Reviews// The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - The Full Review (Wii)

Dig does exactly what one would assume Dig would do, however, when combined with your heightened senses it is an invaluable tool. When your senses are activated the world around you goes dark and only a small circle of vision, about 10 meters in diameter, remains. It’s what’s in the circle that matters, as you are now able to see where items are buried, where potential tunnels could be uncovered and, most interestingly, you can see the limbo-trapped spirits of the people of Hyrule. Only when you can see them properly, as opposed to just being the little flickering floating flames they usually are, can you listen to their conversations and gain necessary clues for solving your next task.

Besides his own abilities Link can actually call on his companion, Midna, to aid him in his journeys. Want to hang from a chain that may or may not be a lever, but don’t feel like hurting your canines? Bam! Midna comes to the rescue. Think you might be able to make a treacherously long jump but need a spunky little (kind of irritating at times) encouragement? Midna is all over that as well. When in wolf mode she automatically occupies the [Up] space on the d-pad in case you should need her. When you’re in a place where she can offer you physical assistance she’ll giggle from inside your Wii Remote to alert you.

I was initially put off by the character but over time I actually grew quite fond of her. While her voice may be about as enjoyable as the swatable fairy that preceded her, she has much more in common with your trusty kingly cruise ship from Wind Waker.

Pro tip: to lower her volume, which I cannot recommend enough, press the home button on the controller once and then point at the battery bar for your controller and hit the [A] button - there is your volume control.

The dungeons are of course the real meat of the game play and Zelda fans will not be disappointed with their size or the cleverness of their design. Varying in size and form they all offer very unique experiences and each has some truly fantastic "wow moments" within. The best part about them is that as you play through, previously useful items are not forgotten.

Every one of your skills and items will be needed to progress through the game and there are a lot of them. In fact, I was less than halfway through the game when I began to run into some seriously head scratch-inspiring moments. Usually the answer lay in an older, lesser-used skill or item that I just hadn't thought about. The amount of alternate uses the designers’ managed to come up with for Link’s abilities is continually impressive.

As mentioned before, besides having nine enormous dungeons to traverse, you now have exponentially greater numbers of things you need to do in between each one. Yes, similar setups have existed in most of the Zelda games but never to this extent or effect. Most between-dungeon segments involve some new kind of game play that you’ve not seen before. Without ruining any surprises I'll just say that the long sailing segments in Wind Waker can't begin to compare to some of the shit that will be thrown at you!

Most impressive of all this is the polish that the occasional alternate play styles have received. In a lesser game these sorts of moments would invariably feel tacked on and only help to ruin the experience. In TP, however they are all a joy to play and will leave you begging for more or at the very least, have you gasping in relief as you slip through by the skin of your teeth and pray you never have to do that again. You'll see.