All Zelda, All The Time

I beat The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Sunday morning, making it the … fourth or fifth Zelda game I’ve beaten and the seventh I’ve played. Not sure whether or not I beat Link to the Past or not, but I’m going to buy it for the Wii Virtual Console and give it a shot. And I got really irritated with Zelda II (the one no one talks about) and never played it for more than an hour. Though that’s available on the Wii as well, I doubt I’ll ever even look at it. What an annoying and frustrating game. Reminds me of the original Final Fantasy which I played with the Nintendo Power Guide open beside me so I didn’t miss anything.

Anyway, Twilight Princess was a pretty good game, retelling the same story for the umpteen millionth time but being able to drop in some pretty neat twists. Playing as the wolf, for instance, while not my cuppa, gave a different angle on the game and allowed you to mix up the game play a little. Where it was absolutely necessary, it seemed a little contrived, but otherwise worked okay.

My only complaints are a) the fishing and b) the reliability of the Wii-mote controller. The fishing really, really, really sucked and really, really, really, REALLY felt like it was tacked on in order to give the game something to really hang the motion control on, as though swinging a sword was not enough. In the early going of the game there’s a bit where you have to catch two fish in order to continue on–literally, there is no way to go any further without catching a couple fish and it took me hours. Hated it.

I think the second complaint is just a matter of software, underscored by the understanding that Twilight Princess had been intended to be a GameCube title and then kept getting pushed back until it bumped into the Wii. But the Wii-mote is due a flash software upgrade or something, because even in games explicitly designed for it it’s not quite as responsive as one would hope. Too many sword swings and thrusts and whatnot were ignored, especially in the middle of a flurry of them, and made me yearn for simple button combinations.

The touchscreen weapons controls on Phantom Hourglass for the DS, which I’m playing now, works a lot better, though there’s a couple gimmicky moments where you have to shout into the built-in microphone. But I suppose that’s a review for another day, since I’m not done with that one yet.

Anyway, it’s a pretty good game. I’ll be interested to see what they do with the next one, which I hope shakes things up a little in terms of gameplay. This has been the third title in a row to have basically the same gameplay characteristics, with the motion controls being the only wrinkle.

I remarked to my wife after I beat it that now I would work on playing them all straight through (with the notable exception of Zelda II) as I wait for the next title, whatever that happens to be. Exciting right? I know, I know, it’s no GTA IV or Halo 3, but I’m just boring like that.

Crossposted with klech.net