Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Twilight Princess - Ocarina Part 2 - Some Thoughts

Here are some thoughts I rambled out over at 4 Color Rebellion, on their recent post on the new Zelda game, Twilight Princess. Just wanted to pass them along here and see what you think.


I haven’t played it yet, so I should keep that in mind, but it does seem very heavily influenced by the Ocarina style. This isn’t really any surprise. The reason (as I understood it) Nintendo made this game in the first place was to placate all the angry fans who were upset over Wind Waker. That game was too different, just like Mario Sunshine. So everyone bellyached, and Nintendo caved, and promised a traditional Zelda.

And, as is always the case, the game arrives two years overdue. That’s really the saving grace, since having only one Zelda every five years means Nintendo can get away with repackaging the same game again and again. And, despite the minor tweaks from one version to the next, what we have is the same game that we played on NES in 1985 and Super NES in 1991.

Is that a problem? No, not really. It seems no one can make a better adventure game than the Zelda series. Why that is, I’ll never know. Thank goodness Nintendo still knows how to make the formula work.

The “hook” for this version, I suppose, are the Wii controls. That may be enough for fans to enjoy the game; besides, like I said, there hasn’t been a Zelda to play in years. Familiarity can be a good thing.

The only downside to TP as a launch title means that it’s likely we won’t see another Zelda during the Wii’s lifespan. I’d like to see that change, but I’m also aware that the game’s depth is largely due to its immensely long development time. These games really do take four or five years to design.

So I won’t mind too terribly if we’re getting Ocarina Part 2. I’ve long felt that was the best game ever made, so I don’t mind having a chance to reenact it. Of course, if the next Zelda game isn’t any different, then I’ll be far less forgiving. Since we’ll soon be able to play all the older console Zeldas on Wii (GC, emulation), they’re gonna have to come up with some genuinely new ideas if and when there’s a next one.

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