Twilight Princess is with no doubt a mark to Legend of Zelda history, and deserves attention for being an adventure gold
That was all you could hear when this unexpected blockbuster was announced for the gamecube, at the end of it's relatively good era. Link and company are back, once again, for yet another incredible and compeling adventure that makes anyone a hearty fan of this incredible series.
Enough big word blabbering... Lets start the review:
Uhh... So you start as Link... The story endures around a mysterious story about the bond between twilight and light, with the evildoer, selfproclamed Twilight king Zant, trying to enbrace all to the dark dephts of the Twilight World, by inprisioning light spirits, scattering monsters... Making caos. With no doubt, Nintendo did a really good job with the story of this game. A LoZ (can I just call it that?) game never had such a complex and interesting story, and you will go to the end trying to discover several mysteries... And as Gamespot said with wisdom, this game will end with three characters (I wonder who). The only problem I have with the story is that, at times, things are a bit too complex, and you eventualy get lost on dialogs, asking yourself what in the world was happening. And another thing, You probobly already heard this, but this game is more aimed to a more mature audience, being the first LoZ game rated T. Its indeed much darker, and may give you the chills with tense moments, but nothing too dark. You will still find the comic moments and everything else you could expect from a LoZ game. You collect things throughout Hyrule, to unlock passages, get the master sword, collect more things, and fight Ganondorf... Simple as that (ok maybe not that simple). Oh, and gaining new weapons and learing new sword abbilities are simply awesome. The graphics of the game are very good, and takes good profit of Gamecube processor capabilities, with a large arrange of effects and lightings. Sometimes (especialy enemies) may seem a bit dated, but nothing that will catch your attention.You will travel from never ending deserts, to snow lands, to forests, to temples, castles, villages, towns, and even the sky, gaizing at the sights and beatifull artwork. The game has a satisfing 30 hours of gameplay, without counting sidequests (wich sadly make a smaller count in this game). Th biggest problem I have with this game is it's pace. It starts very well, with lots of action and new capabilities that will refresh the LoZ feel, and will leave you engaged with the game. At the middle-end you will start getting bored and playing the game basicly just to say "I completed it", just like I did. When I reached the Twilight Realm, I simply stopped playing because it just didn't hype me anymore. A few months later I continued and was very satisfied, it was just a matter of taking a rest, since this game is really wide. But the final boss makes you feel a lot better, since, as any LoZ game, it is divided in parts, and is simply AWESOME, with those outstanding, eye oppening cutscenes.
Overall, this LoZ is a great entrant to the LoZ series and is a must buy for any fan. Very minor flaws and bad pacing don't get neer of taking of this game's shine and glory. My score is 9.0