Nintendo had a chance to define the GameCube. Instead it sold Twilight Princess's soul to the Wii.
Let me preface this review by stating that I am not a "big" Zelda game. Certainly, I was blown away by Ocarina of Time and Oracle of Ages (GBC) and was suitably impressed by Majora's Mask and Windwaker. But I did not agonize over the decision for Nintendo to move Zelda to the Wii where many feared the game would become a "gimmick" designed solely to sell Wiis. Nor did I worry about Nintendo's ability to implement a (pardon the pun) "revolutionary" control scheme on such short notice. I trusted Nintendo and trust gave us a wonderful game. Not a "great" game but a wonderful one.
The core of Twilight Princess remains the same as the other Zeldas: it is about exploring dungeons, solving puzzles, and the occasional intense outburst of combat. It is a formula that has worked for nearly 30 years and it still works. You play as (suprise, surpise) Link and you begin the game at a small village, a tutorial for beginners. And we were all beginners with the Wii.
Twilight Princess implements the Wii's (now stagnant, then cutting edge) control scheme. It is implemented well. You can slash with the Wiimote and Link will swing his sword. You can use the nunchuk and Wiimote for archery as well. It is very simple and works very well.
The graphics are good. Now I'm going to launch on a bit of a tangent here. It will probably continue for the remainder of this review.
Let's step back a bit. Twilight Princess was originally a GameCube game. Not only that, it was going to be THE GameCube game. It was the game that the hundreds of thousand hardcore Nintendo fans had waited for it. It was going to be mature, dark, and cutting edge. And then Nintendo moved it to the Wii. Yes, yes it was also released on the GameCube. But that is utterly irrelevant. The Wii was a new console. The GameCube was nearly 6 years old. The Wii was "revolutionary", the GameCube was stagnant. And by moving Twilight Princess onto the Wii Nintendo made a terrible mistake. It basically told the world -and especially developers such as Capcom and Silicon Knights who had sacrificed quite a bit for the GameCube- that the GameCube was a mistake. More than that, it was a HUGE mistake.
If Nintendo had release Twilight Princess on the GameCube they would have told the world that the GameCube had been a viable competitor with the XBOX and the PS2 instead of in a distant third place that the NPD sales and critics will tell you. Twilight Princess -developed solely for the GameCube- would have been one of the greatest games this generation has ever seen. Instead, Nintendo hurriedly shuffled production the Wii and allowed a stuttering, shaky development to continue for the GameCube.
The GameCube version of Twilight Princess was good. Not great but flawed. It showed signs of being rushed, of being passed over. The Wii game was better but still flawed. It was not a defining game. It became a very good game but no one ever picks up a Nintendo because they want a very good game. They want one of the best games, a game that becomes inherently stuck in fond memories and conversations. The Twilight Princess -unlike Ocarina of Time or Link to the Past or even Majora's Mask - was not one of those games. It was a good game -perhaps even great- but it will not be forever remembered. And that is a terrible tragedy for Nintendo.