I wish I had better things to say about this game.
The game plays exactly how you'd expect. You're Link, a small town kid that gets swept up into an adventure which forces you to deal with some monsters, explore some dungeons, and meet some new people. Each dungeon has a new item to use to help you on your adventure and to defeat the boss. It's all pretty standard and any Zelda fan should be completely used to this formula. And as well, you should be completely happy with it. Hey, it just works.
The only real difference is that at times you also turn into a wolf. But don't worry, nothing really changes other than the fact that you can smell items and follow scent trails at certain select points throughout the game and can't use your items, though there is really never a need to. All the wolf parts are comparatively short. The only real problem is that the way the game flows, it wants you to feel like being a wolf is a bad thing, and I really think that this comes through. So when you're a wolf you feel bad and want it to end as soon as possible. This seemed like an odd choice to me from the devs, since it really is the one thing which sets it apart from other Zelda games. Missed opportunity, I think.
Wii controls are fairly tight. The aiming with the bow or clawshot works extremely well with the Wii remote, as is expected. Movement is easy, Link goes where you want him to. The camera rarely ever is any frustration, and z-targeting works as well as ever. The only real problem is the sword fighting being controlled by waggling the wii remote (aside from the jump attack which is used by hitting the A button). The remote picks up your motions just fine, but sometimes it feels forced and unnecessary.
The music is good. If you're like me, you might find yourself humming some of the tunes while you're doing other things. Of course fully orchestrated music would have been better, but I won't fault it for what it wasn't trying to do. The music it does have suits it well. Unless you are a wolf and are howling. That just sounds terrible. But for a game not centered around music: A-.
The story is alright. Hyrule is being covered in a strange Twilight and its up to you and your new pal (or is she?) Midna to return the world to normal. There are, however, two major problems with the story. 1. As it progresses, it becomes Midna's story rather than Link's. It becomes so bad that the final two bosses barely even acknowledge your existence. It's as if Midna is the one actually moving through some kind of progression and you are just her muscle. 2. Aside from the 5 major characters, nobody else seems to have any clue whats going on. You never feel like you've saved anyone from the twilight because they never knew they were in it in the first place. Unless you come to really value what Midna thinks of you, you'll never really have a good sense of accomplishment throughout most of the game. And just as a side note here, the game world is large, but mostly empty without much to do. It looks like all of Hyrule aside from the castle is in ruins. It's like a dying land, but for some reason the bad guys really want it. And most of the side characters are really lacking. You never feel too attached.
The dungeons are great, really where the game excels. Very well designed, but never water temple frustrating. You'll have to fight a miniboss (all of which are great) to get your new item so that you can progress. Again, a tried and true formula. Unfortunately, every dungeon ends on a sour note: the boss. While the battle may seem epic at first glace, ever boss is actually pretty simplistic and never difficult. Forget having to bring in 3 or 4 fairies to every boss fight, you won't need any. Also, the dungeons here (for the most part) don't have any real story behind them. They are purely point A to B affairs. There is no other objective than to get to the boss and kill it because for some reason it has something that you want.
As a final note, the game is great, but its flaws really hold it back. Luckily, those flaws don't change the fact that the game plays really well, and isn't that the point of video games?