Twilight Princess contains the same expertly designed puzzles and gameplay that you've come to expect.
User Rating: 9.5 | The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess GC
Even though Twilight Princess was released first on Nintendo's new console, the Wii, it was originally designed as a GameCube game. Now that both versions are available, it's easy to see how similar the two versions really are. Graphically, the GameCube version is roughly identical to the Wii release. The main difference comes from a lack of 16:9 widescreen support, resulting in many of the story sequences being letterboxed when viewed in 4:3. However, the game does have 480p support. If you're properly equipped with a GameCube component cable and a TV capable of handling the higher resolution, you'll get a slightly cleaner image. The combat controls are more conventional on the GameCube, since you won't be shaking the controller around to attack (though if you've already played the Wii version, expect to feel dumb when you start to shake your WaveBird and wonder why nothing's happening), but the Wii controls actually end up feeling more precise in a direct comparison. It's easier and faster to aim your arrows, boomerang, or other targeted items using the Wii Remote. It's easier to move the camera around with the Wii Remote, too. While the GameCube controller is more precise when it comes to swinging your sword, the easier aiming and faster access to the spin attack make the Wii version's combat controls superior, even though they have a few issues of their own. Also, in what has to be the weirdest change, the entire GameCube game is a mirror image of the Wii version. Actually, it's probably the other way around--Nintendo flipped the Wii version so that Link would be holding his sword in his right hand, which is the hand you're supposed to use to hold the Wii Remote. Link's a lefty on the GameCube, and the entire world is flipped around, as well. If you've played the Wii version, that'll trip you up a bit, but considering that the most likely candidate for the GameCube version of the game is someone that didn't get a Wii, this isn't a problem in any way. You can't go wrong with either version of the game, but if you're still trying to decide, the Wii version is just a bit better. Like most other Zelda games, Twilight Princess is a retelling of the same basic tale, though this one is not without its twists. There's a princess named Zelda, a land called Hyrule, and a world that's on the verge of destruction if you don't do something to save it. In this installment, there's a darkness creeping across the land, locking it in the eternal dusk of the twilight realm. You play as Link, a humble, pointy-eared boy who lives in a far-off village and herds goats for a living, yet he ends up getting involved in the conflict. The twilight that's infected the land is an alternate reality of sorts, serving as the game's equivalent of A Link to the Past's dark, alternate world, or in some cases, serving the same purposes as the adult Link/child Link differences in Ocarina. The difference here is that when you're in the twilight, you're transformed into a blue-eyed wolf. Early on in the game, you meet up with one of the shadow dwellers, an impish little creature named Midna. Midna rides around on your back while you're in wolf form and serves the same purposes as Navi in Ocarina, providing you with the occasional hint. Link's beast form behaves roughly the same as the human form, as far as combat is concerned, but you can't use items. You can, however, access otherwise unreachable areas by following set jump paths that Midna will lead you through. The wolf can also dig and go into a heightened-sense mode that shows off scent trails and other hidden objects. For the first portion of the game, you'll be forced back and forth between forms, but you eventually earn the ability to switch back and forth at will, and some of the game's later puzzles will require you to do just that. You can also ride around on horseback, if you like, but by the time you get to a point when you have large distances to cover, you'll also have the ability to warp around, limiting the horse's usefulness to a couple of combat-oriented sequences. Many of the early parts of the game take place outside in the game's overworld and in various outdoor areas as you try to clear the darkness from the land. But along the way, you'll also enter various temples and dungeons to collect new items, solve a wide variety of puzzles, and fight bosses. While most of the game's story sequences take place above ground, these temples are the core of the entire game, and they're very well done, even if they cover a lot of the same ground that you may have seen in past Zelda installments. You start out with a forest temple, make your way to a mine under Death Mountain for your fire temple, scratch your head and try to figure out the inner workings of moving water around in the water temple, and so on. That's not to say they're all taken from old blueprints, though, and some of the later temples take you to somewhat more interesting locales, like a sky temple that demands that you make precise use of your grappling hookshot. 
