I recieved my copy of Twilight Princess in the mail yesterday and have been playing fairly regularly since. From all the things I've been reading in Gamespot's reviews, others player's blogs and forums, I thought I would have a fairly good idea of the experience I'd be in for.

First of all the graphics...I was expecting them to be a little subpar....but I find them to be superb. Sure, if you've spend countless hours staring at the countryside in Oblivion, you'd find Zelda to be pretty ugly. As for the comments some have about Wind Waker looking better, I have to say yes and no. Twilght Princess looks amazing for the art style it is trying to convey, but that art style ages quickly because it tries to convey something close to reality, in a sense. At this moment in time, Twilight's visuals are blowing me away. Wind Waker's art style tries to convey a cartoon, and does so extremely successfully. Ten years from now, we'll still be wondering why most games don't look as good as Wind Waker, and explaining that even though Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess look like **** now, they WERE revolutionary at the time. Or maybe Ocarina of Time was.

But the real point about Twilight's visuals are that they look superb, and while they may not look "current gen" ( gotta stop using "next") they are certainly in league with the very best of "last" gen including RE4, FFXII, MGS3, Ninja Gaiden  and Morrowind. Also, I'm running the game through standard unexciting composite cables, and it looks great. I don't think it could look much clearer. For those who have complained about it being too blurry, here's a hint: You need a new TV.

The sound....man...I love the music, but sometimes the it just stinks of N64, which is not a good thing. The sound effects are all good though, and I don't mind reading instead of spoken dialogue. As the first Baten Kaitos has taught me, sometimes no voices are better than bad ones.

Gameplay...Pretty standard Ocarina of Time stuff, until you become the wolf, which I'm loving. I never did play Okami,  so I don't know how much the two games are alike, but I find interacting with a fantasy world like Zelda in the form of a wolf refreshing. I've done alot of fooling around with the wolf, which probably accounts for my 7 hours into the game and only started the second dungoen. I have had more fun with the wolf and the twilight realm that I had expected to. I would say that this part of the game is very innovative.

Of all the complaints I've read, none of them really bother me all that much. Control is tight, not Wiimote tight for aiming, but much better than any previous 3D Zelda. Music can sound ancient, but the compositions are catchy and fit the mood of the game well. The cinemas are impressive, and I don't really mind a lack of voice. I think the characters convey emotions extremely well without it.

But you know what really annoys me? Everytime I pick up a blue 5 rupee piece and a yellow 10 rupee piece, the game stops and tells you..."You have just found 5 rupees!" Yeah, thanks. Thanks for that. To spin this in a positive light, this game has a marvelous grasp on the obvious.

These are just my first impressions. I'm loving this game, and that's all that matters. Now, looks like the wife has fallen asleep so the TV's mine. Time to play.