First off I wanted to talk about my Link To The Past review. It's been a long time since I have written it and well it was one of my first reviews and I don't think I did so great on it, especially when I was trying to justify it to be a ten. Look I still believe that A Link To The Past deserves a ten, and it might not be one of my favorite Zelda games but the game has few flaws and has a charm to it that no one can deny, that's all I will say, and if you our wanting to pick A Link Between Worlds up I would definitely pick up A Link To The Past up first. When I first saw A Link Between Worlds I did not know what to expect, especially on a handheld I'm not saying Zelda games have a bad reputation when it comes to handhelds, but you never really hear a lot of people raving about the Zelda game's on a handheld. So I decided to buy it and all I can say is what a game worth buying.
Story: The story starts out with Link delivering a sword to the captain at hyrule castle before he is able to deliver the sword he finds out that the captain is in the sanctuary unfortunately stuck their by a guy(guy or girl not really sure... um I guess a guy..) named Yuga She turns the ministers daughter into a painting and knocks Link out. Later on Link wakes up to someone named Ravio in his house Ravio tells Link to meet up with Princess Zelda to tell her what has gone on, and that's what Link does before he does though he is given a bracelet by Ravio. When Link meets Zelda she give him the pendant of courage, and tells him to talk with the Elder Sahasrahla, he does and then is advised that Yuga is hiding out at the Eastern Palace trying to seek out all that sages to help him resurrect Gannon. Once Link goes after Yuga a battle ensues and he turns Link into a painting. You would think this would be the end for Link however the bracelet that Ravio gave you has a magical power that gives link the ability to stick to walls and also allows him to come back from this form. The castle of Hyrule is now enveloped in a magical barrier Link must gather the master sword and to do so must collect the three pendants. After doing this Link goes to the castle to save Zelda and once he finds her Yuga turns her into a painting, while Link follows after Yuga Link finds a strange crack in the wall he goes into it using the braclet to go through it. He ends up in a place called Lorule. He meets Hilda the queen of Lorule and she tells him that she has locked Yuga and Gannon in her magical bonds, she cannot hold them forever, so she tells link to save the seven sages. Their is more to the story which I will get to later, but the story so far is amazing and will get even better.
Presentation: The Legend Of Zelda A Link Between Worlds is basically a remake of A Link To The Past, besides the inside of everything being different. Everything is what you would expect it too look like but it still looks fantastic, it feels like Link To The Past but on it's own merits feels fresh and different in it's own way. I'll be honest when it comes to A Link To The Past soundtrack It gets so tiresome for me because Nintendo has recycled a lot of its songs in other game's and some can get old from hearing them so much, and this hasn't changed in A Link Between World's, however it's got a new twist to most of them and they our enjoyable again for me so I have to say their soundtrack is enjoyable. The presentation as a whole is pretty good, nothing ground breaking but still nice looking, and a great soundtrack.
Gameplay: A Link Between Worlds is a top down 2d Zelda game, obviously just like ALTTP in fact A Link Between Worlds is pretty much a remake of ALLTP in regards too it's overworld in both Hyrule and Lorule, and While some people may want something new, the game is completely new, new dungeons, new items, new upgrades, all sorts of new stuff, in fact the main mechanics for Zelda have been changed in this iteration, instead of finding items in a temple you rent them from Ravio which means you pay rupees for them, and if you fall in battle you must buy them again. Later on you can buy them also which means their your items and you can't lose them, I like this cause it makes the game feel a little more challenging and it's a nice feeling to feel like you have earned the item's when you buy them. A lot of the temples in the game are based not only by a certain item you will need, but also the technique you use with your bracket, where you fuse into the wall. this can seem like a gimmick when you first see it, but some of the puzzles that our included with this technique say otherwise, they our challenging and perceptive and this is a huge reason the temples in this game our some of the best temples in a Zelda game. The boss battles in this game our also great, their our some new ones and some from ALTTP, I truly liked each one of them and pretty much all of them were really challenging in fact if you don't have any faeries in a bottle you will have problems with these bosses and not only that but the whole game, can be really quite challenging. I have heard a lot of people call this game easy, and while I don't think it's the hardest game ever it can be quite challenging, in fact if you ask me I would say this game has just the right amount of challenge and it makes the game an enjoyable experience. The gameplay is outstanding, perfect, just like ALTTP the gameplay is flawless.
(Spoiler Alert) When Link finally frees all the sages, he goes to Lorule to meet with Hilda who tells him the history of Lorule, so it turns out that Lorule had a triforce just like Hyrule, a lot of people fought over it, to get their wishes granted, The God's were disgusted by this behavior and destroyed, it making Lorule turn into a crumbling wasteland. After Hilda tells this story she say that this whole time her and Yuga were working together to acquire the triforce from Hyrule, HIlda tells Yuga absorbed by Ganon to attack link and return Lorule to what it once was but it turns out Yuga and Gannon have plans of their owns so they absorb the triforce of wisdom from Hilda who had absorbed the triforce of wisdom from Zelda. Now you must face Ganon and Yuga fused together it's one of the most creative boss battles to date and can be quite challenging, it's one of my favorite boss battles of all time and I don't want to spoil it. After beating Yuga-Gannon, you our about to fight Hilda, When all of a sudden Ravio jumps in to stop the battle it turns out that Ravio is supposed to be the hero of Lorule just like Link is the hero of Hyrule however Ravio is too much of a coward, and came to Hyrule to get Links help he went to get Links help so that Hilda wouldn't make a grave mistake, Ravio ends up convincing Hilda to let Link and Zelda go, as Link and Zelda return they end up near the triforce and both know what needs to be done, and in a perfect way of subtlety it shows the triforce of Lorule returning and Hilda thanks Zelda in the most gratifying text or at least it felt that way. All I can say is the story is perfect in fact this might just be my favorite Zelda story of all time.
Overall A Link between Worlds may seem a lot like ALTTP but if you looks at it's exterior what you see is a game that stands on it's own and not only that but flourishes in the way that makes it seem like it's a completely different game altogether, I guess what I am trying to say is that it's one of the best Zelda games to date and you need to buy this game.