REVIEW

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD Review

by Rob Pritchard, March 16th, 2016

Wherever there is light, shadows will always exist. That sentiment is echoed often throughout nearly every fairy tale, and The Legend of Zelda series is no different. The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD follows the story of two separate worlds, both tainted by the rise of darkness. This time around, Link is a humble farm hand, whose is dragged into the Twilight Realm after his friends are kidnapped. When Link awakens, he finds that he has been transformed into a wolf, and his only hope lies with the imp-like creature known as Midna. After being informed of the dark intentions by the guardian spirits of Hyrule, Link and Midna set out on a journey to defeat a malevolent sorcerer who plans to release an ancient evil, as well as prevent the two opposite worlds from becoming one.

In terms of gameplay, Twilight Princess HD follows the puzzle filled dungeons and overworld exploration formula used in previous games. After a brief set of tutorial missions, including the goat herding mini-game with the humorous “GOAT IN!” phrase, we are thrown into a dungeon with a boss at the centre of it. Each dungeon has an item that proves necessary to defeating said boss, solving more difficult puzzles and allowing access to previously unreachable areas. Upon completion, we are thrown in another set of story and fetch quests, followed by another dungeon. While some may consider the approach to be slightly old fashioned, the sense of adventure that is created from this structure is an art form that Nintendo have worked for years to perfect. While there are some minor flaws, such an over dependence on the dungeon’s new item to save the day, hearing that trademark puzzle solved jingle is never not satisfying.

Following the footsteps of The Wind Waker HD, the high definition remake of Twilight Princess does make some minor gameplay and graphical changes. With the help of the guardian spirits, Link is able to regain his human form within areas that have purified. The amount of collectable items, known as Tears of Light, needed to perform the exorcism have been slightly reduced from sixteen to twelve. While this does make this mini game of sorts easier to complete, it is certainly one of the most repetitive segments of the adventure, which many players would be happy to omit altogether. Certain treasure chests have also had their contents replaced with Stamps, which can be used in the Wii U’s Miiverse to easily create customised Legend of Zelda artwork.

Perhaps the biggest change to be added to this port is the ability to switch items without pausing the game. This was already included in the portable remakes of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, but with the Wii U Gamepad, this dream has at last become a reality for console owners. As you would expect, this addition makes going through some of the item dependant areas of dungeons to be a more streamlined and enjoyable experience, particularly in the last dungeon of the game which requires several item switches in order to complete it. Like with Wind Waker HD, it is possible to play the game with the Wii U Pro Controller, or play the game entirely on the Gamepad.

The original versions of Twilight Princess were originally released on the Gamecube and Wii, with the latter using a selection of motion controls suited to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination. Nearly all of these have been abandoned due to the lack of Wii Remote support, but the Wii U Gamepad allows you to use its gyroscope look around the game world, as well as aim and fire items and projectiles. There is the option available to use the Right Stick if you do not want to use them, but the option is entirely functional, unlike a lot of motion controls experienced during the early days of the Nintendo Wii.

The final major alteration is the support for a selection of amiibo, which alter the adventure if one of the figurines is scanned during gameplay. If Zelda amiibo is scanned in, the player’s health will completely regenerate, whilst Ganondorf will increase the amount of damage taken by enemy attacks. While the changes are definitely an incentive to purchase amiibo, the fact that additional money is needed to be spent to unlock the features, paints the amiibo extras nothing more than glorified on-disc DLC. The same is true of the Wolf Link amiibo provided with the Limited Edition prints of the game, which unlocks the Cave of Shadows, an exclusive challenge dungeon where you must go through thirty nine floors of powerful enemies. The reward for completing this area is substantial, but it should be provided for all players, not just a select few who can afford to spend a further ten pounds.

One of the most important ingredients in any HD remaster are the graphical changes to show the game at its best. With this in mind, Twilight Princess HD has been given the premium treatment. The new textures for the characters and the backgrounds all look very impressive in the higher resolution environment, which in combination with a new lighting system makes the remaster one of the best to arrive on the Wii U so far. Another thing to note is that the frame rate barely takes a hit throughout. There are a few exceptions during scenes with the more intense graphical effects such as fog, but you will only lose two or three frames at best during brief moments when the screen is overpopulated.

Overall, Twilight Princess HD is a solid port of one of the most divisive Zeldas in recent memory. Its new additions such as real time item switching and motion controlled aiming using the Gamepad are certainly intriguing, but some of them are trapped behind a pay to play barrier which Nintendo has previously been loathed to include in their products. If you are a fan of adventure games, or are simply looking for an epic journey to fill your time until the new game arrives later this year, Twilight Princess HD is an experience you won’t want to miss.