Game Review: The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
In 1992 I played The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past like crazy and continued to play it and replay it for 5 years after that. That game was one of the biggest memories of my childhood and I’ve loved it ever since. So you can only imagine my excitement when I heard that a sequel to it had been announced. Ever since then I’ve been impatiently waiting to get my hands on it and finally I did.
The Graphics:
At first glance it doesn’t seem like Link has missed a single step and it automatically brought back tons of memories. The 3/4 Top Down view is still pleasantly there and was the one thing that I’m so glad they kept but the differences come in the graphical sense. Every character is a lot smoother and many of the enemies are the same but slightly updated to show the change in the gaming industry. The 3D effects in the game were phenomenal and game the game so much depth between the gameplay and the heart/magic meter. In certain instances it would make me want to lean to the side to see what could be on a wall or something. I do not recommend doing that though as the screen will kind of mess with your eyes a bit.
The Gameplay:
A Link Between Worlds (ALBW) employs pretty much the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor. The only added feature would be the “living painting” that you can become. It makes for interesting scenarios during the game and definitely adds some extra challenge as well. I love the fact that when I started the game I was already playing through a dungeon within the first 10 minutes or so. I wasn’t a huge fan of playing through 30 minutes of the game before really getting into it like some previous Zelda games so that was a nice thing to be able to do. The dungeons themselves weren’t horribly difficult but they were a bit of a challenge considering the new gameplay aspect that’s included. Usually each boss has a weak point that you have to figure out and for the most part you can pretty much figure out what weapons or items to use against it rather quickly. To say that you’ll get lost in playing the game is an understatement. I found myself going on for hours at a time without even realizing it and when I wasn’t playing I was thinking about solutions to the part I was stuck on previously. I am a big supporter of the new magic meter. No longer do you have to worry about running out of magic or looking for potion to use some of the items in your arsenal. It also takes the place of looking for bombs, arrows and other items that you would otherwise have to go searching for continuously. All you have to do is wait a few seconds and it refills itself which is a welcome feature. Sure, it does change the difficulty aspect of the game by having that in there but it does streamline the game experience. The game itself wasn’t really long one but it has so many elements in it that made it so fun that you might even find yourself playing through it again and again.
The Story:
It’s the usual story that we have come to see in the Zelda series: Zelda is in trouble, Link goes on an adventure to save her and beat the bad guy and becomes the hero he is destined to be……but that’s the thing I LOVE about the series! This story is essentially just like ALTTP but instead of acquiring pendants you’re mission is to save the Seven Sages after being turned into paintings. I thought the idea of bringing back the Dark World was great as I loved it in ALTTP but here it seems to be a different version of it called Lorule (get it? Hyrule and Lorule….Hy, Lo……..High, Low…..get it? Ok, I’ll stop now…haha!). I did think the name, although obvious, was pretty clever. The rest of the game played out like usual until towards the end where we saw some really good twists and turns, even some that were rather surprising. Basically, you WILL enjoy this game!
I played this on the Limited Edition: A Link Between Worlds 3DS XL which come as a bundle. Let me tell you, it’s a beautiful sight to see. Again, I’m HUGE Zelda fan so experiencing the newest game on such a beautiful piece of hardware was exciting. I’ve never owned a 3DS let alone a 3DS XL so it was a new experience for me altogether. I have big hands so this was the perfect size for me and the screen size was so great. Much bigger than any other handheld gaming system I’ve ever played before.
The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and the Limited Edition 3DS XL Bundle are available NOW from Nintendo and will make the perfect gift this holiday season!!
