Twilight Princess gives you pretty much all the Classic Zelda you expect, but nothing more.
The Bad: Although the story is mysterious you don’t feel as if you know a lot of what your objective is, loss of speech; not much of a difference from previous Zelda games; no innovation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First Thoughts: After Nintendo had announced this game, I was pumped. The trailers were amazing and I felt that this was the game to surpass the excellence of the Ocarina of Time. After the Jeff review I felt he was biased and wrong, but after I actually played through the game, I now realized that I was biased for over hyping a Zelda game and hoping it to exceed all expectations. Introduction:There is always one thing Zelda games are famous for and that’s innovation. The Windwaker proved to the gamers that not every Zelda game is going to be similar. The formula worked and you had another great Zelda game in the series. Sadly this isn’t the case when it comes to Twilight Princess. But before we get into Twilight Princess let me refresh your memory of Ocarina of Time. It was an amazing game that many people still talk and play today. In one word it was revolutionary. But if you were to have someone play Twilight Princess first, and then play Ocarina, it would not be as revolutionary as it used to be. The reason being is not that a 360 game has better graphics than Ocarina’s but because the 2 games are extremely similar and not much has changed in terms of game play, sound and the overall game.
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Gameplay: Nothing much to complain about here, the gameplay is perfect. You get the “parry attack” type moves from Windwaker such as rolling behind your enemies and a quick jab and also some new moves like the Helm Splitter and Shield Attack. The lock on feature, and old used Zelda feature works perfectly and there is practically no flaw when it comes to using it. The horse combat has changed juristically from Ocarina and Majora. You can now use your sword on horse and you use your horse a lot more than you used in Ocarina. The puzzles can be quite challenging and all the action you get from the Dungeons, the Overworld and just everything in between is absolutely amazing. The story could have used a bit of tuning up though. In Ocarina you had a feel for the world and what you had to do. You knew your objective was to eventually kill Ganon and you were kind of in the story. But in TP it’s kind of a mystery of what your supposed to do. Midna (your guide) tells you where to go without explanation or even giving a purpose at times. The Wolf aspects of the game can be quite dull as well. The wolf part often requires you to collect the “Tears of Light”. You basically venture through the Twilight searching for these Dark Bugs. Once you defeat them you receive a Tear and that’s pretty much the Wolf aspect is. It gets boring as time goes on and the wolf parts feel more of a doing chore and less of playing a game.
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Graphics: The graphics basically follow the N64 roots. It’s not cell-shaded and I think they look pretty good. Link looks amazing, and the artistic graphics are simply amazing. You see all the buckles and belts on Link’s tunic, amazing statues and art done on Hyrule Castle, and the Castle Town really gives you a feel of the medieval times. Ganondorf looks amazing and all the designs on his armor are extremely cool. They could have been a bit better because at times it fills the graphics feel a bit blocky and square but an overall improvement from Windwaker’s.
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Sound: When it comes to the sound, its kind of weird because you get one big positive, one big negative and one in between. The negative is the loss of speech. The story is basically told through you reading. Its not that bad but once you get into the story, reading sort of spoils the mood. I mean you’d like a big epic ending and just reading and watching the characters mouth move sort of sets a boundary between Hyrule and your bedroom. What the game tris to make up for the loss of speech are its sound effects. You here Link’s classic HIYE!!! And Ganondorf’s maniacal laughter but sometimes Link’s sound effects get repetitive and boring. Its cool to have some voice acting but the repetitiveness sort of ruins it. Now what makes up for the sound is the Overworld orchestrated music. Never have I heard such a beautiful exciting overworld music. The music which is mostly done by the famous Koji Kondo is amazing. You get to hear classic tunes from previous Zelda games remixed and they are simply breathtaking. Like I said before the Overworld music in this game is the best of its kind and probably the best Zelda song you will ever hear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Value: The value in this game is like any other Zelda game, excellent. You can stray from the main story and go on side quests for heart pieces, poe soul collecting, different power-ups and much more to keep you busy for a long time. Even without all these side-quests the game is exceptionally long. There are 9 dungeons to mimic the amount found in Ocarina of Time and you can expect top find 20-40 hours the first time through even without all the side-quests. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bottom Line: If your into Zelda and you loved the Ocarina of Time this is the game for you. Although the stories differ for the 2 games, both offer an epic final boss and an awesome game. Any Zelda fan should definitely pick up this game and basically any action-adventure fan should consider picking this one up. The game suffers when it comes to originality as it sometimes feels like rehash and there isn’t no significant improvement or enhancement in this game as opposed to any other Zelda game. With all my opinions expressed & said the best way to figure out if this game is for you is simply by playing through it and deciding.