Note about my Final Verdicts. They are not meant to be reviews on how you play the game and what its all about. My verdicts always assumes that you know what the game is all about. I always recommend reading GameSpots reviews before reading my own verdicts. Im not here to tell you how to play a game. Im just telling you whats good and whats bad about a game you already know. In this case you can find GameSpots review here

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+ The best Zeldastory ever. Its darker, grittier and more mature and in the end its one of the most beautiful stories ever in a game. Zelda has been good before storywise but never even close to this. Heartachingly beautiful and very very epic ! The first time I entered the twilight I got an Ico meets Silent Hill feel. The contrast to this is the vast fields, mountains and deserts of Hyrule on Horseback. The story of the Twili people and the mysterious Midna is something that will stick as a very fond gaming memory. But most of all this title have more feelings and depth than previous ones.

+ The artistical design of the game is just stunning. The game is seriously crippled from a technical standpoint since its playing on a GameCube in 2007 but from a purely artistical point of view this game shines far more than anything else that came out in 2006. Everything from enviromental to architectual to characterdesign is unique and top notch and feels just right for a Zeldagame.

+ The Twilight and the normal world. Probably the best concept in a Zeldagame since A Link to the past where a similar concept were used. But not to this extent and not as good as TP. The gamemechanics that you are forced to use when in the Twilight is fresh and thrilling.

+ The direction of the cutscenes. The cutscenes are extremly well directed. Cameraangles, facial expressions and very well chosen locations and settings makes alot of the scenes so very beautiful, sad, scary and/or epic. The characters have no voices but so much feelings still come through.

+ The characters. A continuation of the previous point. All of the main characters are very well designed and they show so much emotion even tho they dont have nearly as many polygons as characters in an Xbox 360 title and no speech, they all have distinct personalities.

+ Midna. The best sidekick in any game for years and the best sidekick in a Zeldagame ever. She puts all of Links previous pathetic fairies to shame. She really steals the show even from Princess Zelda in this game (or does she?). The story of Midna and her fate throughout the game is nothing short of beautiful ( i will continue to use that word alot here). Shes a very important part of the story and you will come to love her in many different ways before the adventure is over.

+ The bosses. A very very important part of a Zelda game. They truly delivers and they are more epic than ever (another word i will use alot). Many of them will have you thinking of Shadow of the Colossus for the ps2. The small hero versus the giant colossus that has a weak spot somewhere on his body. There are some small and very up close and personal bosses to tho wich are just as good.

+ The overall Zelda soul. Yes. Its still very much a Zelda game and it still feels like a Zelda game. Ive played ALOT of Zelda growing up and this game has that special Zelda feel.

+ The music. Its very dated technically, just like the graphics but just like the graphics its also artistically superior to the competition. There´s so much feeling and soul to the music. Alot of it will remind you of old Zeldatunes but there are no straight up rip offs from previous titles until the credits. The amount of nostalgia in the music is just right.

+ The final battle and the ending(s) (dont turn off the console until ALL of the credits have rolled). Here i go again. BEAUTIFUL. Touching, EPIC and so cool. The final moments of this game are something I will put down as one of the best final bosses and one of the best endings ever. The game keeps building up to this huge crescendo and you are just hoping it will deliver. Well it does !

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- No widescreen support. This is the main reason you want to play the Wii version. The lack of this on the gamecube forces me to play this gorgeous game in either 4:3 format or an extremely stretched out 16:9 format that looks awful. The 4:3 format created burn ins on my LCD TV, making stripes where the 4:3 format ends so the 16:9 was what i decided to play on in the end but since theres no support for it i played with a stretched out link so wide he looked like a Goron. Its really a shame with a game such as this.

- Some parts of the presentation feels stuck in the past. The GameCube puts out alot of restrictions. The technical bit of this game suffers because of the system. no voices, no "real" music just these old gamecube samplings, jagged edges, blurry textures, blocky environment, awful looking trees and not very sharp textures at all. If this was the FIRST game on the GC this would not have been a problem but the year is now 2007 and im playing Gears of War on my X360. TP sometimes feels plain out DATED !

- I can feel the same way about the overall Zeldaconcept. The Temples ! I have actually never felt quite comfortable to be completely cut off from the gameworld to solve puzzles for 2 or more hours in a row. Each time I enter another temple I feel somewhere deep inside that Nintendo should try to take Zelda in another direction where the "temples" are more integrated into the gameworld and are more seamless and less frustrating. Tho somewhere I also feel that as a true Zeldafan this is what Zelda is all about and it shouldnt be changed.

- Some really frustrating bits in various Temples. The temples are sometimes just plain frustration and some of them takes alot of willpower and guides to get through. Most puzzles are smart and fun but some are so stupid. Make sure you are prepared for all the temples before you pick this title up. Dont expect Nintendo to have cut down on the temples just because they grew the story. If you are a more hardcore Zeldafan than me (and thats pretty hardcore) you might not notice this at all tho.

- The integration of various upgrades. A part of Zelda have always been to upgrade your clothes, quiver, bags, bottles and stuff like this. This have been really nicely intergrated into the story in previous titles and the items have actually helped you. This time around you can pretty much make your way through the whole game without bothering to pick up anything at all. 1 bottle is enough, you dont really ever need a bigger moneypouch, you will never use more than the standard amount of arrows and you will never blow so many things up at once that you need a bigger bomb bag. The motivation to find stuff like this dosent really exist. The motivation to get deeper into the story of way bigger than the one to get another Heartcontainer, partly because you will easily beat the game with just the hearts you get from bosses.

- The same goes for Epona, your horse. When youre well into the adventure you will just portal to where you want to go so Epona is just usable in a few big battles in the story really..

- The camera and controls. I dont know if anyone has ever complained about this but I actually think that the camera is downright awful sometimes and the controls can be very unprecise. Sometimes its hard to really do what you want because you cant really target it or the camera is way out of synch with how you want it to be. The controls in Zelda has pretty much been the same since Ocarina of Time and its about bloody time they upgraded them.

- How much does the game really live on previous sucesses? Sometimes I cant help but feel that the game wouldnt be as touching and engaging if it wasnt for the whole nostalgiafactor. Link, Zelda and Hyrule are things that have been with me growing up and as such the Nostalgia plays a big part of the game´s deep soul. If this was the first game in the Series I actually dont think it would engage me as much as it actually does. It kind of requires that you recognize places, names, story elements and certain sounds to really get you going. Sometimes I also think that they copy Ocarina of Time a bit much just because that game was so well recieved.

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