Twilight Princess. Yet another fantastic entry and another of my top 5 Zelda titles. Twilight Princess is the only Zelda game to date that has a Teen rating (For individuals of the European variety, it is rated PEGI 12 like most Zelda games were since the creation of the rating system) and it does use that rating well. It has the more realistic look and feel and somewhat dark tone that people have been wanting since the Space World 2000 trailer I mentioned in the Wind Waker review. The game is incredible. It looks great, although there were places where the bloom was blinding. It didn't happen too often and it could have just been my CRT acting weird, so it's not something I fault it for.
The swordplay is easily the best in the series (I cannot speak for the Wii version's motion controls as I have the GameCube version, hopefully they weren't rubbish). For starters, Link can swing the sword while moving. In other words, unlike the earlier games where using the sword while walking makes Link briefly stop moving to swing the sword, here he can just keep moving. It makes clearing grass without using the spin attack less tedious. The sword can be used on horseback, which added a new layer of depth when fighting in horseback. The hidden skills are cool and expands your capabilities as a fighter. As one of the many references or callbacks to the earlier Zelda titles, the Finishing Blow, Back Slice, and Helm Splitter hidden skills are parry abilities Link had in Wind Waker. A neat little feature is that if you sheathe the sword soon after defeating an enemy, Link will do a special animation. It's the same one that plays after defeating a boss.
The music is, how shall I put this, fucking phenomenal. The music of Twilight Princess is distinct in that it has a distinct motif that can be heard throughout the soundtrack. Regardless of how familiar you are with the individual songs, you'll KNOW when what you're listening to is from Twilight Princess. Aside from series staples like Zelda's Lullaby and the Hyrule Castle theme, there are references to songs from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask that you do not see return in later games. The howling stones play mostly songs that were played on the ocarina in the N64 games and the Serenade of Water plays when talking with the ghost of the Zora Queen. There are so many wondrous tracks in this one. The night theme of Hyrule Field is haunting yet beautiful and at the time of typing this review I am learning to play Midna's Lament.
So yeah. Top 5. I cannot recommend it enough. A must play.
The swordplay is easily the best in the series (I cannot speak for the Wii version's motion controls as I have the GameCube version, hopefully they weren't rubbish). For starters, Link can swing the sword while moving. In other words, unlike the earlier games where using the sword while walking makes Link briefly stop moving to swing the sword, here he can just keep moving. It makes clearing grass without using the spin attack less tedious. The sword can be used on horseback, which added a new layer of depth when fighting in horseback. The hidden skills are cool and expands your capabilities as a fighter. As one of the many references or callbacks to the earlier Zelda titles, the Finishing Blow, Back Slice, and Helm Splitter hidden skills are parry abilities Link had in Wind Waker. A neat little feature is that if you sheathe the sword soon after defeating an enemy, Link will do a special animation. It's the same one that plays after defeating a boss.
The music is, how shall I put this, fucking phenomenal. The music of Twilight Princess is distinct in that it has a distinct motif that can be heard throughout the soundtrack. Regardless of how familiar you are with the individual songs, you'll KNOW when what you're listening to is from Twilight Princess. Aside from series staples like Zelda's Lullaby and the Hyrule Castle theme, there are references to songs from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask that you do not see return in later games. The howling stones play mostly songs that were played on the ocarina in the N64 games and the Serenade of Water plays when talking with the ghost of the Zora Queen. There are so many wondrous tracks in this one. The night theme of Hyrule Field is haunting yet beautiful and at the time of typing this review I am learning to play Midna's Lament.
So yeah. Top 5. I cannot recommend it enough. A must play.