Wii Hands On Impressions: Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Wii've touched it, Wii've beat it, Wii LOVE it.
The Wii game we got to spend the most time with at the show was the long, long, loong awaited follow-up to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time. Yes we know there were two other games, but one was a continuation and the other looked like a lovely cartoon.
Don't get us wrong, we loved WindWaker as much as any one, but we're sure most of you will agree that the return to the quasi-realistic stylings is a welcome one. First off, it should be said that even though this game is being developed for the GameCube it looks absolutely stunning. Who cares if you can make out polygons, they are so damned well arranged and beautifully manipulated that it makes us want to take geometry lessons (well we have been doing a bit of basic math on Brain Age, so why not?) All exaggerations aside, the game really is gorgeous, the character design is impeccable, the world is smashingly arranged and it just makes you look at other less well developed games with disdain. Not that you had any concerns, but rest assured, Zelda will continue to retain it's place as the Mona Lisa of the gaming world.
On to the controls. Basic movement is handled via the Nunchuck's analogue stick, jumping is still automatic, and sword slashing is mapped to the A button on the remote. Nintendo decided not to control the sword via the motion sensor as it would either tire most people out to badly, or give them one seriously over developed right arm (or left actually as one of the interesting things about the Wii is that by design, it can be used just as easily by our right-brained friends. Nintendo does want to include every one). So with the sword being handled by a button press the Wii-mote is instead used to aim Link's various distance attacks, which seemed to be more bountiful in the demo shown than in any prior Zelda outing. The Nunhuck's motion sensing can also be used, via a simple shaking, to cause Link's patented spin attack. This lets the attack to be used on a whim, since no charge up is required. While this may seem like a welcome addition we kept going to the attack almost by default as it's much more deadly than regular sword slashing. While it's a blast to do we can't help but wonder how this will be levelled out gameplay-wise, compared to the GC versions. The other interesting thing about the control configuration on display is that unlike previous games where the c-stick (or c-buttons as it once was) were used to "equip" a different weapon the d-pad on the Wii-mote now allows you to actually use the weapons directly. For example you simply hold down left on the pad to pull back an arrow, then point at your intended target and release. You can instantly return to sword slashing upon release making the transition between weapons much more fluid. The boomerang works in a similar way, offering a quick press-aim-release mechanic, but you can also use the trigger on the remote to lock onto specific targets in any order you chose before releasing. This was not only fun to do, but allowed the boomerang to be more easily used for puzzle solving purposes.
Now that we have the controls out of the way its time for the real meat of the experience. The demo its self is an absolute blast. While it's obviously short and arranged specifically as a kind of tutorial to show you all the tools and controls, the real highlight was the boss battle at the end where we got to try out all our new found skills. Upon completing a little run-through the dungeon, we come upon a massive chained up, 'I've got something scary in me' sort of door. We entered. Inside we see a giant (has link ever fought a small boss?) black monster chained hand and feet in the centre of a great dome-like cave, encircled by numerous pillars. Link bravely approaches the beast, riling the creature and causes its once dormant forehead gem to glow. After a brief stare down the beast lurches forward and lets out a roar that would shame the t-rex in Jurassic Park. Link stands firm. Then the beast's skin ignites like molten rock and it proceeds to wrench its chains from the wall.
After a quick dash to the other end of the room (giants are always so pokey) we immediately take aim for the now well illuminated aforementioned forhead stone. Bulls-eye, he's stunned, but still very large and scary. So we scurry round the back of him, grab hold of his chains, equip our handy dandy iron boots and give a tug. Bam, down he goes. A few quick slashes to his now within reach head and he's on his feet again. In classic Zelda style, lather rinse repeat, the beast is dispatched and our demo comes to an end. While we like to pretend it was that easy, there were a few minutes of cowering behind pillars only to have them smashed on top of us, and we did catch ourselves on fire once or twice for thinking we could take out his Achilles tendon, but all in all we made a pretty good run of it.
That wraps up our drooling over zelda, now it's time to go and download a countdown timer for November to put on our desktops.
Don't get us wrong, we loved WindWaker as much as any one, but we're sure most of you will agree that the return to the quasi-realistic stylings is a welcome one. First off, it should be said that even though this game is being developed for the GameCube it looks absolutely stunning. Who cares if you can make out polygons, they are so damned well arranged and beautifully manipulated that it makes us want to take geometry lessons (well we have been doing a bit of basic math on Brain Age, so why not?) All exaggerations aside, the game really is gorgeous, the character design is impeccable, the world is smashingly arranged and it just makes you look at other less well developed games with disdain. Not that you had any concerns, but rest assured, Zelda will continue to retain it's place as the Mona Lisa of the gaming world.
On to the controls. Basic movement is handled via the Nunchuck's analogue stick, jumping is still automatic, and sword slashing is mapped to the A button on the remote. Nintendo decided not to control the sword via the motion sensor as it would either tire most people out to badly, or give them one seriously over developed right arm (or left actually as one of the interesting things about the Wii is that by design, it can be used just as easily by our right-brained friends. Nintendo does want to include every one). So with the sword being handled by a button press the Wii-mote is instead used to aim Link's various distance attacks, which seemed to be more bountiful in the demo shown than in any prior Zelda outing. The Nunhuck's motion sensing can also be used, via a simple shaking, to cause Link's patented spin attack. This lets the attack to be used on a whim, since no charge up is required. While this may seem like a welcome addition we kept going to the attack almost by default as it's much more deadly than regular sword slashing. While it's a blast to do we can't help but wonder how this will be levelled out gameplay-wise, compared to the GC versions. The other interesting thing about the control configuration on display is that unlike previous games where the c-stick (or c-buttons as it once was) were used to "equip" a different weapon the d-pad on the Wii-mote now allows you to actually use the weapons directly. For example you simply hold down left on the pad to pull back an arrow, then point at your intended target and release. You can instantly return to sword slashing upon release making the transition between weapons much more fluid. The boomerang works in a similar way, offering a quick press-aim-release mechanic, but you can also use the trigger on the remote to lock onto specific targets in any order you chose before releasing. This was not only fun to do, but allowed the boomerang to be more easily used for puzzle solving purposes.
Now that we have the controls out of the way its time for the real meat of the experience. The demo its self is an absolute blast. While it's obviously short and arranged specifically as a kind of tutorial to show you all the tools and controls, the real highlight was the boss battle at the end where we got to try out all our new found skills. Upon completing a little run-through the dungeon, we come upon a massive chained up, 'I've got something scary in me' sort of door. We entered. Inside we see a giant (has link ever fought a small boss?) black monster chained hand and feet in the centre of a great dome-like cave, encircled by numerous pillars. Link bravely approaches the beast, riling the creature and causes its once dormant forehead gem to glow. After a brief stare down the beast lurches forward and lets out a roar that would shame the t-rex in Jurassic Park. Link stands firm. Then the beast's skin ignites like molten rock and it proceeds to wrench its chains from the wall.
After a quick dash to the other end of the room (giants are always so pokey) we immediately take aim for the now well illuminated aforementioned forhead stone. Bulls-eye, he's stunned, but still very large and scary. So we scurry round the back of him, grab hold of his chains, equip our handy dandy iron boots and give a tug. Bam, down he goes. A few quick slashes to his now within reach head and he's on his feet again. In classic Zelda style, lather rinse repeat, the beast is dispatched and our demo comes to an end. While we like to pretend it was that easy, there were a few minutes of cowering behind pillars only to have them smashed on top of us, and we did catch ourselves on fire once or twice for thinking we could take out his Achilles tendon, but all in all we made a pretty good run of it.
That wraps up our drooling over zelda, now it's time to go and download a countdown timer for November to put on our desktops.
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