It might not reach the level of the best Zelda games, but Four Swords Adventure is still a fun game.
So what really separates this game from the other Zelda games (except from A Link to the Past, Four Swords) is that you split into four and can play multiplayer. This really gives the game some original puzzles that normal Zelda games don't have. So if you like Zelda, but want something fresh, this could be a good choice. And if you are the singleplayer kind of guy, don't worry. Unlike the other Four Sword game, you can play four swords adventure singleplayer and it is almost as fun as multiplayer.
The game has eight levels. One for rescuing each Maiden, one for rescuing Zelda and one for entering the heavens to defeat Vaati once and for all and seal away Ganon. Each of the levels consists of three sublevels, leaving a total of twenty-four sublevels. Each of them take about half an hour, so you might need twelve hours to complete the main quest. The level and sublevel system means it is different from the other Zelda games that have dungeons. Some of the sublevels are very much like dungeons though, so you want miss the dungeons that much.
When it comes to how you play, a lot of the gameplay is based on formations. You need the right formations to push and lift certain things, and it is important to have the right formation in combat. Also you sometimes have to go one by one, sometimes to step on all the four switches, sometimes because you have to throw a friend over a gap. You also use items, but you can only carry one item at a time and have to find the pedestals where the items you need are. You have familiar items such as roc's feather and Pegasus boots, boomerang, bow and bombs. I don't think there is any new item, but what is new is that a fairy can upgrade them for you. So suddenly you can run on holes without falling down in them with the Pegasus boots and you can shoot arrows much faster. The great thing about the items is that you have an unlimited amount of bombs and arrows, so you don't have to worry about it. When it comes to heart containers, you always start with four at the beginning of a level and can get more as you go through the level.
Combat is pretty fun to begin with, and can be really intense when suddenly hundred enemies come at you, but it does become repetitive after a while. A lot of the enemies come far to many times, like shadow Link and a giant skeleton with a sword. There aren't that many bosses, but those you have are pretty good. None of them feel old-school, but fresh and new. Still they could probably have been harder.
The game has some innovations that are small, but still makes it feel better. Finally you can carry an item to the next room without it disappearing, and you can also shoot arrows through an open door, which is necessary in some of the puzzles. One thing you will soon discover, is that you pick up force gems. In order to complete each level you must get 2000 of those gems in order to give your swords the power to repel evil. This is hardly ever a problem, but it is pretty cool.
At the end of each level you are awarded a force fairy. You can also find some of them in the level. There is at least one in each level, so you will soon have a lot of them. If you die, a force fairy will awaken you. This makes the game very easy, because you will at all times have more than enough fairies. I had over forty as I entered the final boss battle and I only lost one in the battle. There are few hard fight, but one that is really challenging, is a familiar boss you might have seen in wind waker. A shadow knight which floats around and shoots light balls you will need to hit back. The first time you fight him, isn't that hard, but when there is four of him, it's quite a challenge.
The game looks somehow like a mix of A Link to the Past (the setting mostly) and Wind Waker (the characters and some of the enemies). The graphics are ok most of the time, but they look great when you free a Maiden and during the final boss fight. The music takes inspiration from the rest of the franchise, mainly from A Link to the Past. It is pretty good.
To sum it up, this is a game that feels fresh and is very fun to play, but it doesn't have the depth some of the Zelda games have. It has some pretty good puzzles, but it could have had more challenging difficulty and it is a little to repetitive when it comes to combat.