I'm joining Scott in attempting to get some posts going here. The one relevant thing I can discuss is Zelda: Twilight Princess. I know it's over a year old, but I recently finished it for the first time, after abandoning it for a year, and I'm most of the way through a second game.
To lead off, I have some major bias to unload and confess. I think what Nintendo did with the Wii version of this superb game is a travesty. Mirroring the entire map of Hyrule, and Link himself, who has always been left handed, only because of the Wii controllers, is the most stupid thing Nintendo has ever done to the franchise--and I'm including the pathetic spinoffs with Zelda names that have nothing much to do with real Zelda games. The whole thing reeks of internal politics, where all sense of continuity was abandoned in an instant to keep the new hardware from looking infallible. The sun rises in the West and sets in the East, where the desert moved to, but hey, no one is going to complain about swinging a left-handed sword with the right arm. Rah! The game was designed for years for the Gamecube, and as far as I'm concerned, that's the only version that matters. The ironic thing is that I ended up playing the GC version on the Wii, which allows for a lovely progressive (480p) display. The jaggies show the age of the technology, but it's still the best-looking Zelda game yet.
The unusual thing about TP is how heavy it is with story elements and forced plot points. Storytelling has improved from previous games, but the downside is that the world feels much more claustrophobic for at least the first 15 hours of play. This game did not sell nearly as well as previous efforts in Japan, and I wonder if this problem may have played a role in the lower sales. As a wolf in the early stages of the game, you are forced to follow the plot with almost no reason ever to deviate from the path sometimes literally laid out in front of you. (You follow a scent path. The game leads you by the nose, literally and figuratively.) Oh, I tried. I scampered all over Hyrule field looking for anything worthwhile. There is absolutely nothing. Only much later, when you have the full range of choices, does TP become a more traditional Zelda experience. I'm aware that all Zelda games confine you at first, but not to this absolutely linear degree for such a long time.
But there is so much good work here, so much attention to detail that I can't figure out a way to describe it very well. The characters are the best they've ever been--looks, expressions, motions, behavior, AI. The combat is just about perfect. Link learns several new moves along the way, and they’re actually needed in the later stages and during one particularly tough, long side quest. The advanced enemies are genuinely difficult. The way they can team up against you is both impressive and frustrating. While you’re defending against one guy, another will clobber you from the side. You will need those 20 hearts you always collect in Zelda games by the time you face the fiercest opponents. This is definitely not another Wind Waker cakewalk. Nothing has impressed me more yet than 3 darknuts—heavy knights with 2 very smart battle modes—teaming up against me in a mini phalanx. Christ. They were too much for me, yet I felt more awe than frustration losing to them. The final boss is easier than this, but it’s an amazing battle. Even without the Wii swinging antics, it had me sweating. Horseback battles against other mounted enemies in Hyrule field are much easier, but so much fun. Nintendo have outdone themselves this time with all hostile interactions.
The world is huge and beautiful. The music changes with locale, with activity, and with the day and night. The sun and moon move fluidly across the sky, clouds roll by and cast shadows, sunsets cast an orange glow on everything, and then stars begin to dot the sky. Textures have improved, though there are still some bad ones. Water surfaces look terrific, but waterfalls can look downright chunky and odd. The sound effects are exactly what they should be, and where they should be. I have very few technical complaints overall.
Likewise, the GC control is pretty much what it should be, and very similar to Wind Waker’s. I’m sure this is the biggest debate point, given that Wii controls were tacked on at the last minute, and it seems one in particular, Wii remote aiming, was implemented very well. To offset that, however, you cannot control the camera directly in the Wii version, something we all expect in 3D Zeldas. All you can do is snap the camera position with the C button. On the GC controller, C is a whole joystick. Coordinating movement with view adjustments is one of the joys I’d hate to lose. After playing Mario Galaxy and Metroid’ 3 with the Wii controllers, I was less than impressed whenever the action called for using multiple buttons. Once you need to start using buttons 1 and 2, and the D-pad—all awkwardly placed when holding the Wii remote with one hand—it becomes a thumb-straining chore. Pass.
This game is long. If you’re going for everything, and you don’t resort to FAQs, I think there’s a good 70-80 hours of good fun here. Even knowing what to do, I’m at over 30 hours on the 2nd playthrough, and I just got to the next-to-last dungeon. Epic scale, to be sure.
Miyamoto expressed disappointment in the sales figures for the game at home. He fears the demographics may have changed, and that makes me fear that this is the last true Zelda game we may see. No one should miss it. Pick your poison, Wii or GC, and go to Hyrule for what may be a swan song, a very fitting one.
