In which I give my thoughts about a video game. · 9:03am Jan 11th, 2014
Because why not?
I have just finished the latest title in the Legend of Zelda series, A Link Between Worlds. The game is a sequel, of sorts, to the SNES classic A Link to the Past, (ALttP) which it should be noted is, in my opinion, the finest made Zelda game in the series, just ahead of Ocarina of Time. (OoT)[1] So, how does the game stack up? Pretty good for the most part. Let's take a looksie.
First off, lets look at gameplay. The game is the first classic style top down Zelda game since, I believe, The Minish Cap, with more recent 2D games like Spirit Tracks being more experimental than classic 2D Zelda games.[2] To anyone familiar with the old school titles, you will probably find it fits like an old glove. If you haven't played old school Zelda before, this game provides an excellent look at the mechanics of the older titles, though the influence of newer games is felt throughout. At the start of things, for instance, item usage is mapped to a single button, Y, while the sword is mapped to B, more or less like the old titles, but as the game progresses, it adds a slot for X as well, and the shield is an active defense for the whole game instead of passive, like everything from ALttP and back. The pegasus boots return, allowing you to dash about and crash into things, and you can forget jumping over gaps. And Link actually gets magical attacks again. In fact, my biggest gripe with the more recent mainline Zelda titles, is that they have made Link into a purely martial fighter. While that hasn't been implemented poorly by any means, and is usually made up for in other ways, such as giving him a selection of sword techniques in Twilight Princess, or allowing him to upgrade his equipment in Skyward Sword, I always end up missing being able to set my enemies on fire. At least OoT, MM (Majora's Mask) and WW (Wind Waker) gave you fire and ice arrows. Another throwback is sword and armour upgrades, armour in particular. Actually, most modern games generally have at least one upgrade to your damage dealing ability after the master sword, usually via unlocking the Master Sword's full power. This game however upgrades it twice, just like ALttP. You hit like a ruddy truck once you get the final level. Perhaps more relevantly is that the game sees the triumphant return of sword beams. Yes, Skyward Sword had a variant of them, but like a lot in this game, these are the old school sword beams, that fire at full health. The armour though, that hasn't been seen for some time. The red and blue tunics both halve damage taken, and are cumulative with each other. Considering how hard some late game enemies hit, that's a real blessing. Speaking of enemies, we see some old faces returning here. Especially the Lynels, which are every bit the bastards they have always been. 4 hearts per hit. FOUR. And a fire attack that extends about half the screen. And you can run into them by the second dungeon. You will fear them.
The game has two gimmicks, one which was well advertised, the other is a bit of a surprise. The main gimmick is being able to merge with walls as a 2D image, and move about. This ended up being implemented very well, and is used throughout the game to solve various puzzles. As Zelda gimmicks go, I think this is one of the better ones, and I had a fair amount of fun fiddling with it. Mostly it was just well realized, and allowed for some challenging puzzles. The other gimmick however.... The second thing in the game, that really sets it apart, is the way you acquire your various tools. Not one of them comes from a dungeon. Not one. While dungeons do have treasure in them, they are all things that go in the gear slots, like the upgraded power glove, or the tunics. None of them are the usable weapon/items. Instead, you acquire the majority of your inventory from an NPC named Ravio, who rents the items to you for a small fee, and will take them back if you fall in battle, necessitating going back and renting them again. The exceptions are minor items like bottles and the lantern. Eventually you will be allowed to actually buy the items in question, for a significant increase in price, though that is not strictly necessary to beat the game. It is however necessary to get them upgraded. The downside to this is fairly obvious, and it is a major downpoint for the game for me, especially early on. However, it does have an interesting effect on gameplay, and that is that, since the items are not acquired in the dungeons, the game doesn't actually have any means of locking you into a particular sequence. There are only a handful of points where the game railroads you, other than those spots, you an do the dungeons in whatever order you damn well please. This places a greater emphasis on exploration, as well as changing dungeon design to reflect to fact you have the dungeon's needed item from the get-go. All told, I don't really care for the renting items, but the non-linearity of the game made for an interesting play nonetheless. Speaking of item upgrades, the games little search quest is directly related to that, and upgraded items tend to have a rather spectacular boost to their effect. Such as the bow and arrow firing three shots at once. And if you complete the search quest...mwahahahaha....
Speaking of exploring, this game's version of Hyrule is unique in a way. Specifically, in that is not actually unique at all. It is almost exactly like the Hyrule of ALttP. Older players will find pretty much everything in Hyrule is right where they left it, despite the game taking place a few generations after the game. Thus being the first Zelda sequel where Hyrule did not experience a massive geological shift between adventures. Even the dark world looks mostly the same. In addtion, the games soundtrack has a lot of remastered tracks from ALttP as well. Nostalgia for your ears. 
So, that's gameplay, what about story. Well, that's were things get a bit...weird. The story, all told, is fine on it's own. Even has a rather delightful twist on the Hijacked by Ganon trope the series loves so much. (Shh, it's a secret to everybody.) As you can surmise from the title, it involves more than just Hyrule, and the problems the other world is having is fairly important to the overall plot. This is also one of the few Zelda games were the Triforce is explicitly shown to be used after you acquire it, which is always nice. However, as a sequel, the story is one big continuity snarl. A good chunk of it's backstory does not jive well at ALL with what we know of the timeline, and ALttP itself. In some ways, it seems more like it's between OoT and ALttP. Honestly, I think the developers are just trolling our need for the series to have a coherent timeline.
And then the three goddesses said, "Art thou mad?"
So, final thoughts, as this is now running a bit long. On the whole the game was a lot of fun. Moreso, I suspect, as I am an aficionado of the older titles, but the game has plenty of charm and fun even if you never played a game before the 64 era. The game is fairly easy as Zelda titles go, being more based on puzzle solving than monster bashing, though if you go in expecting a cake-walk, you are in for a rude awakening. It's also short, as Zelda games go.
It's biggest draws, outside of nostalgia, is it's non-linearity and the wall gimmick, which I wish to restate was implemented pretty well. The extraordinary freedom the game gives you makes for a great deal of fun while playing, and is probably the biggest point in the game's favor. However, the price of that freedom is item renting, which is a mixed bag. Having access to over half your inventory so early is jarring, but makes for an interesting play experience, however, the fact that you lose the items upon dying pushes it towards the scrappy mechanic territory. Still, it could have been worse, and the rentals are not especially expensive. And of course, like any Zelda, money is literally all over the place, and is easy to acquire. In the end, while the renting mechanic rubbed me the wrong way, it wasn't so bad as to ruin the game for me, and the benefits ultimately outweigh problems. In the end, the game was a lot of fun, and I rather recommend it for anyone with a 3DS.
One last pic for the road.
[1] Though my personal favorite title is Link's Awakening for the gameboy. 
[2] Allegedly anyway. I have not played Spirit Tracks or Phantom Hourglass myself. 
I want to comment on this, but I'm kind of dazed, still. Lost between first and second sleep.
A Link to the Past was also my favorite Zelda game, though I got out of Nintendo around when Square did, so I haven't played Ocarina of Time or many of the other, later games. I thought this sounded really fun when it was announced, and I'd really love to play it. It's cool to have a review here. Unfortunately, I only have a first-generation DS right now, so I think I'm out of luck until I choose to upgrade. And if I head off to Bronycon or whatnot, my budget'll probably be pinched this year.
1705590
Ouch. I know dat feel. Shame about newer Zelda games, I have yet to play a Zelda I have not liked. Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword in particular where extremely enjoyable for me, with Wind Waker probably being my favorite 3D Zelda. Curious though, why did you drop out of Nintendo when you did. The 64 had it's share of problems, but it also had a lot of classic games on it, not just Ocarina.
Also, if you do ever get a 3DS, or maybe the 2DS, which I think might be cheaper, Go ahead and get the Ocarina of Time remake for it. It's the same game with somewhat cleaned up graphics. Maybe the StarFox 64 3DS remake too.
1705597
I've never owned a video game system that didn't have Final Fantasy games released for it.
Ever.
1705607
Well, then at least the gameboys are still fair game. Though There were a few FF spinoff titles for the gamecube as well.
Just finished this 30 minutes after you posted this, great game!
1705671
Hey, Blue, you really have a knack for the review. You should do this sort of thing more.
Also, I just noted you use the 'armour' spelling. Huh. Not only did I once, in times long past, foul up your gender, it appears I have also misapprehended your nationality, too.
1705732
Actually, you probably haven't. I just prefer that spelling to armor. It just looks weird to me that way.
Just to clear up any potential confusion however, I was born and raised in the American heartland, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Or, to put it another way, one of the most boring regions in the states, after Montana and possibly Kansas.
I have, on occasion, considered review fics, but it would have to be one I either really liked, or really hated. Wasn't really sure if anyone would care either.
Didn't really think this was that good, but...
Do you really think it's good?
1705742
The review? Sure it was good.
And as for Indianapolis, hey, at least you get to share a city with John Green. That's something.
1705742 What stands out, as reviews go, is the thouroughness of both the provided information, and the reasoning behind your opinons. The opinions are clear, but even as I somewhat disagreed with bits of them, it was easy to tell the difference between the opinons and the actual review.
Again, the level of detail and clear line of thought made it quite informative. It reads like an honest to goodness review rather than a blob of biased ranting that most game reviews devolve into. I must second Ghost in saying that you ought to do this sort of thing more often.
As for my disagreements, it's one point in particular; the non-linearity. The lack of forced dungeon order harkens back to the original NES game. The series has been stuck in the bindings of dungeon order railroading for many, many years, so, flawed though the renting may be, the idea of player choice in tackling the content in what ever order they choose felt like a breath of fresh air to a very formulaic series that truly needs a bit of spice these days. I do agree that the renting itself was clumsy for the goal it aimed for. I'd really like to see the next Zelda game try this non-linearity thing again, but by having the tools as things to be found by exploring the overworld. If they could keep the same style of multiple methods/items for solving dungeon puzzles, while having the actual tool items available outside of dungeons as rewards for exploration and beating challenges, while mixing tool restricted secrets into both dungeons and the overworld, I think it would go a long way to shaking up the series's rigid formula.
And of course, they better keep the dang magic around next time. That's another very neglected series element that just felt amazing to see return.
1707183
It would not be unfair to say that one of the reasons I like Wind Waker so much is its soundtrack.
The music has always been on of the series biggest strong points, pretty much from day one.
And I start to think, the experiment in non-linearity here might have actually been served better had it been a longer, or at least larger, game. I recall in the original ALttP, about half your usable inventory is found in caves on the overworld. Maybe do that again.