The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) (Gamespy)
- Gamespy -
| Spiffy | Iffy |
| Everything appears to be on track for a classic Zelda experience; Wii controls are good! | This is going to be one of the longest Zelda games ever, but will it be too long for some gamers? |
Wiping the sweat from my brow after the escapades of the Forest Temple, I was now on a mission to meet up with the second Spirit of Light. A new pathway had opened up before me, leading to the vast plains of Hyrule Field. Still in wolf form, and with the enigmatic Midna riding on my back, I ran off at full tilt towards the west of the area, as I'd been instructed to do. I always favor traveling as the wolf and using my sense mode, as there's tons of hidden stuff to dig up and find, but after only a few paces and a few monster encounters, I noticed an item in the distance that was emitting a scent.
I found a backpack on the ground, and sniffing it enabled wolf-Link to gain the scent of the missing kids from Ordon Village. A long, colorful, trippy trail of scent wafted out in front of my nose, and so I started to run. Things came to a grinding halt when Link and Midna arrived at a bridge that was missing its mid-section. What to do? Midna suggested that we could warp around the lands looking for a suitable replacement, and after a couple of tries, I located an object that looked suspiciously like the missing piece of masonry. Midna snapped her magical fingers, and we were now staring at a complete and functional bridge. Eventually, and after much ground coverage, I arrived at my new destination -- Kakariko Village.
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A much larger settlement than Ordon Village, Kakariko Village was still consumed by the twilight, so the first order of the day was to speak to the Spirit of Light in order to fill my second Vessel of Tears. One quick chat later, I was once again hunting down the bugs to slay them and gather the tears. This process was much trickier the second time around, as the bugs were hidden more cunningly. Needless to say, this process took me a little longer than I'd hoped, but soon enough, I'd unlocked another portal point, explored most of Kakariko Village and even ventured to the top of the nearby Death Mountain -- the home of the Goron race.
With the Twilight banished from the area and the Spirit of Light restored, I was able to explore the village as human Link. There are many cool NPCs to interact with here. This is where the bomb shop resides, as well as a general store -- both of which are still deserted at this point in the game. A shaman resides in Kakariko Village who has been taking care of the missing kids -- it was a relief to see these guys again after all the trouble they'd caused! The shaman told me a story of how the Gorons were not their usual selves and had holed themselves away from society at the top of Death Mountain.
It was up to me to investigate what was wrong with the Gorons, but the first issue I had to take care of was the fact that I couldn't physically get past the first Goron guard at the bottom of the mountain trail. After a few failed attempts, I talked with the shaman once more, and learned that the mayor of Ordon Village could help me out here. Off I sped on Epona, all the way across Hyrule Field back to the starting point of the game. Indeed, the mayor helped me out. Turns out that he's a closet sumo wrestling champion, so after facing off in a couple of bouts, I earned my stripes and learned a few handy techniques. The best part was that after the match was over, the mayor rewarded me with a sturdy set of iron boots -- these bad boys meant I wasn't going to get bowled over by the stronger and burly Gorons anymore.
Spin on a few minutes, and I was back at Kakariko Village. I was just in time to watch a cutscene that depicted a gang of evil boar-riders storming through the center of town. Playing in a dramatic slow-motion manner, I watched helplessly as the children I'd tried so hard to save came under brutal fire. The upshot was that Colin -- one of the kids -- was snatched up and kidnapped. Not willing to sit there and let this happen, I took Link and Epona for their first horseback battle scene out on the plains of Hyrule. Fighting from the back of Epona is pretty intuitive. Z-targeting is the key to success once more, and it really didn't take very long for me to catch up with the leader of the gang and deal some sword blows to his mount. After a few well-placed hits, he faltered.
His boar limped off towards a huge stone bridge spanning a massive chasm, and I followed. He began a head-to-head, horseback-based duel. Charging at the oncoming boar-rider, I had to deftly move to the side at the last minute and deal a few sword blows at the same time. It was pretty tough, and it took me around five or six attempts before I managed to fell the ugly SOB. After he beefed it over the side of the bridge, Link quickly grabbed the not-too-hot-looking child, and returned to Kakariko. The shaman and the rest of the kids urged me to get up to Death Mountain and figure out what was going on, so leaving Colin in their care, it was time to face off against dungeon number two.
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As noted before, the Gorons were not too happy with my presence. It takes some aggressive but non-lethal tactics to scale to the top of the mountain, but finally, I managed to make it into the main chamber. Upon arrival -- and after nearly getting beaten to death by numerous guards -- I was told by one of the elder Gorons that the only way I'd be allowed into Goron Mines was by beating him in a quick sumo wrestling match. Good thing I'd just been trained, huh? After an embarrassing showdown of strength and thanks to my new iron boots, I beat the Goron elder and was able to proceed into the dungeon in earnest.
Lava and rocks are the theme of the day here. Huge spouts of deadly fire blocked my way and required switches to be flipped in order to get past them. I'd been informed that I needed to locate four more elders in the Mine who would each grant me one key shard. Collect all four, and I'd be able to gain access to the final boss. Locating the elders is not too hard, although there are some nasty puzzles to solve along the way. The iron boots come heavily into play here, and there are many cool magnetic sections of wall and ceiling where you can use them to walk over pits, chasms and other impasses. Midway through, I was challenged by a sub-boss who, when defeated, gave up the awesome Hero's Bow. Now I could shoot arrows at critters. Yay!
Goron Mines proved to take less time than the Forest Temple, once I hit my stride, but maybe this was because the last portion of the dungeon including the final boss -- called Twilit Igniter Firus -- was the same stuff (for the most part) as the demo we've been playing all year long. So the fight against Firus went well, and of course utilized the new bow and iron boots to a large extent, and after his defeat, I was granted my fifth heart container. Midna also was pleased to get her ethereal mitts on the second piece of Fused Shadow -- the use of which still remained a mystery.
By the time I'd warped out back to Kakariko, a Nintendo rep informed me that the session was closing. I'd logged exactly nine and a half hours with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and I'd enjoyed every minute of it. Things are shaping up nicely today too, as I've just received my own new Wii hardware in the mail (along with the game) from Nintendo. Now the review time starts. It's going to be a long hike through the meat of the game, but I've got a feeling that the Wii and its new controller are going to make the experience a highly enjoyable one. Check back next week for the final verdict!
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