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I've been a Zelda fan since Zelda II: Link's Adventure on the NES. It's true, I never cared for the first, and I hold the SNES and N64 games to be amazing pieces of art.

...but then there's Twilight Princess. Where do I begin?

The puzzles are standard to what people have come to expect of a Zelda game, and the bosses are even larger than ever before. The story is utterly confusing, desperately trying to add new, unnecessary twists to same old formula. The characters are lovingly animated, and probably stand to be the most impressive part of the game. The city square, for the first time in Zelda history, actually feels like a city square, with hundreds of people running about doing their chores, while the children play with cats and dogs. The world is very large, and Hyrule, in general, actually feels alive.

In fact, thinking back, from a philosophical perspective, this is the first Hyrule since Zelda II that actually seems worth saving!

But, hey, hold on there, young swordsman, there's some things you should know before you embark on this quest.

First off, Link turns into a Wolf... and that, my friends, is downright stupid. The whole turning into a Wolf so I can use my "senses" to see hidden enemies or whatever is so %*$#ing obnoxious that every 15 minutes or so when I have to "transform to Wolf" I want to turn the game off and put Resident Evil 4 back in so I can play through that for the 100th time instead. In fact, if this Wolf thing is a feature that Nintendo plans on keeping in the Zelda franchise, I'm done with Zelda forever. Nintendo, the Wolf has to go. Period. Get rid of it.

The wolf is the worst. gimmick. ever.

Secondly, constantly flicking my wrist around for what's easily 60 or so hours of game play is downright painful. It makes me almost wish I had picked up the GameCube version. It adds zero sense of immersion, and possibly even removes me from the game world because I'm flicking left to right while Link is swinging his sword in a thousand different directions. No good.

But what about the arrow/hook shot/other thing that uses the Wiimote!? Well, frankly, I find this obnoxious as well. If you move the pointer off the screen instead of turning, or something else you might expect, Link freezes leaving you completely vulnerable to attacking enemies, and the obnoxious red words telling you to point your remote at the screen appear. What kind of tacked on control mechanic, exactly, is this? A crappy one, that's what. If you're in the middle of a battle and you accidentally hit your hook shot button and your remote isn't pointed directly at the screen, expect to get slammed by a cheap shot from your enemy.

Never mind how obnoxious it is to line up the freaking cursor with that hook shot thing. Man this game is seriously beginning to hurt my forearm!

Ok, so aside from the Wolf thing, and the fact that the Wii version feels like a sloppy port, there's still problems. Somewhere, over in the East, the great minds of Nintendo have decided that even though Ocarina of Time has stood strong over time that Zelda is just too difficult... so after Majora's Mask (an amazing game), they decided to make the enemies so ridiculously underpowered and pathetic that they've become more of a minor annoyance than a threat. I haven't died once. Not once.. and I'm 40 hours into the game. The least they could have done was given a hard/easy setting.

And there's rupees everywhere! Nothing to spend them on, mind you, but there's tons of them. I've passed at least a hundred hidden chests with the message "There's not enough room in your wallet." Serious? What are they all for? I find purple and orange rupees EVERYWHERE.

What's with this? Why is this game so easy? I fell in love with Zelda II when I was 10-years-old because I have fond memories of getting to the end of Death Mountain only to die and have to start from the very first cave again. Or remember trying to beat those bosses? Oh brother, was that a challenge. And that intensity followed Link for many games, until Nintendo got soft, gave Mario a talking water back-pack-thing and put Fox McCloud on the ground in Dinosaur Land.

Man, what is going on with these franchises!? Next thing you know Samus is going to be shooting rainbows at space kittens.

The music is the same MIDI from The Ocarina of Time. A bit of a disappointment, really, as some of the MIDI sounds just aren't aging well. In fact, sometimes it sounds like the music is being played by an ensemble of those Gyroids from Animal Crossing. Not very flattering, but as lame as the songs sound at times, Koji Kondo's beautiful compositions are still nice on the ears.

The graphics are nice. The Wolf looks terrible when compared to what Rare was able to accomplish in Star Fox Adventures on the 'Cube, but the rest is a definite improvement over past games in the franchise, with some landscapes stretching far off into the distance. The desert, in particular, is very impressive, and seems to stretch for miles. This is no high-definition, next-generation visual masterpiece, mind you, but does add significantly to the immersive feeling of it all when you can actually see the world around you.

So while many reviewers have given Twilight Princess amazing scores, I'm afraid I just can't justify it. This game, with it's quirky controls, obnoxious wolf gimmick, and total lack of challenge seems mediocre at best. If it wasn't a Zelda title I wouldn't even play it through to the end.

I hope to finish Zelda:TP at some point soon and have a better impression of it, but so far, I'm more than a bit disappointed.

If you're looking for a fresh Zelda experience and haven't played the Minish Cap on Gameboy Advance, go check that out instead.

Meh, a rather easy Zelda with not a lot of thought behind side quests. The boos fights lasted 5 minuets top. Defiantly not the best Zelda game out there.

awesomeness

Great game with plenty to do and high replay value. This is Zelda at its finest!

A great puzzle adventure game. It feels like a great addition the the Zelda universe. The only thing, That bothers me, but I understand, Is Link is right handed in this game, because it would be much to hard to control his left with your right. You may get stuck, Because the game is quite confusing and detailed, but hey, Its LoZ.

THIS IS THE BEST GAME OUT FOR THE WII RIGHT NOW

Brilliant as ever, a nice slow stroll through Hydrule

Brilliant game, well worth buying. Exellent gameplay, keep you ammused for months with the main quest and mini games such as fishing. Brilliant effects, and will last you a long time. Best launch title.

+ Excellent Graphics
+ Excellent Sound
+ Excellent Gameplay
- Bugs

This is a deep and rich Zelda experience. Definitely the best game available right now for the Wii.

It's Zelda, need I say more!

It's the best Zelda game ever, though Link to the Past still has it beat in sheer length of gameplay.

Swet Game and soo addicting, and the visuals are amazing

this the best legend of zelda game there is

i only wish it was longer (i beat it in 38 hours)

still have to finish this game but it is great so far:)