Somewhere in the late 80’s, me and my brother were in Boots (a retail outlet in Eastbourne), in the back corner there where some NES games amongst others, one of these NES games had a gold cartridge and a little square hole in teh cardboard sleve to see it, I had no idea what the game was about or if I’d like it, it was just unique and I had to have it, i was like 10 after all, i’m not sure where the money came from, maybe it was a birthday or something. Anyway, this game was Zelda II the Adventure of Link. And it was amazing, the depth of game play and the story arc were like none i had experience in my six years of gaming, talk to the old man in the town and get a new fighting action of stabbing down when you jump, use magic to jump higher and other abilities, incredible! Some years past and this time on the Super Nintendo comes Zelda: a link to the past, this version had all new fancy graphics thanks to the 16 bit machine and some might claim the best Zelda game of the lot, others will claim Ocarina of Time on the N64 for the top spot, it certainly was epic, with an incredible story and in a proper 3d world. Others have come since, 2 on the GameCube, named Windwaker and Twighlight Princes, plus more on the nds, not as fancy as its home console counterparts. Now the home console version of one of the greats is on a portable console, and it’s better than ever.
I wish you could witness the beautifuly touched up graphics, and the incredible depth the 3ds brings to this timeless classic. One of the best games ever has actually been made even better, for reals. Never mind that it’s a remake, it’s a remake that looks stunning, plays fantastic, and is portable too(well, for a few hours at least). In an attempt to capture the new look in 2d I’ve posted a video for your viewing pleasure, keep in mind that this is a camera trying to record the screen, trust me it looks sooo much better up close in person.
So what is my review?……..
After Navi gets sent to find you, we’re treated to a little joy ride from Navi’s perspective from the Great Deku Tree to Link/your house. This time in stereoscopic 3D! All the little firefly looking specs help give a sense of the true dimensions rather than the flat interpretation of a 3d environment, the walls in the narrow passage way type part show great depth, and don’t even get me started on how good the ledge looks at links house.
The first time you open that chest you’d wish every Zelda game had the magic 3D make over, turning back to 2d makes it look droll in comparison (from here on 3d refers to the stereoscopic output of the 3ds). As yet I haven’t seen anything pop out (like a fish I caught in the 3ds mini game thing) but rather the view is of depth into the 3ds, if that makes sense, to be honest I’ve only gotten as far as talking to Zelda in the castle so only done 1 dungeon so far, I’m a crack shot with the slingshot now by the way ^_^.
Speaking of the slingshot, did you know that it now makes use of the 3ds’ gyroscope and accelerometer, the nub thing can still control it but sometimes its quicker to move the 3ds itself in the direction of the target, pretty groovy huh. I thought so. This also works for the first person view. Not 3rd person view as most of the game is. Third person is a view to see better from a still position, the option for this is like many of the others in that it is on the bottom screen and accessible by touch, not necessarily the stylus, my thumb could get it. Other quick functions are “x” and “y” assignments for weapons such as slingshot, these can be used form the physical buttons as well as the touch screen, there are also 2 more assignments for items, I’ve got a Deku stick on my first one as it comes in handy for lighting torches etc. The game play touch screen has Gear, Map and Items menus to select for more in-depth view on each, plus a basic map is shown and a count of your rupees. Oh heart meter is also on this screen, ideal for making the main game play screen less cluttered to show off the beauty of the new detailed graphics.
I’ll mention graphics one last time lol, the water effects are really tasty in 3d, it really makes the game look 2011 not 1998 or 2005. A side note from the pretty graphics, I’ve noticed particularly when dusk is approaching near the castle that it has a similar feeling to the dusk scenes in Panzer Dragoon Saga, more so than Twighlight Princess, it’s rare for a game to achieve this type of graphical style that I find really appealing, I put it down to the resolution of the Sega Saturn, which it still could be I suppose, as the 3ds is only 240 pixels high, of course it’s on a much smaller screen, though I wouldn’t say no to a panzer Dragoon Saga Remake in 3D, you know what I’m saying, I mean radiant Silvergun and guardian heroes are being remade for Modern Consoles, why not the most expensive one of them all?
So in closing, if the 3DS was still £160 bones on Amazon I would say what are you waiting for. But as it’s gone back to £180 that makes the world of difference, but if there was a game that made the 3DS worthwhile I’d say this is it. The pinnacle of Zelda on the greatest platform it could be on. DO IT.