I tried - I really did try.
I promised myself that I would play the other games I got for my Wii and not just play Zelda all the time.
I really was fooling myself with that promise.
It isn't that the other games aren't good - they are. It's just that after waiting for 3 years for Twilight Princess (TP) to come out it kinda drew all my attention to itself - for good reason.
I'm not going to go into too much detail, others have already done that, besides I haven't finished the game yet (though I have played for over 24 hours now). I can quite honestly say that this latest Zelda is an Ocarina of Time (OoT) beater. It's no one thing that makes it better, just lots of small things which where done in OoT but are just done better in TP - Like horse riding, which I am going to be talking about.
When I first rode Epona in OoT it was a wonderful feeling. I spent hours just riding around shooting down Poes - but that did soon fade, there was nothing else to do in OoT's Hyrule field. As Adult Link the field was empty. The only things to do was to catch the 10 Poe ghosts and a couple of quick dashes across the field in a couple of timed events. Epona herself could only be used in the Field and the small areas in Lon Lon Ranch, Lake Hylia and the Gerudo's Fortress. In TP it is a different story. Hyrule field is teeming with life (most of which you can kill), the land is more varied, you can ride Epona into the villages, you can use many of your items while riding Epona (originally a glitch in OoT - now brought back as a feature).
What gets me though is that some people are complaining that about the fact Hyrule field is broken up and that the screen fades away when crossing the borders. To those people I say - Grow up. If you take a moment to actually play without looking for things to moan about you'll see that the whole of Hyrule Field is several times larger then that of OoT. In fact one of the sections of field is as large as the original field in OoT. There is more to do thanks to the fact the field is actually populated and it has better weather as well. The other argument I hear is how it's a badly designed field as it's no longer a central hub.
This point may almost have been valid - almost - if not for the fact that you start off with Epona (yes I know you lose her for a bit - I'm getting to that). In OoT Hyrule field was important as a hub - during the time you was playing as Child Link - it was the only way for you to get around. As you progressed though the game it's importance lessened as you learnt the Ocarina songs that acted as Warp points. With those songs you didn't need to run or ride though the field at all - apart from a few specific insistences.
With TP Nintendo must of realised this, so they made the field bigger and more varied to keep players in it for longer, and just like early OoT segments there are times when you don't have Epona and have to go though the field on foot - or should that be paw. You lose Epona for a bit early on but that's okay as at that stage you are playing the wolf and while you are not as fast as Epona you are much faster then when Link is on 2 Feet, and as the segments when you are a wolf are about having you travel specifically from one place to another to restore the light the whole The-field-should-be-a-hub-to-get-to-places issue fades away into the either.
So there you have it - my take on Horse riding around the fields in Twilight princess. I could of gone into detail about the controls or the graphics, but as I said earlier, those aspects of the game have been gone over to the death (My quick review - awesome graphics and the controls for the Wii version are fine - I've not had one single problem aiming my bow and arrow with the Wii-mote). Overall my Final verdict would be - Buy It!
I promised myself that I would play the other games I got for my Wii and not just play Zelda all the time.
I really was fooling myself with that promise.
It isn't that the other games aren't good - they are. It's just that after waiting for 3 years for Twilight Princess (TP) to come out it kinda drew all my attention to itself - for good reason.
I'm not going to go into too much detail, others have already done that, besides I haven't finished the game yet (though I have played for over 24 hours now). I can quite honestly say that this latest Zelda is an Ocarina of Time (OoT) beater. It's no one thing that makes it better, just lots of small things which where done in OoT but are just done better in TP - Like horse riding, which I am going to be talking about.
When I first rode Epona in OoT it was a wonderful feeling. I spent hours just riding around shooting down Poes - but that did soon fade, there was nothing else to do in OoT's Hyrule field. As Adult Link the field was empty. The only things to do was to catch the 10 Poe ghosts and a couple of quick dashes across the field in a couple of timed events. Epona herself could only be used in the Field and the small areas in Lon Lon Ranch, Lake Hylia and the Gerudo's Fortress. In TP it is a different story. Hyrule field is teeming with life (most of which you can kill), the land is more varied, you can ride Epona into the villages, you can use many of your items while riding Epona (originally a glitch in OoT - now brought back as a feature).
What gets me though is that some people are complaining that about the fact Hyrule field is broken up and that the screen fades away when crossing the borders. To those people I say - Grow up. If you take a moment to actually play without looking for things to moan about you'll see that the whole of Hyrule Field is several times larger then that of OoT. In fact one of the sections of field is as large as the original field in OoT. There is more to do thanks to the fact the field is actually populated and it has better weather as well. The other argument I hear is how it's a badly designed field as it's no longer a central hub.
This point may almost have been valid - almost - if not for the fact that you start off with Epona (yes I know you lose her for a bit - I'm getting to that). In OoT Hyrule field was important as a hub - during the time you was playing as Child Link - it was the only way for you to get around. As you progressed though the game it's importance lessened as you learnt the Ocarina songs that acted as Warp points. With those songs you didn't need to run or ride though the field at all - apart from a few specific insistences.
With TP Nintendo must of realised this, so they made the field bigger and more varied to keep players in it for longer, and just like early OoT segments there are times when you don't have Epona and have to go though the field on foot - or should that be paw. You lose Epona for a bit early on but that's okay as at that stage you are playing the wolf and while you are not as fast as Epona you are much faster then when Link is on 2 Feet, and as the segments when you are a wolf are about having you travel specifically from one place to another to restore the light the whole The-field-should-be-a-hub-to-get-to-places issue fades away into the either.
So there you have it - my take on Horse riding around the fields in Twilight princess. I could of gone into detail about the controls or the graphics, but as I said earlier, those aspects of the game have been gone over to the death (My quick review - awesome graphics and the controls for the Wii version are fine - I've not had one single problem aiming my bow and arrow with the Wii-mote). Overall my Final verdict would be - Buy It!