Chris Sell
07 Dec, 2006

There are few games as synonymous with quality as those in the Zelda series. With many holding Ocarina of Time as the greatest game ever made, every title in the series since has had almost impossible expectations to live up to. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was originally a GameCube game and down for a release in 2005. However, with the imminent launch of Nintendo’s new console, shifting Zelda to the next-gen machine seemed a logical choice, and that’s precisely what's happened. And, although graphically it’s behind the competition, the latest addition to the Zelda universe demonstrates that games don’t require technical power to be great.

As we all know, Twilight Princess began life as a GameCube game, so there's been some understandable scepticism regarding how well it would control with the Wii’s motion sensor containing controller. Thankfully, within mere minutes, all the worries and fears you may have had soon melt away. Movement of Link is still handled in a very traditional way. The analogue stick on the nunchuk is used for movement, jumping is still automatic, and general interaction with people/objects is still just an A button press away. The D-pad on the remote is used for swapping items, and is essentially a spiritual replacement of the c-buttons on the N64 pad. The B button on the underside activates any said item you have selected. So as you can see, the core control scheme is actually a familiar one – it still feels like Zelda.

The biggest changes brought about by the new controller are in both the game's swordplay and the aiming of projectiles. Using the Wii remote for bows and slingshots is an obvious improvement over what an analogue stick can offer, and it doesn’t take long before you’re hitting shots with the kind of speed and precision you could only dream about when using a regular pad. A quick flick of the remote draws your sword, and then swings and slashes it with each movement thereafter. The sword’s direction has nothing to do with the way that the remote is moved, but you can perform slashes and stabs by combining remote waggling with analog stick directions. Locking on to enemies is mapped to the Z button on the nunchuk, the trusty jumping attack is available via the A button, and the ever useful spin attack can be performed simply by shaking the nunchuk.

Overall, the swordplay is much more absorbing; not just because of the increased involvement that actual hand movements bring, but also because there’s actually more attacks at your disposal. When you start your quest, your sword skills are about as advanced as they were back in Ocarina of Time. However, as you progress, you'll get the chance to improve, thanks to an ancient warrior who will teach you a total of seven new skills. Some of these you’ll recognise from Wind Waker (like the rolling attack and the overhead flip), but there’s also a handful of new abilities that can prove rather handy.


Unless you’ve been avoiding all Zelda-related media over the past three years (in which case you should stop reading this now) you’ll know about the role twilight plays in this game. As you find out upon your very first encounter in the title, it’s not just regular old Link who you control in Twilight Princess, but also a wolf alter-ego. When crossing into the twilight, Link is transformed into a beast, and accompanied by a dark girl named Midna. Who she is and what her motivation to help Link might be is unknown, but you’ll need her help if you want to progress. She offers helpful advice, and can get Link to places that were previously unreachable in your wolf state. She also aids Link’s spin attack by locking on multiple enemies within a certain radius.

There are some similarities in how the human and wolf versions of Link control. Basic attacks and the spin attack are performed in the same manner, but otherwise wolf Link is a very different beast. He can’t use items or weapons (given his obvious lack of hands), but he has plenty of advantages over his human form. He’s a faster runner for a kick off, he can dig himself into small holes and under tight gaps, and he has the ability to use his sense of smell to sniff out clues. An early part of the game has you searching for someone, and along your journey you come across an item that this individual had dropped. By taking in the smell of this item, you can then follow the scent and thus track down your target. It’s a simple idea, but it lends itself well to a variety of situations, with one dungeon in particular standing out most, where you’re left scratching your head as you work out how on earth you’re going to follow the trail of a scent that’s going through a solid ceiling.

One of the best things about Twilight Princess is how it’s taken a lot of elements from previous Zelda games. One of the standout features of Wind Waker was the detailed facial expressions that were so effective in conveying emotion. Using the exaggerated features, the cel-shaded visuals meant you could always tell Link’s state of mind, just by looking at him. In Twilight Princess, the very same care has been taken for all of the characters, making the cutscenes more natural than ever before. A few things from A Link to the Past shine through here, too - most notably the use of a light/dark world set-up that the twilight sections will remind you of. In practice, it’s actually quite different, but the idea is undeniably similar.

Majora’s Mask has obviously been an influence also. In both its storyline and its general atmosphere, the N64 game is arguably the darkest Zelda game ever created; well, until now that is. The constant threat of the twilight, the transformation from man to beast, and some of the grittiest cutscenes to date all help recreate that very same feeling you had years ago when staring up at that moon. It’s something that Wind Waker completely lacked, so it’s good that Nintendo got things right here.

But of all the Zelda games to influence Twlight Princess, it's surely Ocarina of Time that provides the most inspiration. For starters, there are plenty of familiar locations. Hyrule Field, Death Mountain, Kakariko Village, Lake Hylia – they’re all in there in name, although their actual designs are complete re-imaginations of what they were on the N64. You’ll see a large handful of familiar characters too, and Link’s trusty horse Epona makes a return. The story even begins in a similar way as Link, a young man from a quiet woodland village, finds himself with the future of the world resting on his shoulders. Is it too much like Ocarina of Time? Not at all. If there’s any game that a developer should use as a blueprint, it would be Ocarinaof Time, but Twilight Princess has plenty of its own ideas, style and direction to avoid being labelled as a retread of past glories.


It's all tied together with some superbly directed cutscenes, and the storyline is perhaps the best yet in the long-running series. Without delving into spoilers, the plot has far more going on in it than any of the games in the series to date, and the core thread of the story remains a mystery for a good portion of the game. You’re told very little to begin with, whilst the true intention of Midna is unknown to you, along with any solid information regarding the apparent ‘bad guy’ behind all of this, the King of the Twilight. Every section of Hyrule feels like it has its own characters and story related to it too, some of which are isolated events, while others are pieces of the final jigsaw puzzle.

The dungeons themselves are superb without exception. Their size is their biggest asset, with some boasting up to eight floors, but they’re also designed in such a clever way that getting lost is rarely an issue. It’s the little details that impress the most, though. Take the Water Temple for example - obviously, water plays a big part in it, but there initially seems to be very little of it around. But by exploring you’ll notice cog wheels that should be moving, leading to gutters that should have water running through them, so you know that following the direction of these landmarks should theoretically lead to the location of a water source.

The kind of logical thinking encouraged by such clues has always been one of the biggest strengths of Zelda's puzzle sections. Predictably, the dungeons follow the traditional Zelda pattern of each containing a weapon/object that’s key to getting around, but that doesn’t mean they’re low on fresh ideas. Some of the new items, which again won’t be spoken about in detail so as not to ruin the surprise, require a different train of thought, rather than ones that Zelda veterans would have encountered in the past.

Also following Zelda traditions are bosses laying in wait at the end of each temple. They’re initially a little underwhelming in the first couple of dungeons, but it’s not long before you’re confronted with a screen-filling tyrant. As with all boss fights, the key is finding their weakpoint, and they can often be a little puzzle themselves as you experiment with your weaponry until you find the right combination. Of course, when you do, beating them isn’t much of a challenge, but that doesn’t prevent some of them from being real classic boss battles - in fact, it would be fair to say a couple of the boss encounters owe a debt to Shadow of the Colossus.


While technically the game isn’t going to win any awards with its often muddy textures and occasionally simple geometry, artistically the game is very hard to fault. The characters are full of personality, the environments are brimming with imagination and the whole twilight world is a thing of beauty. The risk of having a ‘dark’ world in your game is having people who don’t enjoy going there (the Dark world in Metroid Prime 2 Echoes springs to mind), but the hazy, bloom-filled twilight is something you look forward to seeing. There are some excellent special effects in here too. The water looks good enough to drink, while the subtle lighting when using the lantern really adds to the beauty of it all. The animation probably deserves the biggest praise of all though. The properly motion-captured cutscenes are the best ever in a Zelda game, but it’s also the little things that impress just as much. For example, when you’re the wolf, try slowly walking up a sharp slope and watch the back legs realistically speed up as he’s trying to get his footing.

The sound is more or less what you'd expect from any Zelda game. Nintendo has again chosen to go MIDI-based over an orchestrated soundtrack - a shame given the quality of the music on offer, but it’s by no means a game breaker. As always, the soundtrack consistently manages to fit the situation perfectly. Whether it’s the use of pounding drums in the deep caves of Death Mountain, or the bleating trumpets as you ride through Hyrule Field, nothing ever seems out of place. A good portion of the music is lifted from past games, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering how infectious those tunes were. On a side note, the Wii Remote’s built-in speaker adds a lot to the game, as every sword slash or shield block is echoed from your hands (with the help of Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound), immersing you into the combat.

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is a game we could praise all day if we so wished. We’re nearly at the end of the review, and there are still plenty of good things worth mentioning that we haven’t touched on yet. The general increase in difficulty is highly welcome, as is the ability to warp to a large variety of places on the Hyrule map. The side-quests are a joy to play, and the fishing especially is impressively deep this time around, with a giant lake to while the hours away in. And then there’s the sheer length of the game: around 60 hours to do everything. Veteran Zelda players should finish the quest around the 30 - 40 hour mark, though realistically you’re looking at a lot longer for newcomers. With its genuinely interesting story, superb control scheme and near-faultless game design, Twilight Princess is one of the best games ever made and is as essential as a game can possibly be. Is it the best Zelda ever? Maybe...

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