The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess [GC]

When Link isn't riding Epona, transforming into wolves, speeding down streams or snowboarding on an ice shard 1080-style over a powdery peak, he's usually in a temple - there are almost 10 of them. Some of these dungeons will seem familiar to Ocarina of Time fans. You will travel to the obligatory lava-filled Goron Temple and you will see the Forest Temple, too. That being noted, these locations are completely changed from their predecessor's counterparts; they're packed with new and clever puzzles, infested with fresh enemies, and just as you will use recognizable items and weapons to traverse them, so will you gain access to brand new ones - a few of them exceptionally awesome. We don't want to go into too many details, of course, so let's just say that Link actually rides one of these new items.

The complaint could be made that Twilight Princess is too similar to Ocarina of Time because the basic play style is familiar and because some faces and places return. However, we think such criticisms are unfounded because they seem to suggest that Zelda's masterful control mechanics should be changed simply for the sake of being different. These criticisms also ignore everything about the game that is completely new - there's a lot of it. Consider the Twilight Realm, Link's new wolf mechanics, some of the incredible new weapons and items he amasses, and a few of the several original locations and temples, which are fascinating. The Temple of Time is hidden somewhere in this enormous new game, but so is a dungeon in the sky. This is definitely the Zelda universe and yet it is in many ways a compelling re-imagining of that universe.

The game will test you. When we first played it at length with a group of journalists, we saw a lot of game over screens. We bit the dust a couple times ourselves. Some of the environmental puzzles in the temples are brain teasers, to be sure, as evidenced by the fact that we still have bruises on our foreheads from banging them against a nearby wall. Even so, all said and done we found ourselves hoping for just a little more where challenge is concerned, particularly for boss battles. Although the design and size of these grotesque, awe-inspiring creatures are practically immeasurable, they can usually be bested without ever endangering Link's life force, which is unfortunate. To be fair, some enemies do inflict more damage on Link than others and it is harder to amass hearts than in previous games.

Twilight Princess happens to be a very pretty GCN effort. Although Nintendo's new console is roughly twice as powerful, the visual differences between the two versions of the game are minimal. While both incarnations support a progressive-scan mode, only the Wii build also features a 16:9 widescreen option. Meanwhile, some gamers have complained that the GCN title is riddled with more framerate slowdowns than the steady running Wii game, but we have not encountered these issues while playing.

The game world is vast and beautifully designed. Nintendo's artists have worked overtime to model the characters and locations that make up Hyrule and it shows. Link features more detail than ever before and many of the enemies that looked quasi-silly in previous Zelda titles are now genuinely spooky. Take, for instance, the Poes -- ghosts which now feature designs that resemble the grim reaper.

There are definitely visual standouts. The shimmering, realistic water in the game is gorgeous. The Twilight Realm's bloomy art style is equally impressive. And the particle and lighting effects that highlight everything from flowing lava to fights with enemies are second to none.

Then again, this is a GCN title and let's face it, the system is five years old. Some of the textures, particularly those skinning the admittedly immense Hyrule Field, are blurry and even ugly. Nintendo also has an unfortunate tendency to frame cinematics with blurry structures and other objects in the background, which detracts from the presentation. Beyond the low-resolution make-up of some characters and locations, though, we honestly don't have too many complaints, which is quite the feat given that we're self-proclaimed graphics junkies.

Nintendo missed a big opportunity where music is concerned, though. The developer consistently creates some of the most memorable and beloved musical compositions in the business and in no franchise are there more memorable and catchy songs than Zelda. Twilight Princess features these wonderful tracks, but the majority of them are MIDI-based and not orchestrated. The MIDI tunes are passable, but they lack the punch and crispness of their orchestrated counterparts. We honestly can't understand Nintendo's decision not to invest more time and resources into the music because Wii discs do not share the storage limitations of GCN ones.

Closing Comments
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is, in my opinion, the greatest Zelda game ever created and one of the best launch titles in the history of launch titles – second only, perhaps, to the at-the-time ground- breaking Super Mario 64. It is also one of the finest games I have ever played.

As someone who has played both the GameCube and Wii versions of Twilight Princess, I can confidently state that I prefer the latter for its handful of extras, including what I consider to be enhanced controls and an exclusive 16:9 widescreen mode. That being said, though, I can certainly understand why purists might want to stick with the more conventional controls of the GCN build and as far as a traditional setup goes, Twilight Princess is definitely as good as it gets.

While the game has just about everything going for it, including improved controls, a long and engrossing quest, brain-teasing dungeons and some beautiful graphics, it's not perfect. The difficulty has been upped over Wind Waker, but I wish it were harder still – the boss fights are oftentimes too easy, for example. Additionally, while the visuals are generally impressive, some textures remain blurry to the point they are noticeable. And finally, I still question why Nintendo refuses to add either voice work to the side characters (especially since Twilight Princess features such an improved storyline) or orchestrated music to the soundtrack.

Everything said and done, this is still a major achievement for Nintendo and it arrives as GameCube's swan song – an epic farewell to what has been a great console.

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