina of Time (more on this in a bit), you'll visit familiar dungeon settings like the forest, fire and water themes, and you'll get familiar items like the bow and arrows, slingshot and boomerang (although the boomerang has a new twist to it). But once you get past the initial 10 hours or so, you'll start to see some new original items that are extremely cool, to say the least, as well as some absolutely incredible dungeon designs that quite frankly turn the series on its head. I will say without hesitation that the dungeons in Twilight Princess will go down in history as some of the best the series has ever seen.

Equally impressive are the enemy and boss designs. You'll see some familiar Zelda foes, but you'll also see variations of them with some new twists, such as Deku Babas in the forest themed dungeon that become detached from their plant base and chase after you, as a simple example. You'll also see lots of highly original monsters in the later stages of the game with some very bizarre designs. Similarly, the boss monsters are equally impressively designed and are downright huge. The boss fights in Zelda games are really extensions of the puzzles of the dungeon they inhabit, so naturally once you figure out the "puzzle" (i.e. the strategy), actually executing the plan is fairly easy. This low difficulty has been a point of contention for most reviewers, but it doesn't detract from the sheer epic nature of the boss fights. They are easily some of the most creative boss fights ever seen in video games.

The game itself is absolutely huge. The first time you zoom all the way out in the map screen, you can't help but feel absolutely dwarfed by the sheer size of the game. The land of Hyrule is divided into several provinces, which in turn have their own areas to explore. Hyrule Field itself is made up of several individual areas across different provinces connected by several paths, and each area is as big as the one Hyrule Field area from Ocarina of Time. It personally took me 3 hours of playing just to reach the first dungeon. By the time I finished it, I was looking at about 5 hours, and this was skipping any side quests and exploring. So when Nintendo says they expect you to take 50-60 hours on the first time through, they're not kidding. If you factor in the side quests and exploring (of which there is more in this game than any Zelda before), it's easy to reach 80-100 hours. This is easily the biggest, most in-depth Zelda game ever.

The other big factor here is the presentation. Using motion captured animations, the characters in Twilight Princess look better than ever before. They've retained the emotional facial expressions of The Wind Waker, but the added realistic animations combined with an incredible cinematic direction take the series to new heights in this area. Add to this a very intriguing story, easily the best the series has seen, and you have a presentation that is simply far beyond any Zelda game to date. You'll actually want to keep playing to see what happens next in the story, rather than just to see the next dungeon (you'll want to see that too, don't worry). As I said before, the lack of voice-overs does slightly hurt this otherwise stellar presentation, but honestly it does very little to detract from the very epic feeling story. The game also features a darker tone overall than previous Zelda games, perhaps a mark of the mature turn the series is taking with this entry. In any case, it's a very welcome new feeling to the Zelda universe as it gives the series a serious edge that many people felt it sorely needed.

Bark at the Moon

The major gameplay twist in this Zelda game (every Zelda game has to have one right?) is the addition of the Twilight Realm. This functions basically like the Dark World of A Link to the Past on the SNES. Basically, the Twilight Realm is spreading into Hyrule and covering the lands in darkness (more plot information would be spoiling the excellent story here) and the mysterious Twilight King is behind it all. When moving into the parts of Hyrule that are covered in twilight, Link transforms into the wolf character seen in various previews. While in wolf form, you lose access to your items, but you gain the ability to dig in the ground to find various items and tunnel under gates and walls, as well as use your keen sense to see things you wouldn't normally see in a small radius in front of you, similar to the Lens of Truth in Ocarina of Time. Using your wolf senses, you can see the spirits of the people who are trapped in the Twilight Realm and listen to their laments, although they are unaware of their ethereal form or you standing next to them. You also meet up with the creepy imp character Midna who rides on your back while in wolf form. She appears to be helping you on your quest, taking the place of the fairy Navi from Ocarina of Time (although Midna is much cooler and less annoying than Navi was at times), but not because she wants to. She clearly has her own agenda going on, and her connection to Zelda is unclear at first, as is how she factors in to the overall plot. She is definitely an intriguing character and is another layer in the excellent story in Twilight Princess.

Controlling Link in wolf form is similar to human form, although you lose the cool sword fighting abilities. The main difference is that the wolf is incredibly agile and can run very fast, as fast as Epona the horse in full sprint. This makes running circles around enemies easier in wolf form, although the game is by no means easy. The wolf also can use Midna as an avenue for attack by having her create an energy field by holding the B trigger on the remote down. By releasing the trigger when enemies are inside the energy field, the wolf Link will perform a simultaneous attack of all the enemies inside. The downside is you are very vulnerable while charging the field, so you have to be careful when you use it. Certain groups of twilight creatures will revive each other if not dealt with in this manner all at once, so you will need to make use of it. The other big addition is that while in wolf form, Midna can teleport you using twilight portals that open up as you clear the areas of twilight creatures. This means not only do you have access to the horse for traveling from the beginning of the game, you can also teleport to areas you've visited, which makes traveling around this massive world much easier. Overall, the wolf form is a neat addition to gameplay and the teleporting benefits are extremely welcome.

Out With The Old

The last topic of hot debate when it comes to Twilight Princess is the move from GameCube to Wii, and this merits a fair amount of discussion. In doing this, Nintendo has taken the traditional Zelda control scheme from the N64 incarnations and adapted it to the Wii remote/nunchuck combination. You still move Link with the analog stick on the nunchuck, and the Z trigger on the nunchuck is used for Z targeting, but your basic sword slashes are now controlled with the remote by waving it around. Now first things first, this is not a one-to-one representation of your movements with the remote. Waving the remote simply replaces the sword button in previous Zelda games, so no matter how you wave it, the result is always the same depending on the situation. If you're standing still or running, it gives you a horizontal swipe. If you're Z targeting something, it gives you a vertical slash. If you Z target and move forward while slashing, it gives you a jab forward with your sword. This sounds somewhat disappointing at first, but the reality is that even madly swinging the remote back and forth feels much better than simply mashing a button. The simple act of physically swinging the controller serves to immerse you in the game just that much more and it really makes the combat much more fun in general. I found myself gritting my teeth as I swung at even the most basic enemies without even realizing how much I was becoming immersed in the game. A major addition to the series is the ability to swing your sword while running with the addition of the remote, as well as on horseback. Using the remote to swipe and the analog stick to move works extremely well for the run-and-swipe swordplay and I honestly couldn't see this particular aspect being easier or more intuitive on a traditional controller.

The other neat aspect of the swordplay is the nunchuck. By shaking the nunchuck from side to side, you activate Link's spin attack from the N64 Zelda games. This is much easier than the old rotate-the-control-stick scheme. To balance this ease of use out, they've added a small recharge time after you perform the spin attack, so you can't simply continuously use it. You also become slightly vulnerable for a short time after the attack, so if you miss you'd better watch out. It works extremely well because when you're surrounded by a group of enemies from time to time and you need it, it's right there and easy to use, but you can't abuse it to make the game a cakewalk. The other part of the nunchuck use is in the "secret moves" that you learn, seven in all over the course of the game. Some moves you learn utilize the nunchuck, for example the Shield Bash move. This is performed by thrusting the nunchuck forward and results in Link doing the same action with his shield. This is used to reflect magical attacks of certain enemies (very handy) and also to parry oncoming blows, which can throw the enemy off balance and provide you with an opportunity to strike at them. The skeletal Stalfos knights require this technique to fight effectively, as they have shields as well to block your attacks. Again, it works very well and is extremely intuitive.

Where the Wii controls really shine, however, is in the first person sequences. When using the C button on the nunchuck to go into first person mode to look around, you simply point the remote at the screen and use it to look around. You can also use the control stick if you wish, but the remote is just much cooler and easier. Your pointer on the screen is a small blue fairy that looks just like Navi in Ocarina of Time, but it switches to a targeting cursor when you pull out the slingshot, bow or boomerang items to name a few. Aiming these items using the remote is much more accurate and responsive than using a control stick. You'll find yourself nailing enemies across the map with headshots from arrows while riding your horse with ease in no time. This is one of the areas where the Wii controls are a huge improvement over the traditional controls.

The item controls have also been improved over previous incarnations as well. Items are mapped to the directional buttons on the remote, with up being reserved for calling Midna when she is needed. You also map an item to the B trigger on the remote, and this is how you use the majority of items. For some items, such as the Iron Boots, simply tapping the assigned direction toggles them on and off again. But for items like the bow and boomerang where you're using them a lot, tapping the direction they're assigned to causes them to swap places with the item currently assigned to the B trigger. Once the item is on the B trigger, you use the trigger to activate it. Firing your bow and slingshot with the B trigger is much better than having to press the required direction on the d-pad repeatedly, so this is a big improvement over the earlier controls.

The final aspect of the remote controller is the fishing, which deserves its own entire section. Fishing in Twilight Princess is, in a word, stellar. When you pull out your fishing rod with the B trigger, you simply use the remote like a real rod to cast your line out. Then you watch the bobber on your lure to see when a fish starts tugging on the line. When you see the bobber go under, you jerk the remote upwards like a real fishing rod to try to hook the fish. Once the fish is hooked, you take the nunchuck and wheel it in like the wheel on a fishing rod by moving it in a circle next to the remote, while also pulling back on the remote to yank the fish out of the water. It sounds complex in writing, but it is extremely intuitive in practice. In all honesty, the fishing in Twilight Princess is reason alone to get the Wii version over the GameCube one. I swear the remote actually feels heavier when fishing in this game. The illusion of immersion is that strong. Your brain plays funny tricks on you, no? You can also find different types of bait to use to catch bigger and better fish, and the addition of the fishing journal to record the different types of fish you've caught, along with the number and biggest weight of each one, will keep you playing with the fish instead of saving the world, guaranteed.

Overall, the Wii controls simply fit Zelda extremely well. I could not go back to the traditional control scheme after playing with the remote. It is simply better than ever. They have basically taken the traditional control scheme and merged it with the motion sensing capabilities of the controller. What we have here is a near perfect marriage of the two styles, and the result is truly more than the sum of its parts.

The Final Word

If you're looking for a reinvention of the series, you're probably going to be a little disappointed here (read: Gamespot's review). There will likely never be another event like Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time because those games brought their respective series into 3D for the first time, and they did it while preserving the core gameplay that made the series great from day one. You just won't ever quite get that feeling of freshness again. Twilight Princess is not a total revamp of the series like Ocarina of Time was with its move to 3D for the first time, but in all honesty it doesn't need to be. The Zelda gameplay has stood the test of time as an incredibly fun experience, and there's no reason to reinvent the wheel here because it doesn't need to be revamped.

This isn't to say there's nothing new here, because there is plenty. You have items you've never seen before that are very cool, and some amazing dungeon designs that totally explore new areas the series has never gone before. Twilight Princess doesn't reinvent the wheel, but what it does do is take that gameplay model and refine it to near perfection. Make no mistake, this is the best Zelda game ever made, period, and quite possibly the best launch title in the history of the industry (next to Mario 64 perhaps). It's bigger than any other Zelda to date, it has an enormous amount of side quests and mini-games to find, and it has a huge engrossing quest with a very strong story and presentation. The additional control scheme for the Wii remote does plenty to give the series new life and I think after playing on the Wii, you won't ever go back to the old way of playing Zelda.

Don't let the graphical downsides or the lack of voice acting turn you off, because they don't detract from the game and you'll be missing what is easily the best game this year, probably the best game of the new millennium, and if you do that I honestly pity you. The games extremely minor shortcomings are completely dwarfed by the incredible experience, and the Wii-mote is a new way of playing that is absolutely refreshing in its uniqueness. Nothing less than a stellar effort from Nintendo, who continues to prove why their fans patiently wait while they create the best games in the world. The new age of Zelda has arrived, and there is no going back.

Game Score

A

Reviewed By: Contributed