I finally got the game I've been waiting 2.5 years to play. Not that I've played much of it (way too busy for that sort of thing), but hey, I got it. Which means, it's off to some very brief impressions. Spoilers, obviously, although I doubt there'll be any for anyone who hasn't seen any impressions from E3 or whatnot.

The good:

1) The opening music. I have yet to press start before the title shows up. Listening to a vocal rendition of the original opening music is just too awesome to resist. If there's one trick you need to make me giddy as a school boy, that's it.

2) Midna. Despite my self imposed blackout on all things TP, I couldn't completely avoid learning about her. And I was getting concerned. Fortunately, she seems like an interesting character. Nowhere near as annoying as Tingle, not as nonexistant as Navi, and even more sarcastic that Tatl. And she's enough of a mystery to make her a worthy addition to the Zelda saga. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of her, although I have a few (probably wrong) ideas.

3) Quick plotting. The game wastes no time getting you into the plot. OK, it wastes a little time. But I feel that the game has just begun, and we've already seen Zelda and seen some really cool cutscenes. I'm not complaining plotwise with what I've seen so far.

4) Puzzles. I have yet to step on a single switch, and have only had to light a few torches. Not bad. Some of the puzzles with using the bomerang to move the bomb enemies were fairly unique. After the borefest that was Wind Waker, seeing a few new ideas that require new ways of thinking is really nice.

5) Forest Temple Setup. The Temple wasn't blatantly linear. There were also plenty of random small (and large) optional rewards scattered around, clearly increasing the variety and the need to explore every inch. Sure, much of the temple felt predictable, but little things like finding a piece of heart where I expected a key was quite nice. And although I didn't need an FAQ, I was still stuck a couple times.


The bad:

1) Lack of Exploration. Egad, I'm 5.5 hours in and I still can't explore the land????? I'm still in the blatantly linear phase?!? That's freakin ridiculous. What happened to the good ole days where you could go anywhere immediately after starting the game? That, my friends, is what separates Zelda from the rest of the pretenders. This Forest Temple better be the last thing before I can be gree to do whatever I want. Sheesh.

2) Ordon Town. This has got to be the lamest town ever. There was absolutely nothing to do in there outside of the required aspects, and only one or two hints that there might be something more later. Look around the Kokiri forest. There wasn't exactly much to do there at first either, but it held a whole heckuva lot more promise than this stupid place did. Especially when you factor in the fact that you could roam around the Lost Woods as well before tackling your first objective.

3) Forest Temple architecture/puzzles. A combination of two things here. The minor issue is that the forest temple simply looks like a level in a game and not anything more enriching. Sure, that's kinda standard, but the original Forest Temple leaves me begging for more. Also, this temple follows the same freakin style as everey game since Link to the Past. Find the item, use item to find boss, fight boss. Fairly linear, involving lots of puzzles. Sigh. Let's try something different please.

4) Loading times. Maybe it's better on the Wii, but that doesn't help me any. It just seems a bit longer than usual, that's all.

5) Midna. Sure, she may be cool, but she's also an annoying little prick at times.



So I guess the jury's still out. The first two bad points are just so maddeningly frustrating right now, and better disappear real soon. On the flip side, the fact that the first temple was better than expected bodes well for the later ones. We shall see. All I know is that this will be a fun review to write =)

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	Halon - December 19, 2006 (08:32 PM) Interesting, after reading flaw #1 I don't know if I want to play it anymore. That is what made the original game and Ocarina of Time the classics that they are.