The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

In 2006, a game came out that sent many, many fans into a fanboy high. It was indeed, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Originally to be released on Gamecube, it was also ported to Wii for release, which proved to be a great move. The motion controls worked so well, it was nearly impossible. for any fan to complain about. Twilight Princess was probably the best Zelda game until Ocarina of time 3D came out, yet it still remains a favourite in the hearts of many and it still remains one of the best Wii games, scratch that, one of the best games ever.


Twilight Princess sees you taking control of Link once more to save the world from being engrossed in perpetual Twilight, which is like another world where no one can leave. The first thing you'll notice when you boot up the game is the stunning visual style. It's breath taking by any standards. The graphics are designed to be realistic, the style which many fans craved after the Wind Waker's cell shaded graphics. Sadly, while the whole world and characters look very impressive, up close, you will notice some jagged edges and you will see some pixels when looking close up at some textures. Small price to pay. 

The story of this game is darker and more cinematic from almost every other Zelda game to date, making this a departure from the almost child-like Wind Waker. Luckily, there is a joyous skip button. Extremely useful for when you want to play through the game a second time (which I did) The formula still follows the traditional theme of: Collect three items-break-collect three more items-final section, but isn't that one of the many reasons we love Zelda so much?

Now, onto the meat of the Twilight Princess experience. The absolutely fantastic gameplay. Twilight Princess take more inspiration from Ocarina of Time for many of it's idea's and concepts. As Link, you will traverse the world of Hyrule, which is the biggest it has ever been in a Zelda game this time around, and solve ingenious Temples. The puzzles are great and I mean absolutely great. They will make your brain think in ways that it has never thought before. If you've played a Zelda game before, you should know what to expect when it comes to this, but nevertheless, you will find yourself stumped on more than one occasion. There are also countless minigames to play, side quest to finish, heart containers to find and items to collect. In it's entirety, it's a huge game. The new trick with this game is the fact that in the Twilight, Link turns into a wolf. These sections are pretty fun, but do have their times when they become a bit boring. The first Wolf parts are a bit dull in that all you do is run around madly trying to find these insects and kill them. When to wolf form is really used well is when there are puzzles set in place involving using both Human and Wolf forms. 
Overall in this Zelda package, you will notice that the game is more linear than Ocarina or Majora's mask in that you will have an easier time finding where the Temples are in Hyrule. This doesn't detract from the experience at all, in fact, I think it adds to it. Who here raged at the amount of time it took to walk around and find those Temples in Ocarina? I did.


The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a truly masterful game in so many respects it's not funny. If you are expecting some thing completely new from Zelda, you may not find it here, but if you are looking for one of the best Zelda games ever made, then you will have no trouble in choosing Twilight Princess.


Pick it up ALREADY!