The Video Game Critic

The best Zelda ever? Who knows. It is certainly a great game, very solid and inspired. A ton of work went into this baby, no doubt. I had fun with it, but like most Zelda games, I have a hard time going back to it after the first play through. The Forest (wind) dungeon, Goron Mines and Snowpeak Ruins are great dungeons, wait till you get to Snowpeak, Critic, they threw a changeup there.

The Goron Mines magnetic boots mechanic is kind of a preview of Mario Galaxy, except at a much slower pace. I love Mario more than Zelda, so that is my must have game.

I haven't gotten to play either version, but I'm torn on whether to pick up the GC version or wait til I buy a Wii and get that version.  So it'll be neat to see which one does better in the comparison!

Twilight Princess gave me the same feeling that Link to the Past and Ocarina gave me....just that magic touch that sometimes only Nintendo can provide. I'm incredibly grateful they didn't provide voices. Personally, I thought the game was a bit on the easy side but, aside from that, it really was a worthwhile wait. I look at the voice debate like this: Charlie Chaplin's best films were of the silent era, he made only one decent "talkie(his word for them)" and it was where he played a Hitler-esque dictator. Not everything needs to utilize the technology of the times to be fun, look at games like Luminines, Loco Roco, Geometry Wars, etc. They are great games that don't over-rely on technology.

Twilight Princess is, to me, on an extremely rarified list of games that completely and utterly blew me away. Nothing is ever perfect, but a game such as this is as close as you are going to get.

There are dozens of "goosebump" moments, bits that rise above the ordinary and give you that "chill" feeling that is hard to describe. It inspires crazy play sessions, especially when you get to the end. It is a finely crafted homage to all that Nintendo does well. It is, simply put, a skillful mastery of the video game artform.

Certainly, you are going to find skeptics that seem to dislike the game for some reason or another. Some of the reasons will be simple reasons of taste, others will be ridiculous bias, almost as if it makes them angry that quality family entertainment exists at all (Paul said it best when he stated that some people feel that a game can only be great if it is on the newest, most powerful platform available).

I greatly look forward to playing this game again. Truthfully, only Knights of the Old Republic can even touch a game like this. I loved Oblivion, but that is such a completely different experience that I'm not sure it's fair to compare the two. Zelda and Oblivion aspire to accomplish totally different things, and both execute them superbly.  

-Rob

www.rumblepak.net

You have to wait for the bobber thingie (sorry, not a fisherman myself) to float upright in the water. Once it does, wait for it to quickly sink into the water; that's a fish. Simply jerk upward with the wiimote and hold it up high to reel the fish in.

-Rob