The Legend of Zelda Part 10

I replayed this game in preparation for writing this blog and I am happy to say that I am totally satisfied with its placement on this list.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006 Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Gamecube)

The first Zelda game on the Wii and in fact one of the first games for the Nintendo Wii, Twilight Princess received a tremendous amount of hype leading up to its release.  Zelda fans were nervous as hell about the new motion controls and how they would translate to a Zelda game.  There are in fact still people who have only played this game on the Gamecube because of their mistrust of the motion control system on the Wii.  Regardless of how you feel about the motion controls, no one can deny that this is one of the better games in the Zelda series.

Twilight Princess takes place in the land of Hyrule, setting for most of the Zelda games.  This particular incarnation of Hyrule is set after the events of the "Hero is victorious Child era" portion of the overall timeline (For a detailed timeline explanation go here).  As the story unfolds, Link is forced to leave his once peaceful hometown behind in order to help conquer the evil that is invading Hyrule and to learn all that he can about the realm known as the Twilight.  The Twilight is a parallel dimension of Hyrule inhabited by a race of people known as the Twili; descendants of those once banished from Hyrule for trying to conquer the sacred realm and steal the Triforce.  The Twilight Realm was originally created by the Golden Goddesses in order to contain those that had displeased them.

The dichotomy between the world of Light (Hyrule) and the Twilight Realm is the major focus of this game and is played out in several ways.  During one of the cutscenes of the game (if you had played previous games in the series you would know that this scene comes from after the events of Ocarina of Time) Ganondorf has been sentenced to death for his crimes against Hyrule and all of its people.  All six of the sages (Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit, and Light) had gathered to perform the execution and all was going well until they finally stuck the sword through Ganondorf (link to cutscene).  As Ganondorf hung dead from his chains, the Triforce of Power began to react, bringing Ganondorf back from the brink and allowing him to escape from his chains.  As soon as he breaks the chains he lunges at and kills the Sage of Water.  In an act of desperation, the remaining sages activated the Mirror of Twilight, one of the only bridges between the World of Light and the Twilight Realm, trapping Ganondorf in the Realm of Twilight.  Hoping that Ganondorf would never be released the sages scattered pieces of the Mirror throughout Hyrule, hoping no one would ever be able to free Ganondorf.  Unfortunately for the sages, they did not count on Ganondorf's cunning or manipulation skills.  As fate would have it, the Twilight Realm was going through a point of instability.  Who would ascend to the throne?  Would it be someone from the royal family or someone from the outside?
Enter Zant, a high ranking official in the Twilight court and someone convinced that he would be the one to ascend to the Twilight throne.  However, when the young Princess Midna is selected instead, he spiraled into a depression and rage; something that did not go unnoticed by Ganondorf (link to cutscene between Zant and Ganondorf).  Ganondorf offered Zant a very evil deal: he would allow Zant to ascend to the throne in the Twilight Realm if Zant would then use Ganondorf's powers to open the door to the World of Light and destroy Hyrule.  Zant was all to pleased to do this and using his new found power he turned all of the Twili into monsters, invaded the World of Light and cast shadows of actual Twilight onto Hyrule.  This is without a doubt one of the more complex story lines in any Zelda game.  Never before had there been minutes long cutscenes explaining events in the past and never before had Zelda fans had this much information to process just to understand the basics. I find this new method of storytelling very captivating, especially the way it plays out through the course of the game.  Every new area is arrived at naturally not just because it's another temple to beat with another item to acquire (at least it doesn't feel that way).  In some of the previous Zelda games I have discussed, I find the plot development within the actual gameplay to be somewhat lacking.

Link's role throughout the game becomes apparent the moment he steps outside his village.  He encounters King Bulblin (more on him later) and a Hyrule shrouded in Twilight.  As you progress through the game Link's main task is to dispel the large areas of Hyrule that Zant has shrouded in Twilight (these areas effectively become portions of the Twilight Realm until Link breaks Zant's magic).  Unfortunately for Link, Zant's magic effects all of those inside of the Twilight; even those who possess a piece of the Triforce.  As Link first enters the Twilight, he takes on the form of a Wolf and is captured by Zant's forces.

While in prison, Link meets his helper and friend throughout the game: Midna, Princess of the Twilight Realm (although Link doesn't actually find that out until later in the story).  Midna is one of the more interesting characters added to the Zelda universe in a long time.  Midna's dialogue and interactions with Link feel truly meaningful in this game.  The first time I played this game, I was amazed at how well I empathized with her character and her struggle against Zant.  With Midna's help, Link spends the game both saving Hyrule and the Twilight Realm (as a wolf when in the Twilight and as a human when in the light world).  All of the areas of the game revolve around this dynamic switching of forms, an often used device within the Zelda series.  Twilight Princess takes full advantage of this switching between human and wolf, eventually allowing the player to switch into either form as long as no other humans can see him doing it.  While I do understand Nintendo's reasoning for this, it can get a bit irritating in certain places when you want to switch into the wolf but you have to move around and find a spot to switch; It's a small gripe but it happens often enough that you start getting really irritated by it.  Thankfully though, this irritation is forgotten when you begin to take full advantage of the wolf form.  Unlike the normal weaponry and tools Link has in his arsenal, Wolf Link uses running speed, biting attacks, and leaping at enemies in order to take them down.  Wolf Link also has the ability to dig certain spots in the ground to find items and get inside houses, he has a special sense where he can follow scent trails and see hidden objects, and he can charge up energy and unleash it all by attacking and killing any enemies close enough to him.

Fighting with Wolf Link is just excellent, especially when you learn how to chain attacks together; it gets to the point where you rarely get hit.  One thing I don't like as much about moving around with Wolf Link is how they get him to move to higher up places.  When Wolf Link arrives at an area he can't normally traverse Midna will laugh and fly over to where Wolf Link is supposed to jump, an arrow will appear and by pushing A the player will jump to that ledge and any other subsequent ledges.  At times this system can look cool, but it makes for relatively boring gameplay.  There are never choices as to which way to go, you have to follow the pre planned linear path.  While I understand this choice must have been made during development to expand the range of the Wolf, I feel it was done in a lazy way.  There aren't ever any puzzles associated with this movement; a serious missed opportunity (link to video showing wolf gameplay).

Overall, the wolf gameplay is excellent.  There's nothing quite like running around in Wolf form ripping to shreds all that stand in your path (the fact that wolves are often associated with evil adds to the overall darkness of this game).  Human Link is no less capable, bringing an amazing array of items never before seen in the Zelda series: The Ball and Chain (literally just a giant metal ball on a chain, it breaks stuff and kills things in an awesome fashion), bombs that work underwater, the Clawshot (an item that eventually allows Link to reach higher places), The Dominion Rod (it allows you to control certain normally inanimate objects during the game), The Hawkeye (allows you to zoom in with the bow and aim more accurately), and the Spinner (allows you to ride on top of it, spin into enemies, and spin up certain grooved walls).  One example of excellent item utilization is in the Arbiter's Grounds with the Spinner.  Link has to ascend to the top of the tower, using the spinner to jump from wall to wall, dodging spike, enemies, and using planning to get the correct combination of bounces off of the correct surfaces.

The use of the Dominion Rod in the Temple of Time also has to be highlighted.  Link gets to control different sized statues to perform tasks for him such as destroying a heavy barrier or using the weight of those statues in puzzles.  There are many creative examples of item usage in this game and none of them feel hindered in any way by the motion controls.  In fact, the motion controls themselves have little to do with many of the tools in the game apart from aiming projectiles and swinging your sword.  One thing I must mention though is how underutilized I feel the tools are when you venture outside their respective temples.  Nintendo clearly spent a lot of time creating open world Hyrule for this game and yet somehow it feels pretty empty.  Every single temple in this game is enjoyable and the way they utilize their items is surprisingly though provoking.  The Lakebed Temple in particular has some very tough puzzles involving rotating stairs and raising and lowering of levels.  It makes for quite an enjoyable and at times mentally taxing experience, something many people say is often lacking in Zelda games.

In addition to fantastic temples and items, Twilight Princess has a deep connection to the lore of the Zelda universe with a particular focus on Ocarina of Time.  At several points throughout the game, Link is visited by the Ghost of one of the other Heroes.  Each time you see him, he teaches you a new sword technique and each of these techniques makes sword fighting in this game that much more enjoyable and combat that much more dynamic.  I love that a long dead Hero comes back to teach the new Hero some old tricks; quite a nice shout out to older Zelda fans and fans of the lore in general.  One of the other things I love in this game is just how much fun the boss fights and even the mini-boss fights are.  Each one feels theatrical, like it has something unique it wants to say about itself.  One in particular occurs when you are riding Epona on Hyrule field.  King Bublin and some of his cronies ambush you and you get to ride around on horseback shooting enemies with arrows and slashing the crap out of a guy riding a giant raging warthog.  There are actually three different fights with King Bulblin, all of them different and all of them enjoyable.  Another great boss fight takes place in the Arbiter's Grounds.  Link has to ride the spinner aiming for the bosses spine while simultaneously dodging zombies, ride up a large column while dodging moving spikes and leaping from the column to the wall while attempting to jump from the wall onto the boss.  This boss fight will undoubtedly take you several tries because as with many things in this game, they are not trying to spoon feed you a victory.  Timing is key in this battle with Stallord and I can pretty much guarantee you won't be able to beat him the first time (link to battle with Stallord).  I highly recommend you check out the video I linked if you have never seen it before.  The final boss fight with Ganondorf is quite an awesome way to end this games.

Ganondorf takes on several forms: He possesses Princess Zelda, becomes a giant beast pig, and faces Link in a sword duel; you really couldn't ask for much more in a Zelda final boss fight.  This game is worth it just to see the ending.

Before I finish this post I have to make special note of a few of the side activities and areas.  I think the design of Death Mountain and the Goron village is beautiful, I think the Star Tent is one of the best mini games in the history of the Zelda franchise (a timed game involving fast movement with the double claw shot, it's a ton of fun), I think the golden bug collecting is a lot of fun and a great way to motivate the player to earn money, I love the multiple kinds of fish there are to catch, I love how many heart pieces there are to catch and I especially love the Cave of Ordeals.  The Cave of Ordeals is a 50 level challenge area with each level getting more difficult than the one before it.  It is quite challenging to get to the bottom and you have to do it in one shot; a true challenge for any Zelda fan.

Twilight Princess is an excellent Zelda game.  Oddly, it tends to be one of the more controversial in the series.  Many people criticize it for being too much like Ocarina of Time, for departing too much from the series, or for having too complex of a story.  Regardless of how you feel about this game, no one can deny that Nintendo went for it with this title; a truly unique Zelda title.  It was trying something new, whether you bought into those ideas remains to be seen, but for me it will always be up there among the best in the series.

Thanks so much for reading! Sorry for the long hiatus; taking the LSAT sucks.  Cannot wait to get in to the Top 5!