The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess Review
From LoveToKnow VideoGames
The long awaited/delayed installation in the Zelda series has finally arrived -- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. We swooned at the E3 screenshots for several years, we read first-hand reports, drooled over videos and gobbled up every delicious morsel about the game from day one. Now it's here and available for the Nintendo Wii and GameCube. And we've got the The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess review. Was it worth the wait?
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Background
The game begins with Link living in Ordon Village working on a ranch. The village blacksmith asks him to deliver a sword and shield to Hyrule Castle in his stead. Before he can set out on his journey, however, a group of children are ambushed and kidnapped by monsters. Link pursues but is sucked into a mysterious realm of twilight and transformed into a blue-eyed wolf. A small imp-like creature named Midna visits him here in the Twilight Realm and helps him escape. Riding on wolf-Link's back, Midna helps navigate through the strange world. The two travel through the Twilight Realm castle and discover another prisoner: Princess Zelda. She explains that an evil monster named Zant is trying to merge the Twilight Realm with Hyrule and turn it into a land of darkness. Midna is searching for a sacred weapon that can defeat him, and only Link can help find it.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Reviewed
There are two flavors of gameplay in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Choose from human Link and wolf-form Link. Each has a distinct feeling and style you must learn to use effectively. The human Link is the traditional Legend of Zelda hero who uses the boomerang, sword, shield, bow, and so on. Thanks to the effects of the Twilight Realm, Link can also turn into a wolf and use abilities such as digging, leaping across great distances, and a wonderful group attack that swats enemies in a small radius. Both forms are necessary to progress in the game and are equally interesting to play.
Everything you would want or expect from a Legend of Zelda game is here in spades in Twilight Princess: classic items and the familiar music, mated with loads of mini-games, side-quests and bonuses. It's undeniably Zelda and extremely well-made on top of that. The level of detailed polish is extraordinary. Nintendo put the year-long delay to good use and tweaked the game to make it even more impressive. It's hard to look at The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess without your eyes glazing over from the beauty at every turn.
There is very little (if anything) to criticize about The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It's a massive game with over 50 hours of gameplay and loads of dungeons and areas to explore. The storyline is well-crafted and extremely captivating. Gameplay is smooth, but the Wii version takes a lot of time to get used to and, in the end, doesn't feel as natural as a good old fashioned GameCube controller.
Wii vs GameCube
Two versions of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess are being released -- one for Nintendo's new Wii console and the other for the GameCube. What's the difference?
Because the Wii uses an entirely unique controller with motion-sensing capabilities, the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess plays differently than its GameCube cousin. Swinging the sword and using items is done by moving the Wii Remote, so instead of tapping a button to attack an enemy you can literally just move your hand. The unfortunate side effect of this is, because most gamers are right handed, Nintendo decided to mirror the entire game to make Link right handed as well. This means the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is reversed when compared to the GameCube game. Other than the controls, though, the two games are virtually identical.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Conclusion
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess launched with the Nintendo Wii and sales have been extremely strong. Almost three fourths of the people who bought a Wii also bought The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. With an immense legacy behind the series and years of development time under its cover, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is one game you can't go wrong with.
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