THE GOOD:-Inclusion of classic songs and memorable enemies from the past games in the Zelda series is a big plus!
-Interesting Story.
-Great graphics.
-Fascinating new characters and enemies.
-Beautiful cinematics rendered with the game's engine.
-Flawless controls, for the most part.
-Intense, epic boss battles.
-Innovative new items and weapons.
-Cave of Ordeals is a worthy challenge.
THE BAD:
-Too short.
-Much too easy for veterans of the series and long-time gamers in general.
-Replay value of the main story is somewhat low.
-Controlling the statues with the Rod of Dominion can be a difficult and irritating task at times.
-Not enough substance to make up for the long development time.
SUMMARY:
When I turned on the game and was welcomed by the title music from the original Legend of Zelda along with a title screen animation remniscent of Ocarina of Time's, I had high hopes of the game surpassing or at least rivaling Ocarina of Time (which I still consider to be the best of the entire series). This was not the case, sadly. Fortunately however, the disappointment wasn't too harsh, and the many good things about this game far outweigh the few bad things.
The basis of the game pretty much follows the standard set by A Link to the Past, which is basically: Get important quest items (usually three)->Turning point in story and getting the Master Sword->Get a few more quest items (usally seven)->Complete one or two final dungeons and defeat the final boss. Of course Twilight Princess, like every Zelda game, has its own twist to this flow, but the basics are the same. The dungeons are traversed like every other Zelda game, where you must solve puzzles to pass on to the next room or to recieve a small key to gain access to another part of the dungeon, eventually finding the Big Key and a special equippable item that's used to reach and defeat the boss of the dungeon.
The music of Twilight Princess brought back many classic songs from other games in the series, such as the Hyrule Castle Theme from A Link to the Past, and many Ocarina songs from Ocarina of Time and a few from Majora's Mask, such as Bolero of Fire and Serenade of Water, just to name a couple. Epona's Song and the Zora's Domain Theme also make a return in the game, along with a heavily altered version of the Kakariko Village Theme. The only disappointing part about the return of this classic music was that the Gerudo Valley song did not return during Link's travels through the Gerudo Desert (This really isn't a big deal though, I'm seriously just nit-picking with this one).
I enjoyed facing off with the enemies of Twilight Princess. Most of them are new and some of them have been with the series since the beginning. The most notable returning enemies include Stalfos, Lizalfos, ReDead, and Darknut, the Darknut being just as much a pain in the ass as it was in Zelda II, and the ReDead being significantly more difficult in this installment than in past Zelda games, despite the overall game being much easier than any other Zelda game. The new characters are modelled and animated very well, with the major ones being developed quite nicely. The game also includes a very small amount of voice acting, but is nothing more than screams, grunts, and the occasional "Hey!"
The cinematics are another wonderful feature of the game. Nintendo pushes the GCN to the limit using the game's engine to render every scene beautifully. Also the option to skip most of these cutscenes was a nice change, but they are rarely boring enough or insanely long to warrant being skipped, but the option is there, nevertheless.
The controls are perfect, aside from controlling the stuatues with the Rod of Dominion, which seems to be a task more suited for the Wii Remote and Nunchuk for the Wii version of the game. Using Up on the Control Pad to bring up your equippable items and Right on the Control Pad to bring up your map was an ingenious way to cut down on having to scroll through many pages on the Start Menu, which now contains all your quest items, your different choices of armor and shields, and various side-quest items, such as Poe Souls and Golden Bugs, along with your own personal Fishing Journal and the save feature, all on one page. One thing that was difficult about the contorls was having only two items usable with the X and Y buttons, instead of the usual three that are given to you in the 3D Zelda games, but this is because the Z button is used to talk to Midna and the R button is required to perform a few of the unlockable fighting moves.
The Bosses in this game, and even the mid-level bosses (every dungeon has at least one) are a blast to fight. At first glance and judging by their names, some of the bosses may seem like rip-offs of old Ocarina of Time bosses (I won't spoil the game and tell you which ones), but the strategies to defeat them are much different than their older counterparts, and every boss fight has very creative ways to destroy them.
To go along with exciting boss battles are some interesting new weapons, like the spinner (my personal favorite, though sadly, it doesn't get used as much as I would have liked), along with some classics, such as the Hero's Bow, which can be combined with another classic Zelda item, bombs, to create bomb arrows, which are good for blowing up piles of rocks that are too far to reach by merely throwing the bombs. They also make for a powerful ranged weapon, and are good for taking out foes like the armored Lizalfos, and the very powerful ReDead and Stalfos creatures.
The real challenge of the game lies within the Cave of Ordeals, which is an optional dungeon where you fight through room upon room of enemies, which is a death wish at later levels for anyone who hasn't yet gained the Magic Armor and every heart piece in the game, which can only be found by thoroughly exploring the vast continent of Hyrule, which is very fun in and of itself and adds some replay value to the game. Another thing I liked about the game was the Temple of Time being a playable dungeon instead of just a place to get the Master Sword.
The main problem with Twilight Princess is that it was very short and very easy. I completed the main story with most of the secrets in a little under a week, culmulating only about 37 hours total. As with most Zelda games, the replay value of the game's actual storyline is relatively low because of the fact that it is a linear adventure with only one set ending. But the replay value of any Zelda game lies with esploring the land and finding every secret the game has to offer. To complete this task along with the Cave of Ordeals more than makes up for the game's short storyline, which in all honesty should have been much longer, considering the amount of time this game was in development. The game has a low difficulty. Almost none of the enemies can damage Link for even a full heart, most hits only take half or even a mere quarter of a heart, and most of the puzzles and dungeons are pretty straightforward, with the exception of a few, which makes getting through the game a breeze, which is good for casual players who aren't used to playing more difficult games, but bad for gaming veterans who grew up playing very hard games, but then again you can't please everybody, and Zelda games never have had varying modes of difficulty.
All in all, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a great game that is very much worth what you pay for it, it's just a bit lacking in a few areas, but that lacking doesn't detract from the overall value of the game. It's not the best of the series, but it's nowhere near the worst either.
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