Pros: Challenging dungeons. Superb graphics. Most challenging game since Zelda: A Link to the Past.
Cons: Sound. No magic meter.
The Bottom Line: This game exceeded my expectations, but did bore me some in for a few of my quests. I recommend to anyone that is into medieval games.
Wise1Only's Full Review: The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess for Gam...
Finally got around to playing the oh so hyped up Twilight Princess. As a mega-fan of the Zelda series here I was just lusting at a shot at getting this game. I heard from friends that this game was a bore and just wasn't worth the price it cost. So instead of buying for full price, I managed to get it for only $19 off buy.com due to lucky me having a $30 dollar off coupon. Waited a few days and it was delivered to my door steps to where it gave me a couple months of gaming pleasure.
The Story
In Twilight Princess you have a story similar to past Zelda games. Someone gets captured (your friend Ilia), a hero steps up (Link), and a world is needing to be saved from an evil force (Ganon and company). This all sounds familiar if you have played any games from the Zelda series. If you haven't, then don't worry about it.
You start off as a basic farm boy that helps out around town with herding and other little things. You have your trusty horse Epona that is managed by your best friend Ilia and a bunch of kids that highly adore you. One day those crazy kids get an idea of chasing after a monkey into the forest and apparently one of them gets captured.
Your adventure pretty much starts here on this first adventure. Once you save the kid, you go through a cut-scene and some dialogue with Ilia. While trying to talk to Ilia you bot get attacked by shadow creatures. Ilia and half the village is kidnapped, while you get knocked out and transformed into a wolf-like beast.
As a beast you awake in a prison with a newfound friend ... or foe? This newfound friend named Midna leads you through the twilight darkness to Princess Zelda. There she tells you of what is happening to the world before what is possibly her untimely demise while attempting to revive Midna. A game with no Zelda? Maybe, or maybe not. Midna continues with you to guide you on this journey to save Hyrule from the Twilight and the enemy that controls it Along the way Midna reveals much hidden information about the Twilight realm, the darkness, and your twilight enemy Zant and his mysterious powers granted to him by none other than ... Ganon!
Gameplay
This new adventure familiarizes you to quite a bit of places, old bosses and enemies, and introduces a totally new way of playing Zelda. The world of Hylia has totally transformed, and for the better. Hylia is now a huge and very complex world. If you played Zelda Ocarina of Time you were probably impressed when roaming through that huge world. Well this new Hylian world has been totally expanded since those days.
Your character in the game is separated into two different forms that will take some getting used to. Like I said under the story section, you get transformed into a wolf-like beast. Upon doing tasks in the game you will be able to transform back into a human. A few more times you will be transformed into a beast and then back to a human. Eventually you will have control over whether or not to be a beast or human. Both forms is utilized all throughout the game in quests, battles and finding secrets. You will learn more about your beast-like abilities from someone you met in prison. Your companion is a shadow creature named Midna that helps you throughout the game. She will give you tips and hints as to where you should go and what you should be doing.
Your quests continue with the same style of puzzle-solving as past games. You will do a lot of light torching, moving blocks, hook-shooting to platforms, acquiring keys to open doors, saving people/animals that need saving, etc. The large amount of sub-quests available is the same as past games. You will always have someone in need of help and your prize traditionally is a heart piece or some rupees. Collect 5 heart pieces to gain one full heart on your life meter. In each dungeon you will acquire a full heart and a weapon or useful item.
The game itself is rather long for a 1-disc game. You will spend a good amount of time on this one, though not too long. I spent a couple months with 1 or 2 days of play time over a couple months before finishing. I would like to compare myself to a power-gamer with little time so in all likeliness your kids will spend maybe a month with the amount of hours they will put into the game.
Combat/Weaponry/Movement
Throughout the game you will be able to learn new skills while in your wolf form from a wolf spirit. This wolf spirit takes you into a sort of dream realm where you are human to learn a new fighting technique from a skeleton warrior (maybe a Stalfos Knight?). Anyways, the fighting techniques you learn after your first meet with this spirit is purely optional. If you played the old Zelda 2: Link's Awakening, then you will remember these techniques being passed onto you from swordsman in different villages. You have some of those techniques like the Down/Up thrust from that game and other techniques such as the spin attack, super spin attack, and some new cut-throat moves to use against some pretty formidable enemies. You will be very much pleased with these new moves. Along with these moves is now the ability to run and slash. Before whenever you would slash, your character would freeze for the movement, but now you can just run by enemies, grass, or whatever and slash at them. This makes fighting so much more fun.
The weapons you obtain in this game is nothing new to you if you played old Zelda games. You have your slingshot, bow, boomerang, hookshot, iron boots, different attire, and a few other oldies with a few new goods.
There was one noticeable disappointment for me in this game and that is the lack of magic use. Where did all the magic techniques go that involved a magic meter? They just aren't here. Big thumbs down!!!
Movement in this game is quite different than past games. You have horse riding ,swimming, walking, and climbing.
With Epona you are given the similar ability to speed up, but it is much more complex. At times I found myself having difficulty controlling Epona to switch directions. As far as getting on Epona, you can get on almost any way you want by running up to him and pressing a button from either side or the back, but not the front. Now you can use your sword and other weapons while riding.
Swimming involves you using the left analog stick while tapping A. You can't dive like you did in the past, but you can swim more efficiently while wearing the Zora suit. I can't say this is the best swimming movement ever. Zelda: Majoras Mask presented a far superior swimming system, but this one is just as good.
Walking is rather slow in the game. There is no way to speed up (as in run) while in your human form. In beast form you can dash, which is your only method of quick movement on ground.
Climbing places now involves two methods. You can do this either as a wolf or as a human. As a human you will be able to climb up wired fencing, vines, etc. Visually it looks kind of funny. If you have seen the movie "The Ring" then you will see that Link climbs the same way that girl climbs out from the well. The movement is almost identical. At first it is annoying, but you will get used to it. Your other form of movement involves you as a wolf jumping to and from platforms with the aide of Midnas guidance.
Graphics/Sound/Environment
As with all the Zelda games, there is no voice acting. You get the same old grunts and possibly foreign untranslated gestures. The music is quite bland and boring compared to past Zelda games. The overworld theme is similar to Zelda OoT, but the tone is lower. The sound is very downgraded and may even be the worst of the entire series.
Graphical-wise we have here the best of the best of the Zelda series. Think Lord of the Rings with a Zelda-styled twist and what you got is a great medieval themed world with superb environments that involve fog, moonlight, stars, morning brightness, typical mid-day moods, and more. Each dungeon presents a suitable atmosphere related to its location and surrounding. From the forests to volcanos to the water, all the graphics adapt well to blend with the characters. The biggest plus is how they managed to adapt the creatures into the overworld: skeleton beasts at night and moblins during the day.
Something different in this game from old Zelda games is the amount of monsters/animals you will face. No matter where you go, you will be facing some sort of danger or creature. By implementing birds in the sky (even if it is so LOTR-like) they have truly expanded the quality of game-play.
When an evil shadow stretches from the heart of Hyrule to its peaceful borderlands, a young farm boy named Link must awaken the hero...and the animal....More at Buy.com Marketplaces
All Games Are shipped within 24 hours All Games Are shipped within 24 hours The following condition of this item is: Condition Note:Comes Factory Seal...More at eBay
When Link travels to the darkened land of Hyrule, he transforms into a wolf and must scour the land with the help of a mysterious being named Midna. R...More at Amazon Marketplace
When an evil darkness enshrouds the land of Hyrule, a young farm boy named Link must awaken the hero...and the animal...within.When Link travels to in...More at Walmart
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.