Reviewed by CL on 3/19/2008
This is one of the better 3D Zelda games. There is plenty to do and lots to see. I personally invested over 50 hours in this game and I still didn’t have a chance to experience everything the game had to offer. In the beginning of the game, I was amazed by the sheer scope and size of the world. There is a real sense of exploration and discovery to be had. There were countless times where I saw something cool but couldn’t reach that area because I didn’t have the right item or equipment. Some people might call this a cheap way to extend the game’s length by requiring the player to backtrack, but I think it fosters the sense of discovery and achievement when you finally are able to get that item that has been tantalizing you for so long. In short, the environments look beautiful.
The game also scores high for its trademark puzzles and dungeons. All of them are nicely designed and never frustrating. In fact, some of them actually border on too easy. In fact, most of the game is not very difficult at all. There seems to be a problem that although the bosses look huge and intimidating, there are all total pushovers. They do require a little finesse and you need to find their weak point, but the game falls into a pitfall where the boss is always susceptible to whatever item you just picked up in the dungeon. You just need to apply it two or three times and you’ll win. Although this level of ease keeps the game moving smoothing, I would have like to see a little more challenge. During the entire game, I only died one or two times and I never really had to stock up fairies or potions.
Another trademark of the Zelda series is the music and in this respect, Twilight Princess doesn’t disappoint as the music is some of the best the series has ever seen. The music changes according to the situation and environment and it really does a lot to enhance the experience.
The only real complaint that I have with this game is that it feels a little disjointed. The game could almost be divided into two separate games at times. In beginning you are fighting this expanding “Twilight” and you need to go to different areas and collect these pieces of light in order to dispel the twilight. You would need to enter the twilight realm and be transformed into a wolf. You then couldn’t transform back into a human until you gathered all the light shards. This seems to be the major focus of the first part of the game. I got all comfortable with how this system worked but then suddenly, you never have to do this again and you can now transform into a wolf at will. This is just a small weird gameplay quirk which shouldn’t deter most fans.
In closing, this is easily one of the best games that I have played in recent memory. Twilight Princess proves that when it comes to Zelda games, you can’t go wrong.
