Ocarina of Time is the epitome of what Zelda should have always been, and Twilight Princess improves on all categories.
November 1998, Nintendo unleashed The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64, and when that time came it made the world wonder why haven't all Zeldas been this good and really set the bar for all Zeldas aswell. Once people had finished praising Nintendo for the masterpiece they had created, people were clammering in anticapation for the next gen upgrade of our green tunic wearing hero.
In August 2000 at the Spaceworld expo, Nintendo gave the first glimpse of the Gamecube and with it a demonstration of a battle between Ganon and Link, with the sneak peak of course came the speculation of what the next adventure our hero would be. The next year we were shown the Wind Waker, this iteration was intended to be for all ages, but the hardcore Zelda fans were disppointed in this new cel shaded look which they thought strayed too far from the Zelda they've always known and loved. But most doubts had been put to rest when the game released in March 2003, it may not have been the true sequel people had wanted, but it definetly was a great Zelda.
With the fans slightly appeased, Nintendo had there E3 press briefing in 2004, and with it brought a roar to the gaming world, they had shown us the next installment in the Zelda franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, this game has been what fans new and old had always wanted, a true successor to the Ocarina of Time. Twilight Princess was boasted to be the best Zelda ever created by Nintendo themselves.
Now in present day, the long awaited Twilight Princess has finally set out to Zelda fans everywhere. You can't begin to describe the detail of Hyrule in this game, Ocarina was the first to show of the already impressive landscape, Twilight Princess Hyrule is at least 5x that size, it's amazing. The story of this Zelda is unlike any before it, and really sets it apart, the cinematics are more dark and sinister than any Zelda has ever been. The story starts off a little slow thrusting you into your role as the 'hero' who will save Hyrule from the darkness of the Twilight, the first three dungeons are quite forgettable, and soon after you will start your real journey you'll also along the way will find some very nice plot twists here and there, but there is a slight lack of originality being the whole story boils down to three very well known very important characters of the series.
First off, its hard to imagine a Zelda that could ever surpass Ocarina of Time, but Twilight Princess surely delivers. Now then, Nintendo once again gives us the Tried-and-True immersive gameplay system of which Zelda has always been known for since Ocarina of Time, and gives you the "if it ain't broke, dont fix it." mentality, it may be great to some extent but a change is finally needed for this long time running franchise. Also in addition to the normal Link gameplay you now have a Wolf form you transform into soon after starting the game and then eventually you will be able to transform at will whenever you like. The controls aren't as deep as you would think since what else can a wolf do but bite right? But you have a bunch of other abilities you could not have when you play as normal Link, such as a sense ability which allows you to smell different scents you will pick up along the way and see things you couldn't normally see. Along the whole quest your arsenal of weapons becomes quite staggering as you will have plenty to fiddle with, but after all fo these past games I think the well is beginning to run dry with fresh new ideas for weapons. Also when you start your game, you happen to start with a long time known friend of the series Epona, if you've played Ocarina or Majora's Mask then you will probably get the gist of the controls which are relatively simple.
But while you are riding around, you can't but help look at the beautiful landscape, Hyrule field has never looked so damn good, but don't think for a second thats it, once you've gained the ability to transform into Wolf Link you traverse the Twilight World, which if any of you have played Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, its somewhat like the Dark Aether world, but much much more ambient and immersive it's quite breath taking. Games just don't typically ever look this good, especially when it comes to GameCube games. And to top it off the game supports 480p over component but no 16:9, you may not think it's that much of a difference but really is a night and day difference.
You may think by now that this game is virtually flawless, well its not, Ocarina's soundtrack was basically composed of little snip its of sound, and various melodies as past iterations which worked great back then, but it seems like they've tried to do that in this game aswell. With the epic feel of this game you can't but wish they put a full orchestrated soundtrack to hear while horseback riding, it's a little needed touch, but definetly doesn't draw away from the great experience.
Twilight Princess is a game that is real straight forward when it comes to value, since Zelda games have always been known for excaptionaly long quests, i've put in a little over 15 hours and am only in the second dungeon take into account im going by strategy guide getting everything I can along the way. So i've pretty muc hgot the gist of the whole games estimating it to be about a 50-55 hour game, which is pretty staggering when you think about it.
With this being the spiritual successor to Ocarina of Time it had a lot to live up to, so with the next gen upgrade of our hero, same great control mechanics, beautiful scenery, somewhat impressive soundtrack that does improve over its counter part (Ocarina of Time). Its hard to imagine but this truly is the best Zelda ever made, you can only say great things about this game, and only wonder how the series could ever be improved upon, only time will tell, but until then buy this game, and gaze in it's magnificence.
Thanks for Reading.