In the days following Twilight Princess, Adventure of Link feels irrelevant at best.
The Bad: Dungeon layout is incredibly cheap; Putting lives into the game was a torturous choice; An overall step backward from the original...
When Miyamoto had Zelda and Mario in mind, he also had two completely different gameplay ideas in his head. One of them, the puzzler and explorer, was Zelda. The other, more action oriented title was Mario. In short, Zelda isn't Mario, and mixing them together, in this case, was very bad.
Not only does the game pale in comparison to the newer titles, but it doesn't stand out that well in and of itself. You'll play through some "Palaces" millions of times before you'll win. The game is a constant level grind, exploring town is akin to biting off your own arm, and the gameplay itself is a mess.
Link can jump, stab, use magic, etc. There's one thing he can't do... DODGE. The enemies are so persistent and vexing that you might throw down your GBA in disgust. Some enemies actually drain you of your exp upon contact, which will make your blood boil when you're two points away from a level up. The game will send you straight back to Zelda's Castle (The starting point) when you run out of lives, so you'll be in bits when you travel miles to a new dungeon, fight your way through hell to reach the boss, and then lose your men against him. I never thought I'd say this, but it isn't fair at all. It's like when your girlfriend leaves you for the jerky quarterback who lives down the street.
Not only that, but the visuals and sound are blegh. You're dealing with true crap here, and it's even worse than the original at times. Environments are bland, you feel like you're walking on tiles on the overworld, and the tunes are just a repetetive mess. Note to 1980s programmers... just because the sequel is usually inferior, doesn't mean you should say, "All right. You know the rules. This one's going to suck."
That's not to say the game isn't fun at times. Especially in the early hours, you'll be drawn to keep on playing until your arms fall off. But like the fat opera lady who sings the same song in theater for 50 years, it gets old fast. It really won't be long before you're literally in withdrawl for games like Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask.
- Josh Sumara