In this new story Link, who we have faced many dangers with before, must once again rescue the Kingdom of Hyrule from yet another impending threat.

          Raised as a wrangler in the small village of Ordon, Link is asked to travel to the Hyrule Summit by the mayor.  During his journey he enters the dark Twilight Realm that has covered Hyrule, he is transformed into a wolf and is captured.  Stuck in his wolf form he is approached by a curious creature called Midna.  After Midna helps Link to escape, Link agrees to help rid the land from the shadows.

          Link can only travel in his wolf-form in areas of Hyrule that are covered in shadows, once the area has be successfully cleared, Link returns to his human–form.

This new continuation to the series of infamous Zelda games has kept up the high standard that we would expect from a title carrying a history of over 20 years.  The new character Midna adds a level of mystery to the story as through the first few chapters she seems to carry an ulterior motive that doesn’t include rescuing the kingdom.  By also making Midna the ‘main’ focus during the Twilight realm phases of the game it shifts the focus that would usually be on Link to a character that we want to know more about.

          Twilight Princess has great tutorials to introduce players of all levels to the control system and getting a feel of the environment.  As this was the first Zelda game to be released onto the Wii, it was very important that the designer got this right.  The level of difficulty when in combat is balanced just right.  As with most Zelda games, combat is about figuring out the sequence that your opponent fights in, finding a weakness and exploiting that weakness until they are defeated.  Bear in mind that heart containers are always scattered far and wide around the kingdom of Hyrule.  So I wouldn’t advise you trying to increase your hit points before a battle.  Usually the designers have balanced the game correctly so that you can still defeat the enemy with the minimum amount of heart containers.

          The duel combat system was a new addition that gave Twilight Princess a great original feature.  As Link the man, you would combat enemies in the usual way, standing on two legs striking with your sword or other weapon.  But when you enter the Twilight realm, Link changes into his wolf-form and Midna rides on your back.  Now you have to defeat your enemies by charging into them or headbutting them.  Midna also proves her worth by allowing you to reach certain heights and areas that you wouldn’t be able to do by yourself.            Because of the frequent change between Twilight realm and ‘cleansed’ Hyrule, you don’t forget how the combat system works.  And if you do (because we’re only human), there’s a minute learning curve that you need to cross to once again begin your adventures.

          The customisation of your character is very restricted.  As this is a common feature for Zelda games I’m sure this will come as no surprise to many players of this game.  Link can only own a set amount of weapons and armour in this game.  The armour is very limited to being upgraded once.  As this game doesn’t focus on building up Links defensive strength throughout the game this doesn’t hinder the player while they play.  The choice of weapons that Link gets (although only a small range) has improved since the previous titles.  The only negative point about the range of weapons in this title was that they were so different.  Ok this can be a good thing as well as bad, but I found that after a week (maybe a month) of not playing the game, I’d return to it to find that I’d forgotten how to aim the slingshot or control the boomerang.  So unfortunately a small learning curve for each weapon was required in order for me to progress on, but next time I won’t stop playing for as long as I did.

          This game is packed full of a diverse range of emotionally realistic characters and vast landscapes to explore.  As well as the familiar faces you may well recognise from previous games of the series like the Gorons, a whole host of new characters have been introduced.  It’s a shame that the Zelda series doesn’t seem to span different regions, but I guess that if the writers get it wrong it will be one of the worst mistakes in game history, so I’m guessing that they want to play it safe.  Fair enough, but surely there are only so many titles that can be based in one land?  I think an extension to the kingdom is well overdue and will be a great addition to brilliant game.

          The sound effects and music through this game are perfect when Link enters a new environment, for example when Link is first thrown into the Twilight realm.  They create great atmospheres that help the player connect with Link in his time of confusion and peril and the sounds are seamlessly placed to alert the player when impending danger will strike.

          Although, yes, there isn’t much difference in graphics from the GameCube to the Wii, I would say that this title did not disappoint.  The depth of the story and the originality of some of the gameplay distracted your attention from the fact that the graphics were not up to the standard of a PS3 or Xbox 360 game released at that time.  But the game cannot be blamed for the hardware that it is being run on.

          Overall, I think that this game was the best release title that Nintendo handed us.  I am eagerly awaiting the next game and hopefully the story and originality will keep improving.