Rating of
4.5/5
A Great HD Version Worth Revisiting
dbarry_22 - wrote on 01/24/17
Twilight Princess HD is a remaster of one of the best 3D Zelda games out there and this high definition version compares well with other great games on WiiU.
The original Twilight Princess came out at the end of the GameCube's lifespan and at the launch of the Wii (2006). It came highly anticipated since the previous Zelda was Wind Waker and had cel shaded graphics. While Wind Waker was great, everyone wanted a more realistic looking Zelda with updated graphics. Twilight Princess was it. While it was a little odd that they had Link turn into a wolf it ended up being a great game that refined the 3D game mechanics and flow that first started with Ocarina of Time.
For me it had been over a decade since playing the Wii version of the game and this HD version. For being a game that's over 10 years old and having practically no significant changes to the game play or story, this game hardly shows its age. Yes, it doesn't have voice over acting for the characters but other than that you wouldn't really know that this game is that old. Also, it was nice playing this game where Link had the sword in his left instead of his right which was in the Wii version.
Much like most of the previous Zelda games, Link must save Zelda and Hyrule in this adventure. The one major change in this game is that early on Link is turned into a wolf and experiences a dark world. In it he befriends a mysterious creature named Midna who joins him during his quest. This Twilight Realm has its own graphic flavor of sorts with black enemies are blocky black textures during morphing sequences. It's a nice style and change up from the normal Hyrule kingdom. At times later in the game you have to be reminded that you can in fact become the wolf to do certain tasks. This whole wolf form is a little unfortunate just because it's quite clear that most people, including me, want Link to be in human form as much of the game as possible and at times you have to be the wolf. This can make you feel a little limited at times. That's a minor problem though.
While the story starts a little too slow for my liking, eventually you get your sword, shield, and horse and find the first temple. Once you do, this game flows much better. Several classic items from previous games are here like the boomerang, bow and arrow, and bombs. There's also a few new items like the spinner that go along with puzzles and bosses of later dungeons. Just enough to keep things fresh.
With 9 dungeons to explore and the biggest world to explore to date this game did not disappoint. The HD graphics and 16x9 format helps bring this game to the current standards of the industry. Not once did I feel like the programmers screwed up on the HD in anyway. It worked well.
Some controls are a little hard. Controlling Epona the horse can be a pain at times, like turning her around or having a jousting match but you get used to it. At times you can fall off ledges a little too easily as Link or the wolf but you can work around that too. The clawshot works well, shooting arrows was done well, and the sword mechanics and attacks are about as good as you can ask for.
I truly feel this is the perfected version of the Ocarina of Time formula. Ocarina of Time is a classic and one of the best Zelda games but Twilight Princess refined all that. The graphics, sword fighting, the size of the world, this game does it all really well. The fact that this game was made in HD for the WiiU makes it that much better.
This game is worth playing if you've never experienced Twilight Princess before or revisiting it if you have.
4.5/5
PS - The Cave of Shadows (available through the wolf link amiibo) is basically a wolf version of the cave of ordeals. If you don't have an amiibo to access it don't worry too much, you're not missing much. You just won't be able to get all the stamps or the colossal wallet.