Rated "T" for "Terrific"

I recently graduated high school, which left me with a lot of gift certificates and money. Since I really wanted a new game, and because I'm a Zelda fanatic, I went to Best Buy and quickly got the last copy they had for the Gamecube. I went home, opened the plastic (which I hate very much, especially when it's getting in the way of me playing a new video game :)), and popped it into my Gamecube. Little did I know that I would have a new favorite video game (well, next to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past) after beating this one.

I'll get onto the review in a second, but for those of you who have not beaten the game yet, I suggest you use caution when reading my review, as there are some spoilers relating to the story and ending of the game.

With that out of the way, I can start the review. On we go!

Story Overview:

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess starts off with the main character, Link (who is basically a farmer), helping out his friend on a nearby farm in his village, Ordon, which is located in the Ordona Province (a section of Hyrule). He gets his horse, Epona, from his friend Ilia. His friend, Fado, needs help with herding the goats into the barn. Link helps him, and then takes the next day off. After helping many people get their lives back in order, he gets a slingshot and a wooden sword. After this, however, things take a turn for the worst when 3 local kids chase a monkey into the Faron Woods (located in the Faron Province). One of them (named Talo) is captured, and is saved just in time by Link. The next day, it is told to Link that he has to go to Hyrule for something. Link helps Fado one more time, but after they are done, Ilia notices that Epona is injured, and blames Link (she even stops talking to Link, but only briefly). After lending the wooden sword to a couple of the local kids, Link and Colin, another local kid, go to the nearby pond and find Epona and Ilia there. It takes some persuasion, but after getting Ilia back into a good mood, she gives Epona back to him. But before he leaves for Hyrule, some monsters come and kidnap everyone but Link (who is left unconscious from a blow to the head in the process of all this), and after waking up from a brief sleep, Link tries to chase them, but is taken into a mysterious area, and transforms into a wolf...

The next time Link wakes up, he discovers he has been arrested. He is in a jail cell somewhere unknown to him, and he is suddenly greeted by a mysterious creature named Midna. Midna helps him out of his jail cell and leads him to the place he was planning on going to before he was transformed…Hyrule Castle. Traversing the rooftops, Link meets up with Princess Zelda. Zelda confesses to Link that it was her decision to let Hyrule become like it is now. The area that Link was transformed in (and the area that he is now) has been taken over by the Twilight. The Twilight is a world of shadow. Normal people are all transformed into ghosts (with the exception of Link and Princess Zelda, who somehow doesn't even transform at all), and are unable to recognize anybody still taking a form similar or akin to the one taken in the normal world. After Zelda's story, a guard is heard coming, and Link and Midna escape.

Link is returned to the Faron Woods with the help of Midna, and after stealing a sword and shield from Ordon Village (his hometown), and while still in the form of a wolf, Link and Midna return to the Faron Woods, which is now also covered in Twilight. After being asked for help by a mysterious being of light, Link and Midna search through the Twilight-covered Faron Woods and find mysterious dark creatures that look like spiders. After destroying all of them and retrieving the light that they hold (the light takes the form of large teardrops), Link is brought back to his normal state, and the darkness of Twilight leaves the forest forever. One thing about Link has changed, though…after being returned to his normal state, he is automatically shed of his farm clothes and is given the traditional Legend of Zelda garment…the green tunic. The reason for this is because the light being informs Link that he is chosen by the gods to be the next legendary hero of Hyrule!

As you can see here, the development of the main character is taking place in a similar way to both Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker in that Link is given green clothes and is awakened to the fact that he is the last hope of Hyrule.

Link proceeds to travel throughout Hyrule and attain the pieces of the fused shadow. After Midna is hurt dreadfully by Zant (Link is also transformed into a wolf here) and Princess Zelda gives up her life force to Midna to help her recover, Midna tells Link that to destroy Zant, he must find an object called the Mirror of Twilight, which can transport them to the Twilight Realm where Zant is. Link first gains the ability to go between his two forms by getting the legendary blade of evil's bane...the Master Sword. After this, Link goes around Hyrule and finds the mirror, only to find that the real source behind Zant's power is none other that Ganondorf, the main antagonist of the Zelda Series. The mirror was broken by Zant, though, so Link heads through Hyrule, finds the missing pieces, and defeats Zant (with some help from Midna). After vanquishing Zant, Link battles Ganondorf, Midna gives Zelda her life back, and Ganondorf is impaled with the Master Sword. At this, the parts of Hyrule that were destroyed by Ganondorf and his followers were rebuilt, and Hyrule prospered.


Length of the game:

In case you couldn’t already tell, this game is one of, if not the, longest of the Zelda games. To get absolutely everything without a guide would take at least 50 hours. With a guide, it will still be over 30 hours (I peeked at a guide every so often, but I only read it either to see where something is or where to go next if I was really truly stuck).


Environment:

Length isn’t the only factor that makes this game great. The Land of Hyrule has also been expanded in a major way. Remember the Wind Waker? That was upper Hyrule with an ocean around its mountaintops. Twilight Princess is like that, but on land instead. And I must say it is beautifully done. Hyrule Field is huge, and everything is done great. In fact, Hyrule Castle, Lake Hylia, and the Sacred Grove makes Ocarina of Time’s landscapes look like amateur work. However, Death Mountain wasn’t quite as good as in Ocarina of Time, and the Desert and Kakariko Village were empty places that left a lot to be desired. But from the detail of every blade of grass to every waterfall and beyond, the game delivers extremely well in terms of graphics. The landscapes make the game look more realistic than any Zelda game so far has looked. In fact, the game is beautiful enough to make you want to stop and look around at the landscapes around you. Lake Hylia has that very serene feeling to it that most real lakes do have. The Sacred Grove is my favorite, and it reminds me of the Lost Woods in A Link to the Past. It has that tranquil, yet slightly haunting feeling of a forest. For most of Link's visits to the Sacred Grove, it's very dark and spooky. As you get deeper into the forest, it starts to take on the feel of the Sacred Forest Meadow from Ocarina of Time--but much bigger in area. The Village at the start of the game just feels good to be in. It feels like home. It's surrounded by mountains as far as the eye can see, which makes it feel like an old vacationing cabin village up in the mountains. Hyrule Field is spectacular. There's a lot of sightseeing, and as stated before, it's HUGE! IT probably takes 30 or 40 minutes to get across the whole of Hyrule in this game. With all that and more, this game gets an A as far as visuals and landscapes go.


Difficulty:

Also, one thing that Zelda fans have wanted deeply for a long time is a more difficult game. The Wind Waker was much too easy, and people were longing for difficulty like in A Link to the Past and the Adventure of Link. This game is kind of in the middle, leaning a bit towards the easy side. For a person playing this as their first Zelda game, they will be challenged. If you have played Zelda before (like I and many other have), it will be fun, but it will only be challenging on the first run through. After that, it becomes much easier (but still fun). Overall, this game is probably the 2nd in terms of difficulty out of the 3D games (about the same difficulty as Ocarina of Time, if not a bit easier than that game). The one thing I wish would come back is bosses that do more than 2 hearts of damage. Even Ganondorf only does 2 hearts at the most, and that’s him using a special attack. Difficulty was an improvement over Wind Waker by quite a bit, but it needs to keep heading in the direction of more difficult games. I will say, though, that the bosses in this game are harder than most of the 3D Zelda bosses (at least from my point of view). The final boss was the hardest for me, but he (Ganondorf) wasn’t the only one that gave me a hard time. I was impressed by the bosses in this game. I hope Nintendo makes more bosses like these (and harder and more damaging) in the future. Some puzzles in this game were frustrating at times, but were fun and rewarding in the longrun. There's one where you have to jump across many platforms, and where two statues mimic Link's movements (one directly, one in the opposite direction). You have to get them into two specific spots, and the first time you do this, it will be hard without a guide. There's also many block puzzles where you must make blocks slide across icy floors. Some of these puzzles require you to think on a level that possibly no other Zelda game does.


Battling System:

And while I am on the topic of bosses, I must talk about the battling system in this game. It is incredible. For one thing, each boss has a cool intro, and they are pretty much all HUGE. Some are probably a hundred times bigger than Link, some are a bit smaller than that, and some aren’t much bigger than Link. But overall, Nintendo did a great job with the bosses and their appearances. The bosses range from a gigantic eel named Morpheel to a fire-breathing dragon named Argorok and so on and so forth. Most of the bosses have incredible music and visuals during the battle (Argorok's were INCREDIBLE). The cool battles don’t end at the bosses. Remember the Hurricane Spin from Wind Waker? You know how you had to learn it? Well this time, you get to learn several moves, 3 of which are based off of parry attacks in Wind Waker (but you have to do them manually, which makes it harder, but all the more fun). One of them is a move that Link used on Ganondorf as well as the many Magtail enemies throughout the game. It is called the Finishing Move, is vital to finishing the game, and is cool. This move involves Link making an enemy fall to the ground, and if they aren’t dead yet (which most powerful enemies won’t be when they first fall down), he can jump up and stab them straight through their stomachs. Another cool thing (and this comes in the final fight with Ganondorf) is the option to “wrestle” with an enemy. While Link starts off doing this to Gorons, Goats, and even Ganondorf’s beast form, he eventually can lock swords with Ganondorf and try to win a contest of strength with him (through the player mashing the A button very rapidly). If Link wins, he can get in a few free hits (and possibly set Ganondorf up to have a finishing blow used on him). If Link loses, Ganondorf knocks Link away and slashes him (his most special and powerful attack). But this is just one of the many moves Link can learn. He doesn’t just talk to someone to learn it, though. This time, Link must transform into a wolf and find multiple howling stones throughout Hyrule. These stones teach Link a song that he can use to summon the ghost of a past Hyrulian Hero. Once Link meets up with the warrior (who is disguised as a golden wolf), Link is taught a new move. It is hinted that this ghost is that of a previous Link (one from earlier Hyrule, such as in Ocarina of Time), but it’s unsure. These moves can help you attack different types of enemies. One of them even involves Link letting the enemy get close to him and then making him pull his sword out and slash them, killing them instantly (provided they don’t block it). Also, after defeating an enemy, making Link put his sword away before they explode will make Link twirl his sword and then sheathe it in a cool way (he does this move after defeating a boss as well). There is also a new form of battling: Horseback! This is probably taken from the ability in Wind Waker to battle on your boat, but it was improved as well. Link can use his sword, arrows, boomerang, and many other weapons while on Epona: this is one thing that could only be done in Ocarina of Time if you used a glitch called "Swordless Link". But here, you can do it normally.


Important Characters:

Link: Link is the main protagonist in the game. In this game, he grows up on a farm, and is eventually chosen by the gods to be the next hero of Hyrule. He journeys throughout Hyrule both as a human and a wolf alongside of a small imp named Midna. He destroys Zant and Ganondorf and saves Hyrule once again.

Zelda: Zelda doesn't make as many appearances in this game as she has in others, but she's still important. She is the princess of Hyrule, and as such, she's the one who let Zant take over Hyrule (the other option was to destroy it instead of just take over it). Zelda helps Link and Midna many times in the battle against Ganondorf, and she's even used by Ganondorf as a puppet during the first part of this battle.

Midna: Midna is the princess of the Twilight Realm, but thanks to Zant, she only appears as a small imp. Impulsive and very spastic, Midna is both a fun and helpful companion to Link. At the end of the game, she seems to have been destroyed by Ganondorf, but instead she appears to Link in her true form after Ganondorf has been defeated. She shatters the mirror of twilight as she returns to her realm, and as she goes, she just tells Link, "...See you later." It's been rumored that she may have had a certain love interest in Link (but isn't there a girl in pretty much every Zelda game who can relate to this?), but it's not too clear at this point.

Zant: Zant serves as one of the two main villains in the game. His attitude is very random. Sometimes he is serious, and other times he acts like a maniac. He was found by Ganondorf and was promised great power. In exchange, Zant helped Ganondorf out of the twilight where he had been imprisoned by the sages. Zant is defeated by Link and Midna, but he almost succeeds in completely and permanently taking over Hyrule by covering major parts of it in twilight.

Ganondorf: The main villain in the Zelda Series shows up in a surprising way in this game. He doesn't appear until the end of the game, but when he does, he proves to be a force to be reckoned with. Even though he fought valiantly, Link eventually impaled him with the Master Sword, which killed him and made the Triforce of Power leave him. He was imprisoned by the ancient sages inside of the Twilight Realm, but he escaped with some help from Zant.

These are but a few of the exciting characters you will meet in this game. Some characters (such as the mailman from Majora's Mask, who is a major annoyance this time around) have returned from other games, which is also a plus.


Storyline.

The game’s awesomeness doesn’t end there, no! The story is also awesome (I’m not going to retell it twice in this review, that would take WAY TOO LONG), and the way Link uses both human and wolf forms to get across Hyrule is fantastic. He gets help from Epona, his horse, as well as Midna and even some enemy transportation to get places he wouldn't normally be able to go. There is also a certain feeling you get while playing this game that you don’t get while playing just any other video game. You feel good after defeating a boss or solving a certain puzzle. It feels satisfying (for a while at least). It ranks high in the departments of gameplay and story.


Items:

Many new items have also arisen in this game. One new one is the oh-so-cool Ball and Chain, which is powerful and is used to break through walls of ice and other such things. There is also an item called a spinner, which looks like a giant spinning top and is used to ride rails that are mounted in small crevices on walls. It can also activate special types of switches that only the spinner can activate. There is also the utilization of a second hookshot (or clawshot as it is called in this game), which means Link can go from target to target without ever touching the ground. Among these are bombs that can be used underwater, a sniping scope for the bow and arrow, and a rod that can allow Link to control statues. There is also a small creature who resides from the sky (her name is Ooccoo) and her son, who can be found in each temple and can transport Link to and from the temple (them and their people are kind of an obscurity in the story, and a pain at that, but they can be useful if you run out of items in a dungeon and need to go buy some more). And they don’t end there. Yes, folks, this game has many, many awesome items, and none of them should be missed out on.


Music:

The music has always been a big part of Zelda games, and this time around, almost all of it is nothing short of spectacular, and none of it disappoints. I especially like the Hyrule Field theme, as well as the Lake Hylia theme. Some songs are reused (such as Saria’s Song in the lost woods, the Song of Time in the Temple of Time, and so on). The music is basically all orchestrated and it has a vibrant and epic feel to it that plays a major role in shaping the game and making it as good as it is. The music also fits the area that it is in perfectly. For example, the Hyrule Field music is very "happy" and exciting during the day, and is calm at night (with a voice helping shape the music into a very serene and calm tune). Also, the Lake Hylia theme is a very tranquil and peaceful song with the main part being played on an acoustic guitar. It fits the setting of the water and the lake perfectly. All in all, the game has wonderful music in it, and it all helps make the game great.


Relation to other Zelda Games:

One last thing I must mention is that this game contains parts of almost every Zelda game in it. For one thing, the area called the Sacred Grove where Link gets the Master Sword (and the whole of the Lost Woods for that matter) is reminiscent of the Lost Woods and Haunted Grove from A Link to the Past. The Hyrule/Twlight worlds trying to be merged gives reference to the Light and Dark Worlds (in A Link to the Past) being separate (and then having Ganon trying to join them together). Link Transforming in between worlds also references A Link to the Past (and how Link transforms in the Dark World unless he gets a special item. There’s also the dungeons and how they have an important piece of some important item at the end, like all the Zelda games have. Instruments have also returned, but this time, Link uses grass and a special pendant given to him by Ilia to play songs, and Wolf Link uses howling stones and howls next to special types of grass whenever he “plays” a song. One other thing is the ending. It is kind of a parallel to the ending in The Wind Waker. In both, Ganondorf is impaled and dies with the Master Sword stuck in him after a sword battle with Link. This and many other things make this one heck of a game. There are also some intriguing thoughts about timeline theories that make these endings even more interesting, but that’s another subject.


Low points:

On the negative side (and as stated earlier), I wish that the bosses would have done more damage per hit, and I also wish Kakariko wasn’t as…for lack of a better word…dry as it was. These among maybe a few other little things do detract slightly from the greatness of the game, but it’s still an awesome game. It is one of the best Zelda games (in my opinion, of course).

In conclusion (and after typing a long review), I must tell you this…get this game if you want to experience Zelda to its fullest and deepest. It will change your perspective on Zelda, as well as all other games in general. Thanks for reading! :)