Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Wii)

Gamecow’s Price	RRP $99.95     Save $10.95 $89.00
Availability
Genre	Action Adventure
Platform	Nintendo Wii
Release Date	07/12/2006
Rated

Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is one of the best Action/Adventure games ever made, and arguable the best game in the Zelda series.  This game has it all, sensational graphics, epic cut-scenes, great sword-play and an exceptional story line.

So put on you green tights, and start playing.  It doesn’t get better than this.

Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Wii) Product Information 

Link, a young man raised as a wrangler in a small, rural village, is ordered by the mayor to attend the Hyrule Summit. He sets off, oblivious to the dark fate that has descended upon the kingdom. When he enters the Twilight Realm that has covered Hyrule, he transforms into a wolf and is captured. A mysterious figure named Midna helps him break free. With the aid of her magic, they set off to free the land from the shadows.

Characters: Link, Zelda, Midna and many other characters, both new and old. How to progress through the game: Link must explore the vast land of Hyrule and uncover the mystery behind its plunge into darkness. As he does, he’ll have to enlist the aid of friendly folk, solve puzzles and battle his way through dangerous dungeons. In the Twilight Realm, he’ll have to use his wolf abilities and Midnas magic to bring light to the land.

Special powers/weapons/moves/features: Besides his trusty sword and shield, Link will use his bow and arrows, fight while on horseback and use a wealth of other items, both new and old. Players can use the Wii Remote as a fishing pole, while a spin of the Nunchuk controller executes a spin attack.

Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Wii) Review

There are few games as synonymous with quality as those in the Zelda series. With many holding Ocarina of Time as the greatest game ever made, every title in the series since has had almost impossible expectations to live up to. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was originally a GameCube game and down for a release in 2005. However, with the imminent launch of Nintendo’s new console, shifting Zelda to the next-gen machine seemed a logical choice, and that’s precisely what's happened.

The biggest changes brought about by the new controller are in both the game's swordplay and the aiming of projectiles. Using the Wii remote for bows and slingshots is an obvious improvement over what an analogue stick can offer, and it doesn’t take long before you’re hitting shots with the kind of speed and precision you could only dream about when using a regular pad. A quick flick of the remote draws your sword, and then swings and slashes it with each movement thereafter.

Overall, the swordplay is much more absorbing; not just because of the increased involvement that actual hand movements bring, but also because there’s actually more attacks at your disposal. When you start your quest, your sword skills are about as advanced as they were back in Ocarina of Time. However, as you progress, you'll get the chance to improve, thanks to an ancient warrior who will teach you a total of seven new skills. Some of these you’ll recognise from Wind Waker (like the rolling attack and the overhead flip), but there’s also a handful of new abilities that can prove rather handy.

One of the best things about Twilight Princess is how it’s taken a lot of elements from previous Zelda games. One of the standout features of Wind Waker was the detailed facial expressions that were so effective in conveying emotion. Using the exaggerated features, the cel-shaded visuals meant you could always tell Link’s state of mind, just by looking at him. In Twilight Princess, the very same care has been taken for all of the characters, making the cut scenes more natural than ever before.

Majora’s Mask has obviously been an influence also. In both its storyline and its general atmosphere, the N64 game is arguably the darkest Zelda game ever created; well, until now that is. The constant threat of the twilight, the transformation from man to beast, and some of the grittiest cut scenes to date all help recreate that very same feeling you had years ago when staring up at that moon. It’s something that Wind Waker completely lacked, so it’s good that Nintendo got things right here.

It's all tied together with some superbly directed cut scenes, and the storyline is perhaps the best yet in the long-running series. Without delving into spoilers, the plot has far more going on in it than any of the games in the series to date, and the core thread of the story remains a mystery for a good portion of the game. You’re told very little to begin with, whilst the true intention of Midna is unknown to you, along with any solid information regarding the apparent ‘bad guy’ behind all of this, the King of the Twilight.

The dungeons themselves are superb without exception. Their size is their biggest asset, with some boasting up to eight floors, but they’re also designed in such a clever way that getting lost is rarely an issue. It’s the little details that impress the most, though. Take the Water Temple for example - obviously, water plays a big part in it, but there initially seems to be very little of it around. But by exploring you’ll notice cog wheels that should be moving, leading to gutters that should have water running through them, so you know that following the direction of these landmarks should theoretically lead to the location of a water source.

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is a game we could praise all day if we so wished. We’re nearly at the end of the review, and there are still plenty of good things worth mentioning that we haven’t touched on yet. The general increase in difficulty is highly welcome, as is the ability to warp to a large variety of places on the Hyrule map. The side-quests are a joy to play, and the fishing especially is impressively deep this time around, with a giant lake to while the hours away in. And then there’s the sheer length of the game: around 60 hours to do everything. Veteran Zelda players should finish the quest around the 30 - 40 hour mark, though realistically you’re looking at a lot longer for newcomers. With its genuinely interesting story, superb control scheme and near-faultless game design, Twilight Princess is one of the best games ever made and is as essential as a game can possibly be. Is it the best Zelda ever? Maybe...

Full review PALGN