Wednesday, August 31, 2011

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS


After 4 years, I finally finished Twilight Princess. I bought the game when the Wii was released, and I was determined to make it the first Zelda I completed. I was wrong. The game was not interesting enough for me, and I abandoned it for a long time.

But I have this policy that every game I buy I finish, so after completing 2 Zeldas (those two released for the DS), I decided it was time. I had not played for 4 years, but my save game was still there. It took me 55 hours, I think it's the longest Zelda so far, and not exactly worth it. It's not a bad game, but it lacks something. I've checked with some Zelda hardcore fans and they can't define what the game it's missing. The most common accusation was 'it doesn't have charm'.

The game it's not cute, I guess that's what they mean. It's slightly dark and realistic (although graphically it's no more good than a PS2 game). However I didn't enjoy it mostly because of the Zelda gameplay itself, common to other games: The gameplay is too based on puzzles, and there is only one possible solution to any of them. Too many times it's not the most logical solution but one the designer thought it would be cool. I don't have the patience or the time to spend a whole afternoon figuring out what they had in mind when they created the dungeon, so I had to check internet walkthroughs VERY often. No, I don't find any joy in finding the solution by myself after 4 hours.

Aside from that, I think Zelda's design (and particularly Twilight Princess) is out of date. Supporting mechanics such as saving, health, interfaces, lack of achievements and multiplayer makes me think the series could really use a serious revamp in the following titles. I doubt they will, anyway, and it's a pity.

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