Twilight Princess is a fantastic game to play, and nearly perfects the Zelda formula
GRAPHICS:
This game goes for a more "realistic" aproach in graphics, as oposed to the cartoony style of The Wind Waker. In fact, this game looks quite a bit like an upgraded version of Ocarina of Time. While this game looks good, it feels a bit lacking in general. While there still is some creativity in the design of the characters and the areas, the is so much brown and black in this game, it feels a bit repetitive to the eyes. Other than than, it looks pretty good, and textures and lightning never fail on you. 3.5/5
SOUND:
The music in the game is composed of both remixes of older tune, which sound great, and of new songs, which also sound amazing. As expected, the soundtrack is just fantastic, setting up always the correct mood and fitting the settings always very well. 5/5
One thing that is problematic though is the lack of voice acting. I know voice acting and Nintendo is a controversial subject (Super Mario Sunshine and Metroid Other M proved that) but they have to try, since this game is extremely text heavy. I wished the next game in the series would have it, but since I know it doesn't, lets hope for the next one to fulfull that desire.
STORY:
This game tells the tale of how the Usurper King Zant has taken over the Twilight Realm, a paralel dimension to the Hyrule kingdom, of its rulers, and how he want to expand the twilight over to the light world. It is up to a hero discovered-farm boy named Link to defeat him and bring peace once again to both worlds.
The story, in its most basic premise, is not that different from previous Zelda games. But like others before, it develops on different and unexpected ways that make it something special. For once, the characters in this game are some of the best developed in the series ever. Well, at least one character, Midna, your companion. While, at the end of the day, I still care more for the world in Majora's Mask, there is no character in any Zelda game I care for most than Midnda. She was really well developed, and is just a fascinating character. The suporting cast, much like in Ocarina of Time, is also a lot of fun to watch, and help make this world alive.
Besides that, this game has a much more epic feel than other games in the series. The whole atmosphere is always great and you feel like you won a great battle agains evil after this game is finished. It is nothing awe-inspiring, but it is a good story, and one you will feel some connection at the end of the day. 4/5
GAMEPLAY:
This is an action adventure game. As Link, you have to go all throughout Hyrule, collecting items until you can battle Zant and bring peace once again to the world.
The first thing that has to be established is the fact that this game takes a lot of elements from Ocarina of Time. Examples are beating three temples before the tone of the story changes, the themes of the first three dungeons (forest, Goron and Zora), and the latter dungeons for that matter, the locations themselves (Kakariko Village, Zora Hall), it has many of the same items from that game and so on. Is that a bad thing necessarily? Not really. OoT felt a lot like a 3D version of A Link to The Past, and so Twilight Princess feels a lot like an upgraded version of OoT. At times, the game does feel a bit to unoriginal, but it hardly feels like a blatant copy. One thing to metion about the begining of the game is that it is really slow paced, so you will have to endure it to get to the good stuff.
The dungeons themselves are the bulk of the game. And for once in the series, you do not have to wait forever to go to a next dungeon (well, after the first three). You beat a dungeon, talk to a few people who are always at the same area, who will tell you the direction you should be heading. The exeption to the rule is dungeon 7, but that is because there is some important stuff related to the plot that happens before it. Besides that, this game has 9 dungeons, the most out of any 3D Zelda game. Are they good? Yes. They are incredibly well designed, with puzzles that require you to think but are never too obtuse, challenging bosses that require some strategy at the end and enemies that feel satisfying to bet throughout.
I say that last thing because the combat is really well handled in this game. This comes from a person who has never played Wind Waker, so I can't compare it to that. But I can with OoT and MM. And in those games, the combat way to often felt too simplistic. It has recieved an upgrade in this game, as there are many different techniques that you can learn in your adventure, and they make the combat feel more variate. It is really fun to slash enemies, and never feels like a chore.
Another mechanic introduced in this game is that Link gets the ability to transform into a wolf in this game. For those who have played the game Okami, it feels similar, but not as deep in terms of combat. Wolf Link can attack, dash and use a special attack with the help of Midna. Since after the third dungeon you get the ability to change between froms at will, you can expect this to be used as a mechanic, having to change between forms to solve puzzles and helps get through the dungeon. It is a novelty mostly, since the parts that you are trapped as the wolf can feel tiring, but it is pretty cool regardless.
Besides dungeons, the other important factor in a Zelda game is the world you are in to explore. Again, I always felt like the world in Ocarina was small, empty and just kinda bland. In Majora's Mask it was upped. But this game takes the cake, with a massive world to explore, full of little things to do and to collect. While its size can be a bit overwhelming at times, the fact that you can use Epona to travel and the wolf can warp, it never feel too much like a chore to go through it.
The items in this game are also very well handled, and they went all out in this game. There are the usuals slingshot and bow, different types of bombs, but the new additions are pretty cool. There is a spinner, to grind on certain walls; a ball and chain, to massive power; a rod that lets you control certain statures.; and a clawshot, that replaces teh hookshot. Sure, the rod and the spinner are very context sensitive, and the puzzles regarding the rod are quite annoying, they are still cool additions. Besides, the classic stuff is still great.
The last thing to be mentioned are the controls. Since this is on the Wii, you can expect waggle to use the sword, and aiming on the screen to use the bow and other items. The latter works great, feels incredibly natural. The latter is... okay. It feels way to much like mindless wagle at times, and also is not 100% responsive. On the other hand, it is kind of a novelty to shake the Wiimote to use the sword. These are the two things that diferenciate the Wii and GameCube version. Well, there is one morething, and that is that this version is flipped from the GC version. Meaning that left in GC is right on Wii. It can be weird to play one version after the other, but that is purely preference of the player. The game will take almost 50 hours to beat, much more than any other game in the series can claim.
5/5
OVERALL:
What makes Twilght Princess so great? Well, it is the closes game to perfect the Zelda formula. It is a lot of fun to play, has a great story, long lasting value due to the lengh, and simply feels like a complete game. It is possibly one of the greatest action adventure games ever, just because it doesn't leave anything undone.
The good:
-9 dungeons, each feeling very different from the last one
-Very long adventure
-Huge world to explore, and it feels alive
-Absolutely fantastic soundtrack
-Many things to do besides the main quest
The bad:
-Can feel a bit unoriginal
-Graphics lack a bit
-Snail pace at the begining, but gets better