It’s hard to argue that this has been the most hyped game for the Wii.
Fans have been waiting for what seems like decades for the newest addition to the mighty Zelda series.

But does it cut the mustard?

The Wii game apart:

Nintendo had a dream (albeit a marketing one) to lure the untapped market of non-gamers to their console. To do this they used innovation as their weapon and a support of simple yet addictive games. It’s hard to argue that it worked.

But what about the loyal gamers who wanted a bit more substance?! Well, Nintendo deemed that one of the most talked about games series had been sat dormant for long enough –Their gift to you; The Gamer, is Zelda Twilight Princess!

Oooh. It’s big…!

Boot the game up and you are greeted with your soon-to-be character galloping across an enormous landscape. Hold that thought of vastness, as your journey in Zelda TP is one that can only be described as massive.

Zelda utilises the Wii-mote speaker in conjunction with your TV speakers to play menu sounds as well as weapon slashes and various other action sounds throughout the game – It’s nice that such a feature didn’t fizzle out by the mid-point of the game. Unfortunately this great utilisation does remind you of the low quality of the Wii-mote speaker, which is a shame and although minor it is detrimental to the whole Zelda experience.

The story this time:

As our hero, Link (or whatever name you may beseech – I think you’d agree that Ben is pretty hard to beat though) awakens at his home in the land of Hyrule where an evil darkness envelops like a blanket of thick soot.

To rid evil and envelop the lands with light once more, you must travel to the Twilight Realm and thus transform into a wolf, with only the mysterious Midna as your guide, and defeat the darkness in all it’s forms.
You will rely on your sword, shield and bow skills as well as your superb agility to survive this impossible of tasks. Prepare for a long journey into the unknown…

Puppets on a string:

You control your character with your Nunchuk direction pad while your Wii-mote buttons perform actions such as opening doors, picking things up, choosing equipment and entering the inventory.

When you point your remote at the screen a cursor in the form of a shiny fairy appears, which looks great, but doesn’t do very much. The remote is also used to aim when firing a catapult, arrow, fishing rod (or whatever) and is used as your sword – so swing, slash and stab to your heart’s content!!!

These controls feel very logical and will be mastered by any player after very little time. I particularly enjoyed controlling my character while he was riding his horse as the behaviour of the horse looks and feels very lifelike – I think a lot of work has been done the horses body movement right. I’m also amazed at how your input feels at one with your on screen movements (partly thanks to the fantastic use of the vibration in the controller providing feedback to your movements). The feeling this creates in-game is a hard thing to explain, but I liken it to driving a particularly good car where your body feels at one with the car and its movements.

Another great, although apparently minor feature, is being able to fight with your sword, catapult or other such weapon while you are riding on your faithful steed however it can be a bit hard to get used to.

With fighting in mind, you can dodge, defend and attack with great ease (however don’t be fooled that this will mean you can always defeat enemies first time round!).

As for your character’s health; you’ll start the game with 3 hearts. If you get struck or walk into various hazards parts of your hearts will disappear, until none are left and you’ve perished. You’ll notice your character’s body language change the more hurt you become and during the last moments of your life you will appear to have the fitness of a 90-year-old chain smoker.

Throughout the game you will have opportunities to collect pieces of hearts in order to increase your health capacity to more than 3 hearts, however there are enough pick ups hidden in long grass, under rocks or within pots throughout all the levels that it’s easy to maintain full health so not essential to find these hidden heart pieces.

Eye candy:

When I first started playing Zelda I was pretty disappointed with the visuals. The colours were great and the vastness of the levels just shy of breathtaking (as much as virtual views can be) yet minute details were missing and more importantly lines and colours looked blurred and hazy.

Yet after buying an RGB Scart cable the picture was much, much sharper, the contrast of colours better and in-game movements smoother. The tiny details are still missing, however that’s a downfall of the Wii rather than of this game. Buying an RGB Scart cable (or either a component or HDMI if your TV takes it) is so worth it and I think that it should be illegal not to so dig deep into your pockets!

Another rant over and I’ll get back to the game; the graphics are the best I’ve seen so far on the Wii – much tidier than Red Steel while being much more intricate than Wii Sports or Wii Play. Colours are bright yet suitably murky in places and movements are brilliantly smooth and crisp.

Touches such as unpredictable weather (all of a sudden a thunderstorm may break out) and regular shifts from day and night (which are simply controlled by time, rather than what point in the game you are at) look fantastic and are a great atmospheric addition.

Sounding off:

On to my biggest gripe of this game - There are no voice actors, rather lots of subtitles. Ok, you can refer to the Final Fantasy series - it didn’t spoil that game, but come on Nintendo (your recent aim has been to set new landmarks!)

Some of the subtitled dialogue is broken up with various grunts and cries in an effort to compliment the audio senses however it just irritates me and feels like laziness. Like with other Wii games I’ve come across, it’s pretty likely that this was a cost and time saving exercise yet this is no consolation.

As previously mentioned, Zelda makes great use of the Wii-mote speaker, however ironically, the Wii-mote speaker doesn’t make the greatest use of the sounds in Zelda.

A worthwhile journey?

During Zelda: TP, you will need to solve puzzles to proceed however 20 hours in, I’d not really got properly stuck yet this doesn’t make the game short or boring and the journey is no short of captivating.

There is such a variety in the levels and tasks that Zelda: TP could never be described as dull, however personally it took me a good 2 hours to really get into the story –I’m notoriously impatient and hate the introduction into any game.

Another surprise is how easy it is to return back to this game at a later time but you will have to try and remember what your current task it as there’s no actual option to check what your objectives are.

The biggest let down in the game-play is definitely the way Zelda: TP saves your progress. There are no Save-Points you have to reach, rather you simply select save in the options, yet disappointingly if you save part way through a level, despite it saving items you’ve collected or any activity e.g. buttons pushed; it will return you to the start of the level and all the enemies you’ve defeated will re-spawn. This is a pain if you’ve damn near finished the level but have to stop the game to tend to your real life. (Those pesky blighters!).

Extra, extra, read all about it:

The Japanese love collecting stuff. Fact. And to be honest I’m the same, like a demented magpie who’s forgotten to fly…

Enough about that though; within the game you will find lots of pick-ups and opportunities to spend your money. The currency in Twilight Princess is Rupees and bizarrely you can find money anywhere including lying around in long grass or inside pumpkins. Because you can only hold 300 Rupees at any one time, it’s likely you’ll be permanently loaded and will be able to take advantage of any shops that you may pass where you can purchase health drinks, weapons, armour, arrows, special items and even fish bait…

Which brings me to another collection possibility. Fish. In the style of ‘Animal Crossing: Wide World’ once you’ve acquired a fishing rod, you will be able to go fishing and a journal will be kept of all the species you have caught including their size. You will even be able to purchase bait increasing your chances of catching a wider variety of species.

Also if you are particularly observant, you will be able to find the various bugs littered around levels – again an automatic record will be kept of all those you’ve found.

Best thing since sliced bread?

This is one of those flagship games, which is going to encourage and even directly cause people to go out and try and find a Wii to buy. The storyline is immersive, atmospheric while easy to pick up after a dormant period. The graphics are the best you’re going to see on the Wii – at least for a while until developers get the hang of this white box of tricks. The sound and vibration feedback is innovative and very well thought out, amplifying the immersive and atmospheric theme. Plus this game will last you ages.

I’ve read some “interesting” reviews for different games on the Wii and Zelda: TP is no different; one Nintendo Magazine rating it 99%. Without ranting too much, that’s just stupid, and I’m embarrassed for the writer and magazine who thought fit to put those numbers to paper.

They did hit one nail on the head though – everyone with a Wii should own this game including new-comers to console gaming because this is the best you are going to see of this genre for a while - and I must say that it’s a relief to see a Wii game that doesn’t feel like it’s been rushed for release and does justice to the Wii’s unique talents.

Gameplay 9 / 10 – A joy to play.
Storyline 10 / 10 - Immersive and multi-layered.
Graphics 10 / 10 - The graphics in Twilight Princess are the Wii’s new yard stick. Top marks until something better comes along.
Controls 9/ 10 – Easy and intuitive yet slightly fiddly in place.
Lifespan 10 / 10 – You will be playing this for days and not even scratch the surface.