A Link to the Past goes back to the series roots, and perfects them.
The gameplay of the game abandons The Adventure of Link’s intriguing mish-mash of styles, and instead goes back to the style of the original. The overhead camera is here in full effect, multitudes of astonishing items, a simple yet beautiful combat design, and larger-than-life boss fights. You once again play as Link, who follows a telepathic distress signal from Princess Zelda, who is being held prisoner in her own castle, at the hands of her once-trusted advisor, Aganihm. Aganihm is a ruthless wizard, looking to get his hands on the legendary Triforce. Not only does Link receive the call, but so does his Uncle, who dons his sword and shield, and sets off to help. We follow to find that he fails. We take his equipment and our quest begins. Note I say ‘our’ because no game, up to this point, had worked as hard, and succeeded, in pulling you into a world, in this case Hyrule. You can talk to so many people and do so many things, Hyrule feels alive like never before. Combat, too, has been revitalized and brought over all exceptions thanks to the simplicity of the combat, and the expertly designed situations you’ll find yourself in. Your sword can tackle most obstacles, but you have the ability to stun your foes with a boomerang, shoot them with your bow and arrow, place bombs near them, and use powerful magical spells and items. Magic spells have taken a back seat in A Link to the Past, as opposed to being in the forefront, as they were in Zelda II, but the sheer audacity of the spells make up for it. There are several new items as well, including a magic spell that allows you to turn certain items into something else. The overworld never lacks for fun, and with so many things to do, including finding secrets and finding heart pieces, if you get bored, it’s your own damn fault.
The dungeons in the game are awesome in sheer scope, size, and in what you can do. The puzzles never get the best of you, but most are ingenious, the enemies in the dungeons are exponentially more dangerous, and the ones in the Golden Land (or Dark World) are exponentially harder still. The solutions to get past some of these dungeons are just grand, especially the temple in the desert, and the boss fights are a joy to figure out and then accomplish. You get at least one wonderful weapon/item for dungeon, and you get one full heart container and story item per boss defeated, for the most part. Not to forget, of course, that A Link to the Past is the first Zelda game to feature, or at least put a name to, The Master Sword. This is an all-powerful weapon capable of shooting beams from itself when you are at full health. Another interesting sword trick is the spin-slash, another first for the series if I’m not mistaken. This powerful attack, especially when paired with magic, can cut several foes at once. The combat, items, story, and level design all culminate in what is a magical experience.
The graphics in the game go further than what Zelda has accomplished in the past, while keeping the same spirit of its companions. The graphics in the game were, at the time, the best graphics around. The bosses were huge and impassive, the world vibrant and alive as well as huge, and the creature and character designs inspired. The simple beauty of the game keeps it from looking bad today, and in 2007’s world of PlayStation 3 and the mighty Cell Processor, that’s quite a feat to behold.
The sound is another great feature. The haunting score ranks right up there with Final Fantasy, another series doing great in these years, and the sound effects were great, considering the times. The sword strikes sound better than ever before, as do the rest of the effects, even the “Your health is low” beep you often experience. For adding aural quality that helps to exemplify the vibrancy and eerily lifelike tone of the game, the sound of A Link to the Past gets full marks.
For its day, and even today, this game is epic. You get a multi-hour task in front of you, to get the three pendants, the Master Sword, and then storm Aganihm’s castle. Of course you can forget the side quests that can take up even more time. Once you’ve completed that, you find you aren’t even halfway through this game. You then venture into the Golden Land, after learning Aganihm was a puppet of an even greater evil. The Golden Land is rocked with decay and corruption, and then your true journey begins. Such a shift like that, paired with the time you already put in, and what you can do only adds length to the game, length you’ll never get tired of.
A Link to the Past is one of the earliest (and rare) examples of a game I consider to be perfect. Enough good things cannot be said about this game, which is true of most Zelda games.