Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The latest installment of the Legend of Zelda franchise that was made for 2 systems, the Nintendo Wii as one of the launch titles and also for the Nintendo Gamecube. What will be covered is the Gamecube version of it. The story takes place events after the Ocarina of Time and Link is now a young man living in a ranch on Ordon Village. The game itself offers new elements as well as retaining some of the main key items. It was released a month after the Wii version but before Christmas by a few days.

Game Play: Thumbs Up

While the Legend of Zelda Franchise has been experimenting with new ideas to improve their games, the basics were never forgotten. An over world map with nice detail, new suits introduced like the Aqua Armor and the Magic Armor, abilities that could prove to be rather useful in dungeons. A new unique feature was the ability to become a wolf. It was not the 1^st time Link had even transformed as recalled in A Link to the Past, if you don't have the 3 Pendants, you could turn into a rabbit. The big difference was that with the powers of becoming a wolf, you could bite and dig like an actual wolf could.

Story: Thumbs Slightly Up

More or less, this is the same plot with not a lot of variety. Link is the hero and must save Princess Zelda from the main villain Ganondorf. A little bit of a variety was added with a new race introduced like the Twili. Another character introduced and plays a role is Midna, who looks like some type of gremlin creature. However, Ganondorf wasn't introduced until later on as it was believed that King Zant was the one who had transformed Midna into her current form.

Control: Thumbs Up

The controls are pretty smooth. Everything responds well from moving directions and also performing Lock Attacks and the ability to attack and use weapons came off rather responsive.

Items/Side-Quests: Thumbs Up

Returning items like the Bombs, which have become a main stay since the beginning of the Zelda franchise. A new twist added was Water Bombs and Mini Bombs as well. Instead of 4 hearts to complete a heart, it was 5 hearts to actually do such a thing. Maybe a little different but still the same basic idea. A new combination could be created when using a bomb and arrows combined to form a bomb arrow. There are no light arrows in this as this is actually the 1^st Zelda game on a console system since A Link to the Past to not have light arrows.

There were 2 different side quests. For instance, with the Poe Souls, it has a greedy rich man, who got really greedy and made bad choices in his life. If you collect all 60 souls, he gets revived and turned back into a regular person, as does his cat as well. That itself can be a challenge as some of the Poe Souls are out there in some of the dungeons that require you to get rid of them to complete a dungeon.

The best item added perhaps in the game is the skills. The stones have to be found and have to be used as a wolf to howl actually at the stones. Once the golden ghost wolf is found, it runs into you and you're brought into what looks like a dream where you meet with an ancient warrior trying to teach you new techniques.

Graphics: Thumbs Up

The game itself has probably the most detailed graphics of any of the Zelda games and looks rather nice. You could say they kind of look as close to life like as Zelda has ever gotten.

Replay Value: Thumbs Way Up

This has instant replay value. It's one of the best Zelda games that was ever created. For the Gamecube itself, this would have to be the single best game for the system itself. This game also joins up among top games like Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past as two games that instantly have replay value. If you like adventures/RPGs, this would be a game for you. If you a fan of the Legend of Zelda franchise, this is something that you should consider this version.