Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

The first system I ever purchased on launch day was the Nintendo 64 in 1996. At the time, nothing quite looked and played like Super Mario 64, Shigeru Miyamoto’s 3D opus that ushered a new era of polygonal gameplay, and a landmark title he has yet to surpass.

Almost as memorable was the old Next Generation magazine issue a few months earlier, chronicling the second-ever E3 festival, where talking heads from Nintendo, Sega and Sony went ballistic on each other about the shaky yet promising future of gaming. Then Nintendo of America president Howard Lincoln basically said the bulky, expensive cartridges and the ridiculous analog controller were tailored to Miyamoto’s needs because Mario 64 was the game that would define that generation. It did.

Where does this all lead? Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/Nintendo, Nintendo) is the must-have game for the Wii launch, but instead of capturing our imaginations with such ingenious use of the newfangled remote controller, it merely proves that A and B buttons are still pretty useful. Twilight Princess is a great adventure game, and that’s the problem, because it succeeds not because of the Wii remote, but in spite of it.

TP was originally a Game- Cube-exclusive title, but a lengthy development period combined with the GC’s blink-and-you-missed-it death gave Nintendo the opportunity to launch a console with a Zelda game for the first time. Unfortunately, it didn’t give them much time to implement motion sensor controls that truly affected the gameplay or story. The remote controls actions: swinging it will result in Link attacking with his sword. Eventually, your arm will become tired and your swipes will resemble slight arm convulsions. It also works as a light gun of sorts with the slingshot. Link has the ability to turn into a wolf, and the remote really doesn’t do much at all in his new form. In both cases, and when riding the horse Epona, moving Link is done with the analog stick on the nunchuk add-on.

If we forget about the historical implications of this launch title for a minute, it must be noted, taken solely as a Zelda title, it’s a great one. For the unaware, Link is like the James Bond of Hyrule. He’s played by different people and is irrespective of time, but always sports the same green tunic and is responsible for saving princess Zelda from the evil Ganon (dorf). This time, Link must thwart a band of evildoers who live in perpetual darkness and want to turn the whole kingdom into constant twilight. The wolf is Link’s form in the dark world. The dungeons are as insanely huge and inventive as Ocarina of Time, and the night enemies have a unique design. They look like a bunch of black pixels coming out of black holes in the sky. The art direction of this Zelda is the best the series has ever seen.

The gameplay is traditional Zelda, loaded with sidequests and what can only be described as partially non-linear gameplay. The lack of voice-over work is criminal at this point, and Nintendo needs to accept that Star Fox-ish beeping doesn’t cut it anymore. The Wii remote’s speaker is used well—Midna, possibly related to the Great Gazoo, will give a mischievous giggle through the speaker if he has a tip. The lock-on target was at times unresponsive to quick moving or form-changing enemies, and resulted in a few cheap hits.

Twilight Princess is a superb launch title, but falls short in defining the Wii experience. It seems likely Nintendo will go back to work on a Zelda game made specifically for the new system.