It's like Link to the Past, but it also isn't!
A Legend of Zelda
A Link Between Worlds
The legend of Zelda games are one of my all time gaming franchise - yes you could call me a fan boy but I've not really enjoyed the recent DS or Wii title as much as the classic N64 or Snes titles of old.
The 3DS has now been given the chance to host its first Zelda title and this time the game is a semi sequel to the Snes title A Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past.
The game begins with another Link in a long line of Links waking up in his house that you did in the snes title. That not the only thing that's the same, the world is how you remember it. Castle, Dungeons, Fields and much more are in the same places.
It's a strange sense of déjà-vu especially with the remix soundtracks and sound effects from the original game and the exact same enemies you faced in the original.
You may be asking, why should I play this then if it looks the same? Well it may look the same but it's design and overall feel will feel fresh with new game play mechanics and all the world & dungeons being change to incorporate all these new changes.
So what are these new game play mechanics I speak of. Well in the story you come across the main villain of this game called Yuga who is going around capturing the seven descendants of the sages of Hyrule in order to resurrect Ganon.
He is doing this by turning them in to paintings and unfortunately link gets caught in the cross fire and gets turned in to a wall painting himself. But luck would have it a travelling merchant happened to give you a bracer which allowed you to escaped the wall.
This bracer allows Link to merge with walls to get around the environment like never before and this is how the world will feel different. That's not the only major change to the games design which may be one of the biggest changes in the Zelda Franchise.
Previously you would of followed a linear path to each dungeon in a certain order to complete the game with areas locked off till you acquired an item from the dungeon you just unlocked with the previous item.
That has been scraped and now in place is a shop where you can rent or buy every classic dungeon item in the game right from the get go. This changes the linear path since you can decide which dungeon to tackle first by renting the corresponding item that is needed to get there and defeat those dungeons
All these items and your new wall merging ability uses a mana bar which governs how often you can use these items and stay merged in to the wall. It's a nice way to balance the game so you can't abuse having every item in the game.
The game contains 11 dungeons in total and each offer a fair challenge for new players and will stump even some hardcore Zelda fans who aren't used to this new formula for Zelda.
The bosses on the other hand don't offer much challenge and it's more the environment that will be killing you. Death isn't a major hassle unless you rented all your items, if you did then the repo bird will reclaim all your items and you have to re-rent them.
It's not expensive to do this and you will come across a lot of rupee's to repurchase your items.
You won't find all items in the shop however, they are some passive items hidden in dungeons which aren't needed to complete the game. From new tunics that reduce the damage you take to crafting material which will allow you to improve your weapons overall damage. It's a nice incentive to locate all these bonus items in the dungeons.
When not in dungeons you'll be exploring the over world of hyrule, this landmass is massive and contains many secrets to uncover. But that's not the whole story and like the previous link to the past you will soon encounter the Dark World. A corrupt mirror image of Hyrule.
You'll be crossing between Hyrule and this Dark World though dark fissures using your new wall merging abilities. This will let you get to areas which are inaccessible to one world or the other. It's a nice puzzle working out where you need to go next .
Having two vast worlds can be overwhelming but the developers have including fast travel point system which you unlock over time by visiting weathervanes scattered around the two worlds so back tracking is a snap.
They is even a new street pass mode where you can street pass other players and send your Dark Link to each other world. You will duel these Dark links and if you do, you will receive a bounty reward of different amounts depending on what equipment they were using and how many hearts have. It's one of the better street pass games out there.
The last thing I want to talk about is they is no hand holding in this game what so ever. Over the last few years Nintendo Games have been heavily tutorial base and not trusting players to figure out what to do next.
This isn't true here, I was stumbling around world for 30 minutes trying to work out how to get access to the swamp dungeon which was blocked by a boulder. I eventually figure out how to destroy it but was great not having a giant arrows or NPC stood by the boulder telling me where to go.
They are however ways to get hints on where to go next from a fortune teller in the town or wearing an item that will reveal ghosts near key locations who will give you clues. But it never intrudes and stop you playing to point out the obvious.
The developers have done a great job of bringing a link to a past to life in full 3D and having the 3D on gives the world depths like never before and is even helpful in some puzzles. The only thing that looks funny is Links overall model but you generally only get a close up during cut scenes.
The story is immersive if overall simple but the colorful characters you will encounter will bring it to life. Seeing the Dark & Light version of each character is interesting as well. It gives off a Majora Mask & Ocarina of Time feel seeing the counter of each of the worlds character.
They are plenty of hints for Zelda buffs as well here that links this game to Majora Mask as well. Especially said mask hanging on links house.
The majority of the music is all remixes of the original link to the past sound track and it will send shivers down your spine and you'll catch yourself singing a long to these catchie tunes without even knowing it. They are even songs from other games and some new original pieces as well.
Overall the Link between two worlds is in my current top 3 Zelda games of all times. Majora Mask is still at number one mind!
The Zelda games on the Wii & DS had become stag net and hadn't brought any innovations to it franchise but a link between worlds has shaken up the formula and it's showing a promise for the Zelda Wii U currently in development which is supposed to be on the same line.
This game is a must have for all Zelda fans and any 3DS holder who like action/adventure/rpg.
Go grab it now!