The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

GameCube, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006) game

By my count I make this the eleventh entry in the series after two NES games, a SNES version, three Game Boy entries, two on N64 and two previous on GameCube, not counting the 'unofficial' Philips CDi contributions, of course. It's a fine line to walk between continuing a long-running series by giving the players what they want and expect, and at the same time innovating. By this stage of proceedings they were pretty much going to be hamstrung unless they could have come up with something so vast, so involving, and so tied in to the series' history, that it could blow the green tights off even the most jaded would-be elf boy adventurer. The Wii was not built to do that, it was designed as an antidote to the growing problem of blooming game budgets, lengthy development periods and inaccessibility to the non-gamer. So in one sense it's rather strange that this should have been hurriedly converted from a 'Cube game to an early Wii title. In another sense it's not strange at all as Nintendo must have realised that, 1) they needed a big game to get the Wii selling in the absence of Mario, and 2) their long-developed opus might well be trampled underfoot in the rush for next generation machines if they only released it on 'Cube. But I'm not here to talk about the Wii version, I'm here to express gratitude for Nintendo's wise choice not to abandon the original 'Cube release or I may not have played it at all, and certainly not until the last couple of years when I got my Wii!

The issue of staleness still stands, however, even with the GameCube game. I applaud Nintendo managing to get two titles in the series out in a single console generation because 'Zelda' has always demanded a long development process thanks to it generally being the biggest and most carefully considered series on whichever console it graces. In many ways, 'Twilight Princess' was a reaction to criticisms levelled at previous instalment, 'The Wind Waker,' known for being the shortest and most cartoonish example in the series to that point, and not pleasing those who'd been geared up for a 'photorealistic' sprawling update to the 'Ocarina of Time' style with the latest graphics and gameplay, based on the demo that had been shown when presenting the 'Cube as the Next Exciting Console. In my eyes the 'Cube never lived up to the promise laid down by the N64 era (still my favourite console of all time), which was a truly revolutionary time with the move into three dimensions, the greater engagement of story and action, and the sweeping grandeur of it all. As fun as 'Wind Waker' was, sailing across barren oceans was never going to be an improvement on riding your horse (which in 'Twilight' you could even name, thus giving you an instant bond), so that was the first change. And while the visuals weren't going to be genuinely photorealistic, they did choose to make them realistic rather than the expressive cartoon cel-shading that had been so divisive.

With 'Twilight' they made sure to design a long experience with a large over-world and plenty to do. And yet… even with all these improvements… and even at the time it came out, Christmas 2006, there was some kind of nagging concern that all was not quite as it should have been. We come back to that tightrope walk again, and they weren't really able to make 'Twilight' different enough. They didn't even try to connect it to previous mythology (something the series has often seemed comfortable avoiding in favour of the gameplay experience, rather than conforming the game to fit the history), which isn't really a problem, but for someone like me who grew up with the 'Star Trek' universe and all its interconnectedness and beautifully constructed chronology (despite being produced by myriad creatives across various decades), I admire a well put together mythic history. Nowadays of course, Trek has seen fit to follow the 'Zelda' template rather than the other way around, caring less about continuity and more about whatever the latest big story is and so losing its uniqueness and becoming like any other comic book pulp sci-fi. And perhaps the same could be said for 'Zelda' (at least at that time, I can't comment on the series after 'Twilight' as I have yet to play any), that it had become like A.N.Other adventure game, for all its polish and the great minds of Nintendo behind it.

The trouble with the N64 period was that it was a time of great revelation and revolution in gaming - the shackles were off and they were only bound by the limitations of the machine rather than their imaginations. Almost anything could be done at that time, but since then things had tended toward repetition of this admittedly great formula, and 'Zelda' was no exception. That's why there are so few games I would count as truly great on the 'Cube - there were undoubtedly many good games, and also some new forms of gaming such as that seen with 'Super Monkey Ball,' 'Conflict: Desert Storm' or 'Hitman.' New experiences, if sometimes flawed. With 'Zelda' the world was expecting big things - forget the world, I was expecting big things and I was never fully satisfied on the system, which, crossed with my disinterest in gimmick-focused gameplay such as the Wii seemed to be promising, led me to abandon contemporary gaming in favour of returning to the past in which I continue to revel to this day, though I'm a little more open to modern games than I was then. All this to say that I liked 'Twilight,' but didn't love it, and subsequently never replayed it, watched anyone else play it, or had any further use for it, unlike 'Ocarina,' for example, or 'Link's Awakening,' two games that were seminal experiences for me and that I played or shared various times.

In keeping with my wish for continuity I'd been playing various games in the series over each Christmas, one year at a time ('Majora's Mask,' 'Wind Waker,' 'Four Swords'), and this last Christmas was finally the time to crack open 'Twilight' and if not reevaluate it, at least re-complete it! I can't say it was a better experience this time, but I can say I enjoyed it just as much, perhaps slightly more, I don't know, but the fact I remembered so little of it meant that it was at least a fresh experience and one that I found pretty engaging. I went into it with slightly negative preconceptions, but after all it is a 'Zelda' game, and that means quality, even if not to the level of the best in the series. Perhaps I was also already in the mode of thought for it having played 'Metroid Prime 3' just before it, although at the same time that game made me realise it was a streamlined version of the 'Zelda' experience, with less of the tracking about aimlessly or going back and forth. In 'Twilight's defence it was much more helpful in that regard, you always had a hint waiting if you were stuck, thanks to Midna, your Navi-like assistant, maps were clearly marked, and while the game was big you never felt out of your depth or presented with too many options or things to keep track of. Maybe there was too little, I don't know.

On the other gauntlet there was far too much busywork seemingly designed to extend game length rather than being a fun or satisfying task in itself - a case in point would be collecting the 'tears' before you can get into each of the first three dungeons, that really did appear to be nothing more than an extension of tasks to stave off the anticipated entry into the next dungeon. It took me eighty-eight hours to complete originally so I was focused on beating that time, which I thought should be pretty easy since I hadn't been playing to get through quickly before, and I smashed it, coming in about sixty-four hours, though I spent another ten hours searching for the last few Poes, which was ultimately a bit of a waste of time. But the game did what I wanted of it, provided something to absorb me for days on end, and if some tasks were unnecessarily chore-like, the game was rarely dull. Perhaps the size and scope of the dungeons wasn't as impressive as the over-world might have suggested, but even that isn't quite the vast landscape it seems, chopped up into manageable chunks, presumably so the 'Cube didn't blow up with all the demands on its processor. Also, I came to know every patch of ground intimately from my self-imposed quest to track down every last Poe, so that colours the overall impression of size, too.

It must be a real nightmare trying to come up with a new theme for a dungeon in this series because so many have been done. Typically they tend to stick to the forest, fire and water themes for most, but they did try some different ideas, such as one that takes place in the actual Temple of Time, one within a ruined castle in the snow, and one up in the clouds. This last, Sky City of the Oocca, was one of my least favourite as I never like falls into nothingness, I prefer contained environments. It does have me concerned that the next game in the series, 'Skyward Sword' (the first Wii exclusive entry), will take place in this kind of world, especially as I've been given a negative impression of it, but that's to discover this Christmas when I tackle it! The environments were generally the usual tropes of the series: desert (though no Gerudo, surprisingly), snow, Goron's mountain, Zora's watery domain, the forest land in which you begin, not to mention Castle Town and the surrounding fields of Hyrule. It's not that the world's badly designed, it's just that it's not going to have the same impact these places did when I first encountered them in 'Ocarina,' as when the world was new. How can you give players something new and unique, while still paying tribute to, and being part of, such a legacy? I don't have the answer, and I suppose to some extent there is the gift of nostalgia in that they reuse some of the familiar music, such as that for the Gorons, Zoras, or Lost Woods.

At the same time, while it does hold a special place, it's just reiterating that this game isn't the one you played and loved all those years before. On this play I didn't mind so much because I came in with relatively low expectations, remembering I hadn't enjoyed this one as much, but also because I'm less familiar with this particular game. I came without the hype of the time which made me think it was going to be an amazing game, coming so late in the 'Cube's lifespan, with so much preparation, and with so many lessons learned from 'Wind Waker.' I did still find it a little hard to get into, just as I probably experienced before - you're not Link, or connected to him, there isn't a sense of when this fits in the timeline, or that it necessarily is even in the same 'universe,' just a new game using the same styles, types of character, etc. Sure, there are little references here or there that are pleasing (such as Malo and Talo, which comes from Malon and Talon in 'Ocarina,' which comes from Marin and Tarin in 'Link's Awakening'), but I would have preferred some deep connectivity. Not that it would have improved the gameplay, which is fine, but might have made me more excited about being in that world.

I have to say that sometimes it was simply pleasant to be in the world - I stayed up into the night on occasion, and there's nothing like swimming around in the dark depths of Lake Hylia, for example, for that special solitary feeling late at night. And solving the puzzles was as much satisfaction as you'd hope it would be. A criticism could be levelled that this is the easiest 'Zelda' so far, but part of that is that it remains true to its origins and so the puzzles don't tend to vary too much from previous iterations, and if you've played as many games in the series as I have, then of course it seems easier. At the same time I still think it genuinely is easier, the bosses didn't take too much thought or skill to defeat, and even the end wasn't that challenging, but then that was a trend towards accessibility that I believe has continued the more games companies realised that giving the general customer what they want nets them more money than catering to those who are experienced. In some cases this was appreciated, such as the addition of Oocco, whom allows you to exit a dungeon and warp back to that exact spot to avoid pointless travel, and once you can transform into a wolf you can warp to various places in the over-world, which also saves time and you're never really at a loss for how to proceed. Even so, I did get stuck briefly a couple of times, such as missing a simple switch in the water dungeon, or not being able to work out how to pull the switch in the fan room of Sky City, but I got there in the end!

I spent plenty of time on the side quests, such as the Cave of Ordeals where you have to fight increasingly tough enemies as you descend further and further (another idea recycled from 'Zeldas' past), racing the yeti man on a snowboard icicle, playing such skill games as rollerball (manoeuvring a metal ball round a wooden maze without falling off, much like 'Monkey Ball'), the hookshot game, shooting jars downriver, or flying into giant pieces of fruit upriver (!), all of which were enjoyable diversions from the main story and were certainly a challenge. And of course, searching out all the glowing bugs, the heart pieces (inflation means you now need five parts rather than the traditional four, but you have the advantage of a 'fortune teller' to hint where they may be, if needed), and the Poes. As I said, that last one took me well beyond finishing the game, and I was still thwarted. I was pleased to beat my previous record of fifty-two, but the reason I carried on with the search for so long, to the point I was getting bored, was because I'd got down to the last three or four and then I found the others in quick succession which gave me hope I could track down that elusive final one for full completion. But alas, I searched and searched to no avail until I finally decided I wasn't going to find it so I checked a guide (only because I'd officially finished playing), and discovered it was in a place I'd already searched, but hadn't found because I didn't do a specific thing at night, so I was relieved in a way because I knew I'd never have found it. Maybe if I play it again in another fifteen years…

I often find it a struggle to get into a new game, especially narrative-driven ones, because it seems to take ages before you're actually doing anything worthwhile or getting that desired sense of achievement, and I didn't feel this game had the most auspicious start. For example, after I'd been taught to herd goats you then need to find a cat and get it to go home, but unlike other animals in the game (like cuccos), you can't simply pick it up, and if you try to herd it back home it won't go over the bridge. All games have these counterintuitive parts to fit the story or the game world, such as being able to do incredible things, yet you can't jump up and grab a ledge that's much higher than you are! But that's part of gaming convention, it's just that things like that being ironed out or presented better might have shown this to be a game that was developing the genre, not simply continuing it. While on the subject of things that irritated, I have to mention Midna, whose constant yells and chatter of chirpy noises weren't exactly music to the ear. The little clink of the chain on your wolf form's foreleg, as unobtrusive as it was, got under my skin so that I really wished, with all the magic and abilities shown by both you and Midna, such a thing could be taken off! Especially annoying when searching for bugs since they would make a similar bell-like sound, one of those little aggravations which put me off.

I also have to say I don't like the direction the series has been going in with regard to more emphasis on gods and goddesses, demons and magic. Granted, these things have always been there to some extent, but they used to be skirted and a lot less evident since Nintendo is primarily a family focused company, but this was the most egregious in its use of suspect supernatural content, making such things appeal to the young and encouraging the idea that they're acceptable and normal in entertainment, rather than to be avoided as leading to harmful interests. Another minor quibble would be that there's no ability to 'scan' things as there were in past games so you learn the names of the monsters or things you encounter. I really missed Navi in that regard, and Midna, with her arrogant mien and mocking attitude, under the category of 'playful,' just irritated, no matter how much pity you have for her. And maybe this was misremembering, but it seemed the camera controls weren't inverted on the horizontal, so didn't feel as intuitive, turning the camera left if you flick the C-stick left, for example. And I didn't feel there was as much of a bond with your horse as there was before, despite the fact you name it yourself. It's because once you're a wolf you don't really need it, and unlike the other animals you can't talk to it - now that could have been interesting… It is fascinating to see elements developing towards where the series would go in future, such as greater rapport with animals, or sky-based lands.

Lessened expectations do make it a better experience, it's certainly technically tidy, the graphics are sometimes beautiful with an excellent draw distance and no fogging meaning you can see for miles, one example of its place in the advance of technology, as you'd expect from Nintendo, the character models nicely weighty and detailed. And there is plenty to divert attention as you travel around: what could be in that cave, or down that hole, inaccessible areas to tantalise, the usual 'Zelda' formula. It's strange not having a musical instrument, so, erm… instrumental to previous games, but one example where they tried to be different instead of following all the old ways: wolf howling could have been something that was developed a little more as a toy to play with, such as climbing to the top of a mountain and letting rip a mournful song as the sun sets, but there you're a little curbed by only being able to do it at certain spots in the same way as, at first, you can only call your horse (Sandworm, I named it this time!), to you where there's a specific plant. Limitations placed on the player are often necessary, but can also seem unfair or arbitrary and that tightrope also extends to freedom and parcelling out rewards or progress. Largely the game has a good balance, even if it takes much from its own past innovation, such as the shadow world which dates back to 'A Link To The Past,' or changing into other creatures, a key part of 'Majora.'

The biggest change, other than wolf transformation, is relatively minor, and comes from its Wii intentions: the item select wheel, much like the weapons wheel of 'Turok.' It does take some getting used to, the number of times I pressed start and found myself in the option screen where you can see your tally of bugs, poes, heart pieces and other things, instead of going to the wheel when I wanted to select a different item of weapon, often in the heat of battle… It's also easy to see how some of the tasks are geared more towards Wii play, the fishing game especially which isn't something I did much of as all there was to it on 'Cube was waiting until the right time to press a button. Maybe that's all that was involved before, I can't remember, but it seemed more engaging in the past, even though this time you're encouraged to take up the sport even more. The Wii interference doesn't really make a lot of difference, but it is a sign that this wasn't completely and wholly dedicated to the console it was originally designed for. When all things are considered it remains a good game, one that wasn't anywhere near the jump seen on the N64, but slightly better as a gaming experience than 'Wind Waker.' It works as a tribute to the first and greatest game of this style in the series, 'Ocarina,' but this serves as both a gift when it had so much to pull from, and a curse for the unfavourable comparisons that ensue, as it isn't at the same level of innovation of its worthy predecessor, meaning it remains fun, but a footnote, a spinoff, and I know which game I'd prefer to play again.

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