Video Game Review: The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess Part 1

Twilight Princess, the first 3D Zelda that I have ever played, is also one of my favorites, and one of the best that I have played.

Allow me to go further, Twilight Princess was released as both a Wii launch title and as one of the last Gamecube games in 2006 (November 19 for the Wii, December 12 for the Gamecube). I have played the Gamecube version a little, but that was after playing the Wii version, so that is the version this review will be based on. So where to begin? Where else, let's talk story, but not Rohn Storey. Be warned, though, there may be spoilers. Part one here will summarize the story somewhat in depth, along with some thoughts on it. Part two will review certain aspects of the story in further depth along with character analysis, and part three will review gameplay and everything else.

I found the story to be well done. It starts of with Link, who starts off as a ranch hand in Ordon Village, leading a normal life, and is then thrown onto action once his village is invaded by monsters, taken into twilight and transformed into a wolf. He meets Midna, who travels with him throughout. Shortly after, he meets Princess Zelda, who explains their situation. They clear out the Twilight in Hyrule, revive the Light Spirits, and recover something called the Fused Shadow. Immediately after finding the last Fused Shadow, they encounter the (false) King of Twilight, Zant, who brings back the twilight, turns Link permanently into a wolf, then restores the light in order to punish Midna.

 They then go back to back to Hyrule Castle and meet Zelda again, who reveals more information about how to return to his original form, he would need to find the Master Sword, hidden in the Sacred Grove. She also revives Midna from near death by sacrificing herself and disappears. Link and Midna leave, she feels guilty about Zelda healing her, but they go to the Sacred Realm. After going though a maze and "playing" with a skull kid along the way, they find the remains of a temple, and take on a puzzle challenge from statues guarding the way. The pass and reach the spot where the Master Sword rests. Link is reverted back to his human form, then pulls the sword from it's pedestal. 

Midna comes up with a new plan: to find the Mirror of Twilight, the last link to Zant. They head to the Gerudo Desert after finding a lead about a mirror in a prison there, the Arbiters Grounds. They traverse the desert and the dungeon, only to find the mirror broken, the other pieces missing. They go and find the pieces, in the mountains, through time, and in the sky. After gathering the pieces and restoring the mirror, Midna's true identity is revealed. She is the true ruler of Twilight, the Twilight Princess. They then head into the Twilight Realm. After traversing the Palace of Twilight (that word is used a lot), they meet Zant, and he is defeated after revealing himself as a psycho. After his defeat, he reveals information about his "god", Ganondorf, who apparently is in Hyrule Castle. Midna vanquishes Zant and then she and Link head back to the castle. After clearing the castle of monsters, they find Ganondorf in the throne room, who is waiting for them, he also has Zelda, unconsious and hanging midair.

 Link and Ganondorf commence battle. First phase: Zelda possessed; after, Ganon transforms into a boar, is defeated, Zelda is restored; Ganon comes back as a giant floating head, Midna fights him using the Fused Shadow, but is defeated, apparently killed. Link and Zelda were teleported outside by Midna beforehand; Ganon reappears, on horseback, and charges in; Zelda obtains the Light Arrows after calling on the Light Spirits. The fight begins with Link and Zelda on his horse, Epona. I will say this, I loved the fight on horseback, I will review this further later on in part three. Link is able to fight Ganondorf with Zelda's help with the Light Arrow, and knocks him off his horse.The final phase is a swordfight between the two, with Link winning out (naturally) by stabbing Ganondorf in the chest. He dies, and shortly thereafter, Midna returns, in her true form! The three of them return to the Mirror of Twilight, Midna leaves and has the mirror destroyed.

Whew! That was a long story summary, I didn't want to lose any context and this is how it came out. I will say I liked the story. While I say that, though, it did have a similar feel to past games; for instance, something happens, Link is thrown into action, gathers a few items, gets the Master Sword, finds more items, and fights the main villain. Twilight Princess is somewhat different in that first, it shows Link actually leading some sort of a productive life as a rancher, whereas in most other games he is an easygoing, but lazy child, as seen in The Wind Waker. That's not to say that the Link of Twilight Princess isn't easygoing, but he does have some additional depth, and I will be writing more on him later. The story is not just about saving Hyrule and rescuing Zelda, it's more about Midna, she had her throne as the ruler of Twilight usurped by Zant, is transformed, then exiled, which explains her motives. The story itself followed the same formula as in past games, first a forest temple, a fire dungeon, and a water temple, then the Master Sword is received. The twist here is that Zant appears, attempts to kill Midna and transforms Link back into a wolf with different magic. My favorite part in the game, though, is when Link receives the Master Sword. The glow of light emanating, overpowering the cloak of evil of Link's wolf self, then the fog claering out as he raises the sword. Epic. That is all.

The story took a lull after finding the first mirror fragment, though I did like the individual dungeons. The Snowpeak Ruins was very well done, being told by Yeta where the key is (not), and instead finding soup ingredients for Yeto (Yeta's husband if you didn't already know). The Temple of Time, however, it was not that impressive, although I do like the nostalgia with the entrance, but the main temple itself, just felt lacking. Sure some of the puzzles were interesting, fight the darknut was awesome, and controlling that big statue afterwards was amazing, but the dungeon felt to linear. You went up a tower and back down and then you fought the most poorly executed boss in the game, Armogohma. I'll talk more of that fight in part 2. The last dungeon before the Palace of Twilight, is The City in the Sky, I found interesting, if a little empty. The puzzles were great, the flying dragon miniboss, which you fight twice, was fun, guessing where he comes out and using your clawshot to bring him in was a great part of it. But, you know what's better than a clawshot, two of them! The puzzles involving them, awesome; the key to beating the boss, very well done. Again, though, I will go into further depth in part 2.

That's it for this part of the review, sorry it's so long, but I do like to go into detail. Part 2 will be up soon. Until then, God bless.