Hopelessly Distracted
I can’t even think about skin care today. My heart and soul have been stolen away…
Wow. That’s the best description I can give for Nintendo’s new game in the legendary Zelda series: Twilight Princess (TP). Over the past week this game has simply stolen away my life, and I frankly don’t miss it one bit. I’ve been a rather dedicated gaming junky since the NES days, but even with all the games I’ve played, I’m hard pressed to think of anything that surpasses Zelda’s latest outing.
TP is as close to a perfect sequel as there has ever been. The Zelda games have been straying from their classic formula recently, with games like Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask taking the series in some strange new directions. These diversions have been fun, but TP takes the series back to it’s roots, only bigger and better in every way. The world is utterly vast, and yet it feels like every inch is teeming with secrets to be found. Half the fun is just exploring the world. It’s easily one of the most interesting game environments I’ve ever experienced. The new dungeons and items add some welcome innovation to the formula (such as the unique snowpeak stage), but it never strays so far that it loses that classic Zelda feel. The difficulty has also thankfully been beefed up from Wind Waker.
With a game this epic (and long, at 50-70 hours), it would be nice to hear a full-orchestral soundtrack. Some of the items also feel underused (like the quickly-obsolete slingshot), but this game just brings so much to the table that its few nitpicks are hardly worth mentioning. There’s more content here than in a dozen other A-quality games. Simply put, Twilight Princess is the best Zelda game yet, and one of the greatest games ever made.
