One great Zelda game.
Minish Cap is a prequel to the Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure games and gives the background for the villain Vaati and the Four Sword. Link is called into action after the evil and powerful sorcerer Vaati kidnaps Princess Zelda. In this game, Link is a bit of a coward and the only reason why he is asked to take him on is because only children can see the Picori, also known as Minish, who hold the key to beating Vaati, the Four Sword. Well not quite. Link is given the Picori Blade and is told he needs to find the four elements and fuse them to make the Four Sword, oh and the blade is broken when he first is given it because of good ol' Vaati.
The story becomes very humorous when Link runs into Ezlo, a hat-like being that has a bird-like face. Ezlo gives Link a new power as the two travel about, the power to shrink. This is the only way to talk to the Minish as they are extremely small. This adds a second way to look at each area that you enter since there are some things that you can do only in Minish form and some things you can do only in your normal size. The use of this in dungeons and in side-quests is well done. It's even used in a few of the boss fights. This power can only be used in choice points in the game as you have to be on top of a Minish Portal, which come in a few different "flavors" depending on the area they are found in.
Also new to the series is Kinstone fusions. These are a way of getting a ton of Rupees, Mystery Shells (used to get figures), and other, important items. While only a few of them are needed to move on in the plot, there are a 100 total, and you get something special if you complete all of them. The worst part of the fusions is that some of the people you fuse, as you have to fuse one of your Kinstone pieces with a NPC somewhere, anywhere in the overworld, are a bit picky about if they want to fuse or not, so you have to leave the area they are in and come back a number of times before they feel like fusing with you. Other times you might not have a right Kinstone so you have to go hunting for the right one. While the reward is worth it, most of the time, these cons make one not to complete all of the Kinstone fusions, more so if you don't know where the last few fusions are located.
There are also a few new items to the Zelda series: the Gust Jar, Mole Mits, and the Cane of Pacci. The first two acted similar to items found in other games, but are kind of different as well, while the Cane of Pacci is something new on its own. The Gust Jar sucks in air, as well as items, some enemies, as well as a few other things, and can blow powerful gusts of air back out. Mole Mits are like a shovel where they will let you dig in the ground, but they also let you get into dirt covered caves that tend to hold be pretty good rewards. The Cane of Pacci can flip objects and some enemies and can energize holes to let Link jump into the air as if he were on a trampoline so he can reach areas he couldn't before. Each are very useful and it would be nice to see them used in Zelda games down the road.
There are a number of puzzles in this game, most of which have to deal with another power given to Link. As Link gets more elements and fuses them with his White Blade (that's what the Picori Blade is called after it's fixed), he is able to make copies of himself. This really isn't much of a combat deal as it can only be used when there are magical squares lying about, but as I said, it's great for the number of somewhat challenging puzzles throughout the game. True, most are not that hard, but there are a few gems and they tend to deal with the split ability. Another thing on sword play is that Link will pick up new moves from different sword masters found throughout the game. These make Link very powerful and can be helpful when taking on some of the bosses or the harder enemies out there.
Dungeons and temples are something of a love/hate thing. On the love side you have that they are designed well, even if they are sometimes not named properly (ie. the Fortress of Winds has nothing to do with wind and is just full of dirt). They have a nice flow to them as the make your way from room to room and make great work of the Minish Portals, that is if Link didn't have to shrink to get inside to begin with. But, on the hate side, they are retardedly easy and short. A "normal" gamer won't have any problem with them and can blast through all six in no time flat. The only real challenge comes in when you fight the boss for each, and most of the time they are not that hard to beat, though they are some fun battles. The overall experience with the different dungeons is fun though, even with these few drawbacks.
One of the more retros things this game does is that it brings back that Oracle-sty-le of menus and how items are assigned buttons and you can only use two at a time. This was one of the favorite things about the game as Oracle of Ages is one of my favorite Zelda games of all time. It's quick, easy to use, and fast to select news items if you need to. Sure, the game also gives you a 3D action-command like button where you can interact with things, as well as roll about, if you click the R-sholder button.
Detail is brought to the colorful world of Minish Cap as the camera is closer to the world then other games. This extra detail is important because you will need to look closely for any extra areas that you might be able to reach while in Minish form. And as I stated before, the world is very colorful and the Wink Waker-like look is really fitting to the game. It brings out the humor in this game more, but it can be serious and serious looking when it has to be and pulls that off well enough.
Music is one of the things that has always been great in the Zelda series, and that's no different with Minish Cap. It holds true to that main theme of the music in the series, and sounds beautiful, even with the weak speakers of the GameBoy Advance (SP). In just about every song it has the Legend of Zelda theme running through it, most of the time as a bass line.
Overall, The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap is a great game, even with it's short comings. The game is short and pretty easy, Kinstone fusions has a few problems, and there are a few items you can only get after beating the game (like the Mirror Shield and the last Piece of Heart (I don't understand why they did this)). On the positive side, it has lots of detail, great music, good dungeon design, and new aspects that really work. This is a must have for any Zelda fan out there and is one of the best GBA games.
Pros and Cons:
+Graphics and colorful and full of detail
+Good dungeon design
+Great Music
-Pretty short and easy
-Items that are obtainable only after you beat the game
Gameplay: 9.0
Graphics: 9.0
Story: 8.0
Sounds: 9.0
Replay Value: 7.0
Fun Level: 9.0
Overall: 8.9