The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Minish Cap is a solid if unspectacular entry in the Zelda franchise. It's awfully pretty (especially when it's showing off its smaller, more detail oriented animations), it sounds exactly how you expect a Zelda game to sound (which is to say "great"), and the the game's Hyrule is packed with secrets and fun to explore. But where it really excels is in its pacing. By futzing with the series standard dungeon format and decreasing the number of temples, the game flows like a dream, dispatching you on kinda/sorta side quests that mesh perfectly with game's central story. It's a very hard game to put down once you get rolling.

While it does everything your average Zelda game does really well, it doesn't really do much to stand out. For that, you can blame the game's main gimmick and titular cap. The story of a wizard taking the form of a magic hat that makes you miniature is just kinda... dumb. I know every Zelda game needs its gimmick, but this one feels like a 4:55pm on a Friday idea. Along with its pretty flat central premise, the game's temples are rather plain and awfully linear. Almost every locked door you run into will have its corresponding key in the same room. Aside from the Wind Temple, the levels don't do much to differentiate between each other. The game's indistinct, forgettable temples are hands down its biggest flaw.

Despite its strong foundation, The Minish Cap ends up a mid-tier Zelda game without any defining feature to hang its hat on. When your games are as typically awesome as the Zelda games are, resting on your laurels can be a fatal flaw.