A Link Between Worlds is a wonderful follow up to the original and an illustration of what made Zelda great.
The Legend of Zelda as a franchise has been stale for a while now. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword both have their fans but it seems that most people, myself included, found them to be dull experiences. Too much hand holding, repetition, and wonky motion control for my tastes. With the series losing momentum amongst the general public Nintendo has taken a new approach. They have looked back at some of the best games in the series and brought them to new consoles.
It worked for Ocarina of Time on the 3DS and it worked for Wind Waker HD on the Wii U. The cynic in views these releases as cash grabs that exist only to prey on the nostalgia of my age group. This is probably not too far off the mark. Nintendo is struggling and needs games to put on new systems. It clearly takes a significant amount of time for them to create a new Zelda game so the next best move was to bring back the classics. With the release of A Link Between Worlds Nintendo has made a strong argument for looking back into a franchises past to find where it needs to go in the future.
The number one thing that A Link Between Worlds gets right is the removal of the pervasive hand holding found in recent Zelda offerings. I had to force myself to progress through the introduction of Skyward Sword. It is a slowly unfolding tutorial, introducing you to each mechanic methodically as though you would never figure it out if left to experiment. It takes hours until you are finally set free. Worse still, the tutorializing never stops. For the entire length of the game, loading your save game resets all of the tutorial prompts. Pick up an item? Here’s what you can do with it! Ugh. A Link Between Worlds eschews this almost entirely. After a fairly short introduction sequence the game essentially sets you free. They mark the dungeons on the map and away you go. Even the order in which the dungeons are approached is largely left to the player. For the first time in a long time a Zelda game feels like adventure.
Even item access is no longer gated. Instead of finding each item buried in the dungeons they are offered in their entirety right from the start. You can rent and carry every single item through most of the game. Renting your items does mean that death will lead to a visit from the repo bird. This shrewd avian will loot your corpse with no remorse and leave you empty handed. Luckily the fast travel system in the game will allow you to warp right back home to spend some more rupees on renting your precious hookshot. This is a completely different approach for a Zelda game and it works.
The new item system tries to give a different value to the economy of the game. By tying equipment access to rupees it is trying to add new emphasis to currency collection. Unfortunately the game is never difficult enough for this to pay off. I only died twice in my time with the game so rupees were always in plentiful supply. You are offered the ability to purchase items and that can be fairly wallet taxing. The purchased items can then be upgraded which does provide some incentive to spend. The upgrades don’t make a huge difference but it’s fun to see how some of the abilities are escalated. The triple fire bow is a particularly fun bump.
The dungeons provide enough new tricks that even Zelda veterans should have a good time figuring out the puzzles within. A lot of these come from the depth provided by the new 3d graphics. There is a new sense of interplay between the different levels of the dungeons, offering a verticality that the original game only hinted at. Link’s ability to flatten into a 2D painting and slide along walls also adds a fun new wrinkle to some of the puzzle solving. It’s an original way to tackle traversal of a 3D world.
The wall-painting transition helps illustrate another of the games greatest strengths in the sound design. When flattened into the wall the sound becomes tinny and distant, almost an old-timey phonographic sound. It’s a small touch but one that really lends the game some charm. I have always considered the music found in Zelda games as one of their biggest strengths. A Link Between Worlds takes the strongest score of the series and updates it into a modern orchestral delight. The overworld theme alone continues to put a smile on my face. From the very first opening chime the game assures you that the developers know what made the original game so good.
In the end I have to say bravo Nintendo. They have managed to make a game that perfectly capitalizes on the nostalgia they have come to so strongly rely on, while also opening a window into a new future for one of it’s oldest series. A Link Between Worlds is not only a wonderful follow up to the original, but a perfect illustration of what once made Zelda great. I just hope it’s not a one-off anomaly.
5/5
http://treados.com/the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-between-worlds/
