With so many Zelda games, one of them was going to suck eventually.
As usual, you play Link, the green-tunic-clad social mute whom everybody seems to love. This time Link is a ranch hand who spends his days herding goats from atop his trusty steed Epona. One day monsters attack his village and cast an evil spell, trapping it within a strange world of Twilight, and cursing Link by changing him into a wolf. Link then meets Midna, a denizen of the Twilight world, who offers to aid him in reversing the curse on himself and the land.
The story is decent enough for a Zelda game, though no one is going to be surprised by it's big "twist." Midna is rather amusing as the game's "Navi" character, treating Link like her slave, ordering him around and laughing at his mistakes. The rest of the game is filled with all the same zany Zelda characters we've all met before.
The game plays much like all the Zeldas before it since the venerable Ocarina of Time. Link can swing his sword with the B button, A is for context-sensitive actions, X and Y are assigned to equipable items, and you hold down L to lock on to enemies. Jumping is automatic as you run at a ledge; the C-stick gives you complete camera control. The interface has been streamlined a bit, with the map and inventory screens quickly popping up over the main screen, which is nice.
The level progression is the standard Zelda formula. You explore the land, enter a dungeon, half-way through you find a new item, then use said item to beat the dungeon's boss, collect the useless Macguffin item and continue to the next dungeon. This really isn't a bad thing, it's a proven formula which has been used in every Zelda game to date.
The problem is before you can actually get to any of this you're stuck in Link's wolf form; by and large these are the worst parts of the game. Zelda is usually fun because of it's open-ended exploration and sense of adventure. As wolf link you'll experience none of this, forced to follow set linear paths with few abilities, unable to deviate even slightly. As a wolf your skills are very limited; he has a basic bite attack, the ability to smell scent trails (pointless because there is only ever one way to go anyway), the ability to dig, and the curiously scripted ability to jump. These abilities are never added to or expanded throughout the game. Playing as wolf Link is simply boring. None of his items are usable, and you can't hardly go anywhere you want. It becomes this big chore, like the game is forcing you to play some other, non-fun game before you can actually get to the fun bits. The scripted jumping is particularly terrible in its broken-ness; basically when you are a wolf, there are specific, invisible spots where a prompt will appear letting you know that you can leap up to higher areas. There is no reason at all while Link's jumping ability magically increases exponentially at these prompts, and no reason why he couldn't use this ability whenever he wanted. Plus the prompts aren't really obvious, so sometimes you can wander aimlessly, stuck in a small area, until you find and stand on the exact right spot to trigger the jump prompt. Just another example of how Twilight Princess actively attempts to kill your fun.
After the first three dungeons you'll gain the ability to switch to Link's wolf form at will, which means you'll only ever use it when you're forced to an likely never again. Sword and shield in hand, the game becomes fun again once more, but sadly it seems the damage has already been done. For some odd reason, the tight, responsive controls and tactical, reflex-testing combat has been almost completely removed. Who doesn't remember the tense, z-targeting duels of Ocarina of Time, circling your enemy, blocking strikes, waiting for an opening to attack? This has been completely lost, and now every enemy can be beaten by simply mashing the sword button. This is a real shame, since you even get a bunch of cool special attack skills over the course of the game; sadly these are totally unneccesary in Twlight Princess's world of sloppy, loose combat. (One might even be tempted to say that the sloppy, loose nature of Twlight Princess is due to the game being re-worked for the sloppy, loose nature of the Wii controls... oh no, that would be silly. Yep. Totally rediculous.)
The game also features expanded horse combat, since Link can now use his sword and items while riding on the back of Epona. This was one of Twlight Princess's most hyped features, and it is very fun, but sadly only used in a few, isolated scripted sequences throughout the game. You can ride Epona around Hyrule field, but this ends up being a waste of time when you have the ability to teleport around the land at will. Of course, since the horse combat sections are so fun, it makes sense to hardly use them at all. Yep. Great game design Nintendo. Really.
Graphically Twilight Princess looks good, though there are plenty of inconsistancies here as well. The game attempts this gritty, worn, realistic feel; but still fills itself with big-eyed anime characters and people with exagerated, cartoonish features. The result is jarring, making many of the game's characters just wierd-looking, and lacking in a truly cohesive art style. The Twilight creatures seem to be inspired from Tron, but at least they show some originality. The sound quality, while decent enough, seems to be stuck in the past with midi-quality arrangements.
In the end, Twilight Princess is Just Another Zelda Game, which misses more than it hits. There isn't a whole lot that's new or innovative here, and what is new doesn't work, and what's innovative is hardly used. In this way, Twilight Princess can be said to be a perfect example of how not to make a game, or perhaps an example of how people will buy any game if it has the right name on the box. For anyone who hasn't played a Zelda game, there are far better examples of the series, and for everyone else, this game can safely be skipped.