The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess

The most epic Zelda ever launches with Wii! When an evil darkness enshrouds the land of Hyrule, a young farm boy named Link must awaken the hero -- and the animal -- within. When Link travels to the Twilight Realm, he transforms into a wolf and must scour the land with the help of a mysterious girl named Midna. Besides his trusty sword and shield, Link will use his bow and arrows by aiming with the Wii Remote controller, fight while on horseback and use a wealth of other items, both new and old.

First Impressionsby Tanx - Video Game Reviews by a Very Busy Math Teacher

This is the tale of a magical horse named Epona who traveled the land of Hyrule trampling over goblins and taking pride in being just around the corner whenever and wherever his master summoned him. This horse was so stunning and loved by all that the most beautiful girl in the village wouldn’t ever stop talking about him, even after she lost her memory! In the end she regained her memory and fashioned a magical bracelet themed after her favorite horse, and girl and horse lived happily ever after. Okay, I think there was also a weird magical midget riding a wolf around in the story as well… but maybe that’s just me having Okami flashbacks again.

Zelda: Twilight Princess is, despite certain similarities, a fantastic game and a great demonstration of Wii-gadgetry. After a long day’s work shaking my chalk at students it was nice to see the Wii-mote interpret my now limpid wrist-droopings as mighty swings of Link’s magical sword. I don’t think it counts as exercise, but there is a certain feel of active participation when you use the Wii controller scheme.

So Link runs around doing his usual Link things, finding dungeon maps and compasses and fighting monkeys and discovering gear... my favorite toy is this spinning platform you ride along tracks in the wall... very cool! Twin grapple guns, bow and arrow, sling, boomerang, metal magnetic boots, huge ball and chain... Link knows how to come equipped, and Batman would be jealous of the amount of junk he inexplicably carries on his belt. Despite the wide set of options and tools available in human form, the right tool for each job or puzzle always made intuitive sense. This is a very well-designed game, through and through.

However, there wasn’t much in terms of personality in the game, at least at first. I mean, Link is essentially a mute stand-in for the player. He’s so quiet, that sometimes I found myself missing the Link from the Super Mario Brothers Hour Legend of Zelda cartoon, despite that incarnation’s constant use of the most annoying catch phrase ever penned by human beings. Excuuuuuuuuse me, Princess! In addition, Link’s world seemed a bit lonely. There weren’t very many people in the first two towns you visit, and other than the horse-obsession girl and foster father, Link’s only other friends are a bunch of local village brats. Luckily, one of these very kids stood out from the crowd, and would soon rise to greatness.

Yes, I speak of Maro-chan, the adorable little kumquat-headed mutant boy/girl child thing entrepeneur. Nothing was duller than an evening in downtown Hyrule until this clever little milksop managed to convince our hero Link to invest some 2000 kopins or rubies or whatever in his business. Suddenly, the golden wonder of Maro-Mart was born! Maro knows how to do capitalism right... open 24 hours a day, wares brightly displayed under blindingly bright neon lights, Maro’s Mart is the life of the town. Everything’s on sale, every day’s a party! The guy behind the counter wears a rotating hat and brush mustache, and he literally moonwalks with joy whenever you ask to see the wares. Any time the moody twilight theme of the game got me down, a quick visit to Maro-Mart would perk me right up, and all would be right with the world once again!

Also of note in downtown Hyrule was the creepy bug princess. No stranger to grubbiness and dirt, Link volunteers to scour the world for insects to bring to this girl for her magical mystery ball. The girl, who has a clear insect fetish, gleefully describes her new acquisitions... “oh little stag beetle, I bet it would feel great to chew with big jaws like yours!” and so on. This was so fascinatingly out there that I got quite into the insect hunting, just to hear this little deviant giggle and coo over each common bug I could find. If that wasn’t weird enough, her reward for your aid is sharing “happiness” with you... don’t ask.

Twilight Princess is a very strong offering in the venerable Nintendo re-make-‘em forever marketing strategy. The adventuring was great, the graphics were pretty and the puzzles were just hard enough to be satisfying. If you have a Wii, I’d say this flagship game has well-earned its positive reviews, so check it out. After all, it really does feature a fantastic horse.