The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

From the very start of the game things look good. The sweeping camera shots on the opening sequence to the game as Link rides majestically across the gaming world atop Epona is not just reminiscent of Ocarina of Time, it surpasses it. If the N64 classic was epic, this title is in a whole new species of epic...ness. It is at this point that we look for a better thesaurus. You start off in a small little village on the edge of Hyrule, you don't have a sword or a shield or anything of any real note and you spend your time herding goats and carrying out errands for the friendly, laid back and often hilarious townsfolk. It really is the ideal lifestyle. Perfect blue skies, lush green grass, goats galore and a gorgeous fresh blue lake. Amazingly enough this little utopia doesn't last for long. After you've worked out the basics of sword combat with your wooden sword, played about annoying chickens, herded some goats and summoned eagles it is time for things to go wrong. And boy do they go wrong...

The premise of the whole game lies in the word 'twilight', and if you don't want to know why skip on until the end of this paragraph. There are dark forces at work in Hyrule, which are sucking away the light and casting the world into darkness, reducing people to spirits and generally disrupting your idillic goat-herding lifestyle. Whilst everyone else is almost destroyed by this twilight force you possess the power to survive it, problem is you turn into a wolf when you enter the realm. The first time you become your wolf-like self is a really surreal moment and certainly rates highly as one of the coolest moments in the history of Zelda. After just seconds in your new body a strange looking creature starts laughing at you and talking to you. This is Midna, one of the most pivotal characters in the game, but more than that we won't be saying here. Midna helps you out and shows you the ropes of the twilight realm and acts in a similar way to Navi by telling you what to do and by getting annoyed when you don't do it quickly enough...joy. Midna eventually leads you out of the dungeons you are trapped in to show you a huge castle shrouded in twilight. This is Hyrule, destroyed by evil, overcome by danger and darkness. No prizes for guessing who the twilight princess is then, and it is up to you to return her kingdom back to its former glory.

 

But unlike previous titles in the story there is far more to Twilight Princess that save the girl from inevitable danger from the bad guys by solving puzzles and swinging around your sword. This game is genuinely dark and has a great plot that will keep you playing to find out more. The whole game is glued together by a number of very well choreographed and thought out cut-scenes, which help to propel the story along and guide you through the twists and turns of the fascinating plot. Hero-ship by numbers this is not. The twilight realm is a very dark and disturbing place and during the game you will encounter some fascinating characters and discover a lot about Link too.

The game may have a revolutionary new control system, but it still relies on the basic mechanic mastered so spectacularly in Ocarina of Time. You strafe, you target, you lock on and you perform all the stunning sword-swinging moves that you've done for years now, but this time there is a crucial difference. The ability to swing about the Wii remote and nunchuck attachment provides a fantastic addition to the gameplay. When you get good at this game, which believe us takes time, you'll find yourself swinging your arms about like a pro and looking oh so very cool as you slay your foes in wonderfully cinematic and over the top fashion. Throughout the game you'll learn new moves to add to your repertoire and of course get new weapons that you can use to devastating effect. Things like the Gale Boomerang, the Slingshot, the Hookshot and some extra secret things that we won't reveal for you are all so much more fun to use thanks to the pointing system that the Wii remote allows. The sound that comes out of the controller when you swing your sword or fire off a projectile is brilliant fun and once again adds to the immersive element of the game. Within hours of play you'll find yourself galloping across Hyrule Field atop Epona firing off headshots with unerring accuracy. This is by far the best control system we've ever experienced in an adventure title.

 

The gameplay is mixed up in Twlight Princess, allowing you to experience a more vibrant and exciting Zelda game than ever before. Places like Castle Town and the various other stunning locales you will visit throughout your adventure are full of magic and surprise. Without ruining too much what we're describing here barely scratches the surface of this titles magnitude. It is huge. So, that's a lot of riding around on a horse and getting bored at holding down the analogue stick...right? Wrong. Nintendo really have thought of everything. As the game goes on it gets better and better as you get new powers and unlock new abilities. At the start you can't pick which form you take (wolf or human), but eventually you'll be able to switch between the two at will. This really spices up the action and makes for some real head-scratching puzzles. As a wolf Link can use your special wolfy sense to listen to spirits and find secrets, he'll jump whenever you tell him to and usefully can run ruddy fast. But what about all that running back and forth through massive environments? Well, thanks to Midna you can warp all over the map, enabling you to go from one side to the other with minimal tedious horse riding.

The game world centres around a number of temples, and it is within these temples that you'll find more dungeons, puzzles, enemies and evil bosses than you can shake a pointy stick at. We could complain that they are the same as those found in Ocarina of Time, as you do indeed go through a Forest Temple and Goron Temple, but these are so different so full of new surprises that they feel new whilst still retaining a nice sense familiarity. This is Zelda building upon itself to make a truly immersive, cohesive and deep world that goes a good way to explaining what Hyrule is all about. Believe us, some of the new weapons and enemies you come across will simply blow you away. As well as blowing you away though they will also kill you; lots.

 

We've seen more Game Over screens whilst playing this title than we have in any game in a long time; believe us when we say this is one tough cookie. Sometimes it isn't even the bosses that kill you, but amazingly obscure and often seemingly impossible environmental puzzles. It truly is a testament to the strength of the Wii remote that it hasn't been broken in our frustrated whacking of it against nearby walls. However, what is slightly worrying is when you do get to the boss battles, no matter how 'bad-arse' they look, for some reason a lot of them are very easy. So just when you are expecting the battle of you life the blighter falls over and dies in under ten minutes. The main challenge does indeed lie in the whole experience of getting through the game, rather than the admittedly impressive set-piece battles.

Which brings us rather nicely onto the the visuals and sound in the game. First up, this is a GameCube title that has been quickly shifted across to the Wii. Whilst the control elements have excelled during the transition, the visuals are at times a bit disappointing. Were this a GameCube title is would be awesome, but for a 'next-gen' offering it can look a bit ropey at times. The textures leave a lot to be desired and whilst the character models and animation are stunning and the whole visual look of the game has a lovely stylised look we can't help but feel that this is a GameCube game with a lick of paint...funny that. Whilst we criticise it to an extent, the visual effects and whole look of this game really are excellent. There is something magical and enchanting about some of the environments and Nintendo have really gone to town to make some of the enemies wonderfully detailed and spooky. Thankfully, the soundtrack refuses to disappoint. The epic landscapes open up to some fantastic musical scores that just add to the games grandeur and with the 16:9 widescreen thrown in you have a genuinely cinematic Wii experience. This is Zelda at its blinding best.