The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Review

<p>I was lucky enough to be one of the few people to have grabbed <em>Legend of Zelda&colon; Twilight Princess<&sol;em> for the GameCube&period; I remember when Wal-Mart emailed me and told me that they had oversold the pre-order and gave me a ten dollar off coupon&semi; needless to say I was worried&period; On release day&comma; I drove to the store by my house and they had a few copies&period; I grabbed one and got it on a discount because of their mess up&period; Lucky me right&quest; Very much so&semi; this was one of the best <em>Zelda<&sol;em> games I&&num;8217&semi;d ever played&comma; right behind <em>Wind Waker<&sol;em> at that point my life&period; I played the living hell out of this game and when I was done I put it away&comma; and for ten years it has sat there&comma; and it will continue to sit there&period; Now that I have the almost perfect HD version&comma; I won&&num;8217&semi;t really need to revisit the GameCube version of the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since I played the original about ten years ago&comma; I really didn&&num;8217&semi;t remember too much about the game at all&period; I remembered that Link would become a wolf&comma; and that there were a few dungeons&period; I rarely play new game plus so this HD remaster is a nice way to revisit life 12 years ago&period; Upon booting up the game I immediately saw the amazing updated visuals and I was taken aback&period; I had honestly forgotten how well a majority of GameCube games had aged&comma; and <em>Twilight Princess<&sol;em> definitely looks great for an older gal&period; This princess received a nice facelift which adds gorgeous textures to Link and his fellow cast of characters&period; Remember those three creepy children that followed Link around&quest; Well they look even creepier&comma; especially the super short one&period; Midna really stood out to me&comma; being an extremely outlandish character in the game&comma; and the graphic overhaul really puts her performance over the top&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;102837" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-102837" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"wp-image-102837 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03210622&sol;Twilight-Princess-2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Twilight Princess &lpar;2&rpar;" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-102837" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;The Legend of Zelda&colon; Twilight Princess HD&comma; Nintendo&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Unfortunately this update brought about long load times between areas and dungeons&period; This dip in the game pulled me out of the story just enough that I had to get re-engaged each time the white screen took over&period; That being said I could watch the title scene on loop&semi; it is so gorgeous&comma; and it reminds me a bit of <em>Shadow of the Colossus<&sol;em> which is an added bonus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nintendo give the player the option to play on the GamePad or a standard Wii U controller&semi; I opted for the GamePad because I feel it was a better choice for this type of game&period; I also enjoy being able to look down at the smaller screen and seeing where I am in the map&comma; getting lost is another hobby of mine&period; Since I used the GamePad&comma; I took much of the clutter off of the screen and put it onto the little Pad&comma; which makes the game even better to look at&period; I was scared that using the Pad would make the controls more difficult&semi; I was incorrect&period; The controls are pretty precise unless you use the gyro to aim&period; Once you opt out of the gyro in the GamePad and use the sticks&comma; it becomes so much easier to use your hook-shot&period; Nintendo stuck with the normal system of assigning your weapons to certain buttons on the GamePad&comma; but they made it easier&period; For instance&comma; you can just place your finger on &&num;8220&semi;bombs&comma;&&num;8221&semi; drag them to &&num;8220&semi;Y&&num;8221&semi; and that&&num;8217&semi;s how you use them&period; This makes switching on the fly much easier in tight situations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game is the same game as on the GameCube and Wii in 2006&comma; Nintendo hasn&&num;8217&semi;t made any huge changes to the story&period; Nintendo added an additional difficulty and a dungeon if you open up the pack-in Amiibo and scan it&period; You can choose &&num;8220&semi;Hero Mode&&num;8221&semi; at the onset of the game which doubles the damage that Link takes in battle&comma; and stops the farming of recovery hearts while out and about in Hyrule Field and such&period; This means you need to use strategy when fighting&comma; and need to make sure you complete all the heart containers to stand a chance&period; I would rather play on the normal difficulty because I want to enjoy the game rather than play <em>Dark Souls Hyrule<&sol;em>&period; The Amiibo unlocks a new dungeon called The Cave of Shadows&comma; which is very much like The Cave of Ordeals&period; Both of those caves are endurance challenges&period; In The Cave of Ordeals&comma; you get play as Link&comma; but in the new Cave of Shadows&comma; you have to play as Wolf Link&comma; and that isn&&num;8217&semi;t as satisfying&period; When you have forty floors to beat&comma; it can be a hand cramping drag&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re looking for new content in this title&comma; don&&num;8217&semi;t be too crestfallen when you discover that this is all there is&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;102836" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-102836" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"wp-image-102836 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03210718&sol;Twilight-Princess-HD-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Twilight Princess HD &lpar;1&rpar;" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-102836" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;The Legend of Zelda&colon; Twilight Princess HD&comma; Nintendo&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>I&&num;8217&semi;m very glad that I decided to revisit Hyrule with this game&period; Not only did the game bring back some memories of playing it on my GameCube&comma; but this also reminded me of what we have to look forward to with <em>Zelda U<&sol;em>&period; For those who never had the chance to play this title originally it is a must have&semi; this is one of the better <em>Zelda<&sol;em> games out there&period; If you already had the chance to enjoy this title on the Wii or the GameCube&comma; this is a perfect chance to revisit this title&comma; seeing as there isn&&num;8217&semi;t too much to play on the Wii U at the moment&period; This is a truly great game&comma; and should be played at least once by anyone who calls themselves a gamer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;