Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a good game, and if you have a Wii or Gamecube and enjoy Zelda games I can only recommend its purchase. Please understand that this statement is true, no matter what I say from this point onwards.

#1. I hated playing Twilight Princess.

Twilight Princess was the first Legend of Zelda (LoZ) title that I have played for the purpose of "finding out what comes next." A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, these three titles I spent more time just dicking around and having fun than following the story. Heck, I never even got around to beating Wind Waker. I played these titles for fun, and that was it. I didn't give a second thought to the story.

Twilight Princess was the exact opposite. I would get frustrated and angry when solving a puzzle took too long. I blazed my way through Twilight Princess, there was no five minute breaks to go hop over that fence or half-day detours to see if I can jump from from the top of the fire temple and land at the entrance (something I have done more than once in Ocarina of Time). I entered a temple, and within two hours, finished it. I did not toy with bosses, because I thought they looked cool or they were fun to fight, I decimated them, because Link had to save the princess.

Twilight Princess takes the Zelda series into a whole new world. The characterization and story, while not top-tier, are amazing and unheard of in the series. Link has a life before you come in, Hyrule is a world that continues to live and breath after you leave. These are great things, but they did make me feel a bit like a visitor. I felt more like a wanderer who just happens to brush through town when things are a little hairy. I saved the day, and then I leave, and not one person knows my name.

Notice that I have been making a distinction between myself (the player) and Link. While Link is, as he always has been, silent, through his expressions he conveyed much more of a character in Twilight Princess than we've seen before; and through the interactions with his friends, I got to learn a bit about who he was. We both wanted to save Hyrule and Zelda, but he was going to stay and live in that world, while I would leave for another land. I have never felt this kind of separation in a Zelda game before. Not that I hated it, on the contrary it made the world a lot less lonely (unlike, say, Metroid Prime), but if I was already feeling this separation, then they may as well have given Link a voice. Of course, link wasn't the only one to help the world feel less lonely, Midna was there as well.

Midna was, a genius idea. Take Navi, make her useful, then make her sneaky and self-centered, and you've got a bit of what Midna is like. Midna is, by far, the most complex and fleshed-out character in Twilight Princess, and she's also the only one with you the entire time (almost). Midna has her own desires, her own goals, and, contrary to her role, she often makes Link figure things out for himself rather than just give him the answer. The result is a companion that you can really bond too, and perhaps the greatest achievement of Twilight Princess. Every game could gain by following her example.

Gameplay is standard Zelda fare, if you've played Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, then you've played Twilight Princess, except maybe a little more fun. Twilight Princess adds the ability to turn into a wolf for certain sections, and while this does help break up the monotony, the gameplay in the Zelda series is fun enough that it really wasn't necessary.

Honestly I hated the wolf thing, I didn't like the way it played, and I hated how all of the wolf sections were exactly the same (since the wolf never got any new skills, the puzzles for it never changed). The worst part about it was that you couldn't ride horseback when you were a wolf, and the horseback riding/fighting in Twilight Princess were, far and away, the funnest sections of the game. I can't say anything without having spoilers, but just know that all of the fights on horseback were amazing and that there should have been more of them.

All in all Twilight Princess is much like the time of day it focuses on, twilight. It's a liminal space, not quite day, not quite night, and Twilight Princess is a liminal game, not quite amazing, but not quite average. The story is a good step forward, Midna is a very good step forward, but the wolf sections are two steps backwards. I love what Twilight Princess means for the future of the series, but by itself it pales in comparison to its predecessors.

Also when the fuck are we going to learn what's up with Ganondorf, I mean the guy is essentially immortal (it's the same guy in every game, whereas Zelda and Link are "reincarnations"), yet all he wants to do is conquer Hyrule, he's got to have something more behind him than just that. I want to hear his story.

Edit: Shit! I forgot about the music! It was nice, standard fare, Midna's song was quite good (it's the song that plays after you beat a boss), but other than that they only time I noticed the music was when it was playing remixes of Ocarina of Time songs (which isn't a good sign). Also the wolf howling sections can bite my ass. Seriously, whoever thought those up must have been deaf, because changing the pitches of wolf howls does not equal an actual instrument. My ears bled from those sections.