Nintendo's greatest Zelda title since 1998.
The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess
System: Nintendo Gamecube
Rating: T
Story
The story is about a simple village boy named Link (actually named whatever you call him, of course), who gets dragged into another world called the Twilight, and transformed into a wolf in this world. Here, he meets Midna, a little imp girl with strange powers. Together, they must stop the evil jester Zant from putting all of Hyrule into Twilight.
Gameplay/Whatever
Gameplay in this game, like many Nintendo games, is easy to take control of. A button for actions such as talking and rolling, B is to use your sword, Y/X holds items, and Z is to speak to Midna when she's with you. Most of the gameplay is what we're familiar with, but there's some new tricks in store for Wolf Link. If you press Y, you'll dig into the ground a bit. Press X and you'll enter 'Sense mode', which looks kind of like Night Vision. In this vision, you can see Poes, and spots that you can dig money out of, or even an entrance to an underground cave. One thing which has also changed is how you bring the item menu up. Rather than having it on the Start menu, you use the Directional Pad to bring it up, by pressing Up. Pressing Right on the Directional Pad will bring up the map. Oh and lastly, you can use Epona to fight enemies. Sounds old, since you can use your Bow and Arrow in Ocarina Of Time, but here you can also use your sword. It's fun to just slash at them as you run by. And in some part of Hyrule Field there are a few enemies riding large boars, so you can fight while riding. Awesome stuff.
Oh, and another new thing added in is unlockable attacks. Like an RPG, you can learn new attacks. To do this you have to find a Howling Stone, they look like a Gossip Stone with a hole through it. As Wolf Link, you howl a tune in front of it that it teaches you (Which is close to the Ocarina stuff but very difficult to master), then you'll be given the location to go to, to find a golden wolf. Talk to this wolf in human form and it'll turn into a sort of skeleton in armor, which will teach you a new attack. Most of them are simple, and there are some useful attacks you WILL need later in the game.
Graphics
There's a lot to be said with how much they improved since the Nintendo 64. I would not use Wind Waker as an example for improvement, for it has a different style to it. But this game, it uses rather realistic detail in everything. And it even goes down to having the characters moving their mouths to what they say, the closest we will have to actual audio cutscenes. But really, it's the areas that shine. Everything looks amazing and gorgeous, especially the water.
Music
Ahh, one thing I love is how Nintendo keeps things traditional. This game features a lot of nice and epic music, with some of the previous game tunes we all know and love. Some of which include the Fairy Fountain tune, Kakariko, and of course we can't have a Zelda game without its original tune. There's also some of the Ocarina Of Time tunes like Requiem Of Spirit, and Serenade Of Water, which are used for the tunes on the Howling Stones mentioned above.
Voice Actors
Like all the Zelda games in the past, the series still does not include REAL voices, only small things like a grunt or a happy sound of a voice. Just to give us a feel of what they DO sound like, without having them speak. Link sounds a lot like his Ocarina Of Time adult self. Personally, I'd go with what the voice actor for Mario once said - "I think that character is the kind which will always be the way he is."
Sequel?
I can't exactly see a sequel here, but I can definitely see the overall style of the game being used again.
Overall
Overall, this is a game Zelda fans should definitely check out. It's got everything a fan wants, and more. Maybe even new fans would like it? Try it!
Rating: 9/10
