The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
by Nintendo
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Product Summary
Brand: NintendoRelease Date: 2006-12-11
Platform: GameCube
Model: 96307
Publisher: Nintendo
Product features:
- When Link travels to the darkened land of Hyrule, he transforms into a wolf and must scour the land with the help of a mysterious being named Midna.
- Ride into battle against troops of foul creatures, using an incredible horseback combat system, then take on massive bosses that must be seen to be believed.
- Many puzzles stand between Link and the fulfillment of his quest, so players must sharpen their wits as they hunt for weapons and items.
- Characters include Link, Zelda, Midna and many others, both new and old.
- Wii-compatible
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Video Game Reviews of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Customer Review: Best Game Ever Made!
Summary: 5 Stars
When game consoles transitioned from offering primarily 2D games to polygonal 3D games about 10 years ago, all of the tricks and gameplay ideas that developers had been relying on for years flew right out the window. During this time, Nintendo quickly found its footing and released masterful takes on its old franchises that retained the fun and feeling of the older games while properly updating them in exciting and impressive new ways. 1998's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a prime example of this. It featured a more realistic take on the series' fantasy world than ever before, while implementing innovative new controls and offering a good sense of freedom without making the player feel lost. It's one of the greatest games of all time, so it's hard to fault Nintendo for revisiting that same formula. And that's precisely what the latest game in the series, Twilight Princess, does. For the most part, that's a very good thing, because Twilight Princess is a lengthy adventure packed with many well-designed puzzles and some interesting characters. But once you get over the rush of excitement from a big, new Zelda game having finally arrived, it's hard not to feel a tinge of disappointment--there's a very noticeable lack of evolution here, which makes aspects of the game seem more dated than classic. Even so, there isn't much out there that compares to Twilight Princess, except for the Zelda games that have come before it.
Link is back! In wolf form!
Even though Twilight Princess was released first on Nintendo's new console, the Wii, it was originally designed as a GameCube game. Now that both versions are available, it's easy to see how similar the two versions really are. Graphically, the GameCube version is roughly identical to the Wii release. The main difference comes from a lack of 16:9 widescreen support, resulting in many of the story sequences being letterboxed when viewed in 4:3. However, the game does have 480p support. If you're properly equipped with a GameCube component cable and a TV capable of handling the higher resolution, you'll get a slightly cleaner image. The combat controls are more conventional on the GameCube, since you won't be shaking the controller around to attack (though if you've already played the Wii version, expect to feel dumb when you start to shake your WaveBird and wonder why nothing's happening), but the Wii controls actually end up feeling more precise in a direct comparison. It's easier and faster to aim your arrows, boomerang, or other targeted items using the Wii Remote. It's easier to move the camera around with the Wii Remote, too. While the GameCube controller is more precise when it comes to swinging your sword, the easier aiming and faster access to the spin attack make the Wii version's combat controls superior, even though they have a few issues of their own.
Also, in what has to be the weirdest change, the entire GameCube game is a mirror image of the Wii version. Actually, it's probably the other way around--Nintendo flipped the Wii version so that Link would be holding his sword in his right hand, which is the hand you're supposed to use to hold the Wii Remote. Link's a lefty on the GameCube, and the entire world is flipped around, as well. If you've played the Wii version, that'll trip you up a bit, but considering that the most likely candidate for the GameCube version of the game is someone that didn't get a Wii, this isn't a problem in any way. You can't go wrong with either version of the game, but if you're still trying to decide, the Wii version is just a bit better.
Like most other Zelda games, Twilight Princess is a retelling of the same basic tale, though this one is not without its twists. There's a princess named Zelda, a land called Hyrule, and a world that's on the verge of destruction if you don't do something to save it. In this installment, there's a darkness creeping across the land, locking it in the eternal dusk of the twilight realm. You play as Link, a humble, pointy-eared boy who lives in a far-off village and herds goats for a living, yet he ends up getting involved in the conflict. The twilight that's infected the land is an alternate reality of sorts, serving as the game's equivalent of A Link to the Past's dark, alternate world, or in some cases, serving the same purposes as the adult Link/child Link differences in Ocarina. The difference here is that when you're in the twilight, you're transformed into a blue-eyed wolf.
Early on in the game, you meet up with one of the shadow dwellers, an impish little creature named Midna. Midna rides around on your back while you're in wolf form and serves the same purposes as Navi in Ocarina, providing you with the occasional hint. Link's beast form behaves roughly the same as the human form, as far as combat is concerned, but you can't use items. You can, however, access otherwise unreachable areas by following set jump paths that Midna will lead you through. The wolf can also dig and go into a heightened-sense mode that shows off scent trails and other hidden objects. For the first portion of the game, you'll be forced back and forth between forms, but you eventually earn the ability to switch back and forth at will, and some of the game's later puzzles will require you to do just that. You can also ride around on horseback, if you like, but by the time you get to a point when you have large distances to cover, you'll also have the ability to warp around, limiting the horse's usefulness to a couple of combat-oriented sequences.
Many of the early parts of the game take place outside in the game's overworld and in various outdoor areas as you try to clear the darkness from the land. But along the way, you'll also enter various temples and dungeons to collect new items, solve a wide variety of puzzles, and fight bosses. While most of the game's story sequences take place above ground, these temples are the core of the entire game, and they're very well done, even if they cover a lot of the same ground that you may have seen in past Zelda installments. You start out with a forest temple, make your way to a mine under Death Mountain for your fire temple, scratch your head and try to figure out the inner workings of moving water around in the water temple, and so on. That's not to say they're all taken from old blueprints, though, and some of the later temples take you to somewhat more interesting locales, like a sky temple that demands that you make precise use of your grappling hookshot.
Most of the weapons and items you'd expect to see in a Zelda game are back in Twilight Princess.
For the most part, the puzzles are great and rooted in logic. So if you stare at the map long enough and figure out what each lever-pull does, deducing what's going on in the water temple isn't impossible. And once you get movement-enhancing items like the hookshot, you'll be carefully looking at each wall and ceiling, hoping to see a grapple-friendly target that will move you along. You'll push blocks, you'll move cannonballs from room to room in hopes of finding a cannon and clearing a path, you'll fire arrows at targets that cause blocks to move--it's all pretty standard if you've been keeping up with the Zelda series, but the formula still works quite well. However, with the way the puzzles are designed, it's certainly possible for just about any of them to trip you up and cause you to spend an hour or so just wandering around, staring at everything and trying to figure out what to do next. However, none of the puzzles are especially fiendish, which means that you might catch yourself feeling a little foolish when you finally realize that the solution was staring you in the face the entire time. But really, figuring these puzzles out is where the majority of the fun and sense of reward comes from as you play, because most of it's designed extremely well.
Description of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess brings you back tot he land of Hyrule, as you uncover the mystery behind its plunge into darkness. Link, a young man raised as a wrangler in a rural village, is ordered by the mayor to attend the Hyrule Summit. He sets off, oblivious to the dark fate that has descended upon the kingdom. When he enters the Twilight Realm that has covered Hyrule, he transforms into a wolf and is captured. A mysterious figure helps him break free, and with the aid of her magic, they set off to free the land from the shadows. Link must explore the vast land of Hyrule and As he does, he'll have to enlist the aid of friendly folk, solve puzzles and battle his way through dangerous dungeons. In the Twilight Realm, he'll have to use his wolf abilities and Midna's magic to bring light to the land. Revisit classic and new characters - Link, Zelda, Midna and many othersDespite all the hoopla surrounding the next generation consoles, the most anticipated gaming event of this year is undoubtedly the latest The Legend of Zelda game. Subtitled Twilight Princess, the game looks radically different from The Wind Waker with less stylized, more realistic looking graphics.
As ever with a Nintendo title, much of the game is still surrounded in secrecy, but previews have already shown the game's enormous scale with huge areas of rolling countryside for you to ride your horse and battle various evil enemies. Indeed, the game seems more action-focused than previous adventures, both on horseback and on foot.
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Despite the greater emphasis on action, the puzzles in the game are even more elaborate than before. A forest dungeon reveals your ability to communicate with animals. You order around a troupe of baboons to solve puzzles and to help battle the level boss.
The GameCube could hardly have asked for any better swansong than this, with utterly amazing graphics and an apparently endless range of features and settings. Even with so little still known about it, this is still on course to be the best game of the year. -- Harrison Dent, Amazon.co.uk
This preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game.
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