Pros: | Cons: |
Amazing visuals and Link Character model | Story and gameplay starts too slow |
9 Dungeons and a Massive World | Wolf Link is underused |
Fantastic new items and dungeons | Some minor issues (characters, textures, etc.) |
Good music and story |
Writing a Zelda review feels like watching the same show over and over, every review I say the same things and praise the game’s dungeons while complaining about a few minor issues, and if you’re expecting something different here you’re not going to get it. This is both good and bad, on the downside we don’t get much variety in Zelda with the exception of this year’s Skyward Sword, and the basic formula is still the same as it was 15 years ago. On the other hand, the way these games play is masterful, so why change them? Twilight Princess is yet another cookie cutter of the immensely successful Ocarina of Time, but is better for it. Sure it feels like playing an enhanced version of Ocarina of Time…but isn’t that a good thing?
Like in all my other reviews, I begin with the graphics, and like in all other Zelda’s they’re absolutely breathtaking. In the case of Twilight Princess the scope and size of the game is stunning, not only can I see great distances in Hyrule Field, but the characters on screen simultaneously, and the glory of Kakariko Village help add to the game’s unprecedented scale. The animation and frame rates are glorious as well, and the colorful creative locations are all unique and easy to distinguish between each other (with the exception of some locations in Hyrule Field, which commonly resemble each other making it difficult to judge where you are). My favorite aspect of the game’s visuals is the character models themselves (especially Link). Midna was well created from scratch, and Link himself (both in Wolf form and regular) looks fantastic. His handsome character model sports the usual green tunic and loads of weapons but in Twilight Princess he looks better than ever and is a highlight of the game’s approach to realistic visuals all in its own.
One place in which Twilight Princess is both better and worse than its predecessors, is in its audio. The sound effects are great, I love walking in the Goron Mines and hearing the different sounds of Link stepping on the floor depending on what kind of material the floor is made out of, and Link’s usual yelling and screaming in the game are better than ever (and less annoying when rolling across Hyrule Field). The downfall to Twilight Princess is the music, which is quite good for the most part, but still doesn’t even compare to Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker. Some highlights of the music include Hyrule Field, Midna’s Theme, and some of the boss themes, but overall there aren’t really any stand out themes such as Gerudo Valley in Ocarina of Time. It’s not a huge complaint as the music is still fantastic; it’s just a downer that it wasn’t up to the standards set by Ocarina of Time.
Another way in which Twilight Princess is lacking compared to its siblings, would be in its story line. The story begins slowly and does pick up the pace, but is never really clear and tantalizing as it was in Twilight Princess’s sister game, Ocarina of Time. Sure, Midna is a great inclusion and helps boost the score, and the story of the Twilight is great as well, but it all feels too similar to Ocarina of Time and the developers tried to change it up by throwing in hooks like Wolf Link, which isn’t as cool as it sounds. Plus, the characters in the game besides Midna, Zant, Link, and Zelda, are quite dull and lifeless, and Ganondorf isn’t even shown until the end of the game, but instead replaced by Zant which while Zant is awesome, why did the story hide Ganondorf until the end. These are all minor complaints but add up to the worst aspect of the game, and one of the worst stories in Zelda history.
Opposite of the story in the game would be the gameplay as it is surely the best aspect of the game, and the best gameplay in Zelda history. Nearly everything about it is masterful; the controls, the items, the puzzles, and the fighting. Combat works how it always has complete with the returning L-Targeting system to target onto your enemies, and tons of sword moves so that Link can easily dispatch his foe. The puzzles are genius and innovative as usual and although they are rare to find, they are always a nice change of pace from the usual gameplay. The new items such as the Spinner are used extremely well when they are used, but are often used exclusively in their respective dungeon and not needed much after that, and this seems to be a problem in many Zelda adventures, why can’t the cool items be used more often? The controls work extremely well from aiming your arrows, to using your sword, Wolf Link could control a tad better, but besides that the controls are solid (note: controls based on GameCube version of game). The dungeons in the game are creatively designed and each revolve around a central item, and consist of the player traversing unique terrains to find this item, as well as a boss key, and eventually fighting the end boss and completing the dungeon/temple. Some of my favorite dungeons in the series are present here in this game, including Arbiter’s Grounds, a desert location that feels like a double-length dungeon with a great final boss, Snowhead Temple, a house belonging to a yeti that is more unique than any dungeon I’ve ever seen, and the City in the Sky, a dungeon in the sky complete with Oocoos (creepy chicken things), and the best boss in the game. All the dungeons are the best in the series with the exception of maybe the first three (Forest, Goron Mines, and Lakebed) but it is still a solid group of dungeons, absolutely fantastic. If there’s areas to complain, and there are, they would include the opening hour of the game which basically consists of Link running around doing lame errands and jobs for villagers, boring… On the other hand once the game picks up it never gets boring again. The worst aspect of the gameplay is the game’s main hook: controlling a wolf form of Link and travelling through the Twilight realm to find light balls. Wolf Link isn’t that great, and whereas the Twilight looks cool, it’s not all that amazing. I do appreciate the light balls mainly because they help introduce you to the area, but they are still annoying and unnecessary. Wolf Link is not only dull and must complete tedious tasks, but I found that his skills are unrealistic, he commonly jumps 30 feet with the help of Midna as if wolf’s could jump that great of a distance. I could go on like this for a while but as it is, this paragraph is getting much too long. In the end, masterful gameplay and a difficult quest with its only problem being some aspects of Wolf Link, nonetheless the best aspect of the game and the best gameplay in the series.
The amount of gameplay perfectly complements the gameplay itself. Whereas Wind Waker ended too soon, Twilight Princess consists of nine amazing dungeons and a massive world to explore and hunt for sidequests in. I love how in this game, you can literally walk from Link’s house, to Hyrule Castle, and then to Lake Hylia, it’s just such a freeform game and I love the sense of exploration. This is easily the largest Zelda game to date and will take most gamers a few dozen hours to complete, and even once you do complete it and find all the heart pieces, you’ll only want to play it again.
While the other GameCube Zelda, Wind Waker, may have beat Twilight Princess when it comes to the arts (graphics, audio, story), Twilight Princess is a far superior title when it comes to the game itself (gameplay, gameplay amount). As to which is better you can check my separate article for that (which compares the two fantastic adventures and chooses one as the best) Twilight Princess is a true Zelda game and perhaps the best Zelda adventure in existence. The final fight with Ganondorf is appropriately epic in size and scale, and is a blast, and the ending scenes are heartbreaking and sweet. Twilight Princess may have a few minor flaws like every other Zelda game, and like I said it may feel like a cookie-cutter of Ocarina of Time, but once again, isn’t that a good thing? Looking into the future with Skyward Sword changing the way things work, I can’t wait to see how that compares to Twilight Princess and see if changing the formula is good or bad. It’s masterful how it is, how do you get better than that?
Graphics: Scope and Size of worlds is amazing, great character models (especially Link) 10.0 |
Audio: Great sound effects, music is good, but not as good as other Zelda games 9.5 |
Story: Story is great but starts slow, most characters are boring with exception of Midna 9.0 |
Gameplay: Dungeons and items are best in series, Wolf Link is underused, good controls 10.0 |
Gameplay Amount: Nine dungeons and a massive world to explore with sidequests 10.0 |
Overall: Zelda at its best, a true sequel to Ocarina of Time and not to be missed 9.7 |
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