It is safe to say the "next-generation" is the current generation. I have had a 360 for nearly a year and I have had a Wii for three weeks now. Zelda is something that has caused heat on the forums here so much that CJayC himself had to water the flames. I was surprised by the 8.8 score myself. Now that I own Zelda I have somethings to say, as well as some opinions of other takes on this "issue".

My main point here is that I have never gotten too involved with a 3D Zelda game before. I played about 2 hours of Ocarina of Time and I have never played Majora's Mask or Wind Waker. I have played some 2D Zelda games like Four Swords, A Link To The Past, and Oracle of Seasons, and I loved all of those. Still, from the few moments of Ocarina of Time, 3D Zeldas certainly feel a lot different. And after 10 hours into Twighlight Princesss, my opinion in that respect hasn't changed.

But let's get straight to it. Twilight Princess is probably one of the best games I have played this year, and the only other game that has given me the same amount of joy this year is Oblivion. Although like Oblivion, it started out a bit slow, the game certainly picked up once the tutorial was over. Before I knew it I was a wolf and I was constantly tormented by this impish yet really cool shadow being called Midna. Such a memorable character. In fact this game has a really great story. Being a wolf is fun too, especially how Midna mocks your emotions and how you watch your friends scuttle in fear hopelessly when they can't even see you. Or when these really cool looking portals open up and shadow beings pop out and attack me and they have to die at the same time. Hyrule is also very large and it sometimes feels hard to believe how much distance you have covered. Riding Epona and battling on horse is also cool. This game even has a Lord of the Rings feel, attempting to cross the great bridge of Hylia simply felt epic. And even though graphics are Gamecube esque and the sound is MIDI, they still felt right and they didn't detract from the experience at all. There were even some other cool charms and mini-games, including sumo wrestling, which becomes mandatory in the story. Some of the dungeon puzzle were pretty awesome like the magnetic boots in the Goron mines. The Wii controls aren't exponentially better than any other system I have played but they don't detract from the experience either. It really is a fantastic game.

First of all, the reason I mentioned how I am unfamiliar with 3D Zeldas is because it entitles me to have much smaller expectations of this game than anyone that has. This brings me to Oilers' rant on the purposes' of sequels. I am bringing this up because I agree that games should simply be looked at on their own merits. Some notable Gamespot editors have downplayed Twilight Princess for not reinventing the wheel. And that us why my opinion differs. I can't really be dissapointed with Zelda because I haven't bothered with any of Link's previous 3D outings. Games like Zelda don't exist in a vacuum and it certainly should not be judged that way. So what if the current Zelda isn't as impressive as Ocarina of Time was? Is it not an impressive game on its own merits? I'll take my other favorite next-gen game and reveal that I haven't played any previous Elder Scrolls game. I didn't have any set biases upon playing it. I just played with it, and I certainly loved it. GameSpot did too but some Morrowind fans were certainly turned off that it didn't feel "Elder Scrolls" enough. So what? It still is a very impressive game. Again this relates to how I have never played any ES game before. I didn't have anything to be overly dissapointed with.

Another great example is Eurogamers Zelda Review. It talks about all the flaws but it also gives it a fair review in the sense of how some games can be very fun that the flaws don't matter. This is a major point also brought up by 1UP editor Jeremy Parish (Who gave Zelda his first ever 10). He even talks about how 1UP's review up Gears of War talks about all the negatives but it still was such a fun game that it recieved a ten. Zelda may not have an ultra deep combat scheme and Oblivionn may have several technical issues and some overly "run and gun" quests, but they are seriously awesome games in which fun alone can more than make up for the flaws.

And while I can say that it is easier to look at games this way when you don't have such high expectations, I think it is time other gamers should stop looking at franchises like Zelda as merely franchises but unique games. It's also why some people should really stop dissing Nintendo for relying on old franchises and Microsoft for relying on Halo.