(PC REMASTER REVIEW)

Maybe it's because I've seen 15 years of youtube poops, but with the full context of not canon, terrible animation, terrible voice acting, terrible aesthetics overall, have it removed from the terrible Philips system, and have seen people ripping it apart since youtube's inception, but this wasn't that bad.

The game handholds you to a ludicrous degree, you're given the sword beam very early on, not to mention the game is an hour and a half long. So it's not even asking for a lot of your time.

Although trust me, I get why Nintendo would be horrified seeing this as Philips' version of Zelda, because there's no way you'd ever want this to be the direction your greatest series goes to. It's a cute aside.

(Zelda CD-i Remastered Review)

It's truly remarkable just how much you can improve an infamously-shitty game by giving it much-needed quality of life design improvements and overcoming the lousy CD-i hardware to fix the controls, collision detection, visuals, and performance to make for a game that's uh... still bad, but definitely playable and you can even appreciate some of the better parts of it like the music and the hand-drawn backgrounds, as well as the hilariously-dumb animated cutscenes.

Once again, not nearly as bad as I feel people say it is. I already got the gist of things out of the way when I reviewed its sister game, so I'll spare repeating myself here too much.

The core gameplay and structure is predictably the same as Faces of Evil, with the same controls and mostly the same items, all the control quirks are still present, yadda yadda. This game is a bit more streamlined, as I was able to do most of what the game wanted me to do without needing to really consult a guide whereas with faces evil I was nose deep in that gamefaqs page. The levels themselves are also a bit less solid this time around, with a lot of spots where using a rope to progress is unavoidable. There's also a bit more money grinding in this game, as the levels are designed in a way that requires using ruby-consuming items a lot to make it through. There's no snowball/fireball shenanigans this time around though! Instead theres a flute and a loaf of bread that I never had to use once in my entire run, so that's something.

I think both this game and faces of evil have their share of upsides and downsides from one another to the point where I'd say they are about equal in quality. I'm not really sure why they felt the need to split the game into two sister releases, but they sure did. Maybe they were going to have some sort of cross-compatibility between the two or something during development, idk. Someone has probably done the research to find the answer to that question. Regardless, I didn't find either of these titles to be a really bad time. Definitely rough around some edges, sure, but nowhere near "worst games of all time" level. Not even "worst zelda games" to me either, I'd gladly play more of this over something like the oracle games or phantom hourglass any day. Maybe these "bad games" are pretty cool after all.

This game is like a spiritual successor to Zelda 2 but they forgot to remove the shit game design.

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon is the infamous Zelda game from the infamous CD-I console, the gameplay follows the 2D side-scrolling format of Zelda 2 while separating each area with a map instead of a full "open world" like in Zelda 2.
This game overall wouldn't be that bad if the level design and controls weren't so poorly made, the controls are stiff and slow and each stage will fuck you up with its confusing layout and enemy placement. The only redeeming elements about this game would be its Zelda-like structure with a basic but effective fetch quest to get new items or upgrades and the art style.
The art style is a personal preference, some people may hate how grotesque it looks but I personally love this cartoonish look and charming little cutscenes, it really makes each character rememberable even though they only appear once each, and the soundtrack is just fine, nothing special but nothing bad either.

I wouldn't recommend the game at all but you can play it for the kek, nobody will stop you.

I played the remastered version by Dopply, which has better controls and an HD touch-up.

In Wand of Gamelon you play as Zelda, which is a really nice change of pace for the Zelda series. While she plays exactly the same as Link in Faces of Evil, I liked the thought of Zelda going on her own adventure.

This game was less grindy and less frustrating than FOE. No more grinding endlessly for snowballs or fireballs, and the enemy spawn was more fair, and not everything came at you all at once. Rupees were abundant in this one too and easier to get, especially in the main town where they're needed the most.

That being said, I think the overall level design in this could be better. In FOE, I kinda knew where to go and what NPCs needed items and never needed a guide. In this game, I needed a guide at many points as the game does not make it clear on exactly where you needed to go.

The level design and environments are as good as you expect. It's just as bad-looking as you think. It's hard to see what ground you can actually stand on.

The cutscenes are... well, we've all seen the memes. But I think knowing the memes behind the game and now seeing the context to them to what's happening in the story make for a better experience haha. The ending is the best part cause it literally makes no sense.

Overall, I enjoyed playing this game more than FOE cause it was a less frustrating experience.

This game rules. (I played the HD fan remastered version.)

The cutscenes are so ridiculous and fun, every time I ran into a new character I couldn't wait to see what stupid shit they would say. I loved exploring each new area, and the soundtrack has the best crunchy 90's feel to it. The combat leaves much to be desired, most bosses are taken out in like, a single hit with a specific item haha. But honestly I don't care about that, the experience is goofy enough to make up for the gameplay shortcomings. Just play it, you won't regret the 3 hours spent.

more inviting and less aggressive then faces of evil, which can feel slightly less satisfying to overcome, but i enjoy the world even more. theres a lush and natural quality to gamelon that nicely contrasts the harsh cliffs and towers of korodi. some rly rly choice color palates here, any stage that involves purple is a big favorite. the three main consumable items get a lot more use then faces of evil, which makes me wonder if this game got more time to cook and develop its mechanics compared to its sister. even zelda is a more immediately likable protagonist on the whole! i dont think its hugely better then faces of evil, but the slight differences are generally more to my tastes. cant imagine i wont have a great time with arzette, which im now locked into day one for!