Overall score on pook's 100-point system (TM): 72 or 7. An incredibly fun game marred by presentation. NOTE: The gameplay aspects only reflect the 4-player version since I played the entire game through only as a 4-player game.
-the breakdown-
Graphics (13/30, judged by era)- There's no getting around it: Nintendo skimped on the graphics on this game. By that I don't mean that 4 Swords needed to be a dark badass 3d game. They picked a particular style: a throw-back to the SNES game. Fine. However, it could have and should have been done as the uber-SNES game. For the most part, the game looks something like that. The camera pulls out or tightens in as the various Links get further or closer to each other on-screen. What happens is that as the camera goes in, everything gets larger and extremely fuzzy and, well, ugly. If they had tried some way to keep the crispness the whole way through it would've gone a long way towards saving the graphics of this game. Some of the bosses utilize very large graphics or are cel-shaded 3d which do exactly what I'm suggesting, but sadly not all of them, and even the last boss is woefully deficient. Yes, they manage a number of neat effects, but they only further underscore the inconsistency of the presentation.
Sound- FX/Voice (7/10) Fairly well-done sound, incorporating the usual context-sensitive sounds that tip you off to what's going on. Because the various players can be separated from each other in various ways, with some underground while others are above, the sound is tailored so that the above players can typically hear a muffled, echoing version of what's happening to their companions below, a nice touch.
Sound- Music (7/10) A decent soundtrack undergirds this lengthy game, although sadly as with Wind Waker, the best tracks are the remixes of older songs, pulled from across the Zelda universe. The GC Zeldas have suffered from somewhat unoriginal new music.
Gameplay- Length/Lastability/Replay (15/15) While there was no time gauge on this, it felt incredibly lengthy, possibly in the 30 hour realm. While finishing the quest seems to offer a finality which keeps you from doing it again (unless you choose to play it single player or multi after playing it through in the other manner), the mini-games are a lot of fun and could be great party games, except that they will require all the players bring their GBAs again.
Gameplay- Story: (2/5) It's not like I expect fine literature from game stories, but while the game has its basic motivation and even the usual excellent Nintendo localization job, it's gotta bug you when a grand enemy is talked about throughout the game, and yet you don't know when it is you fight him and when you you don't see his true form and aren't told who he was until after he's been beaten. Lame. I won't ruin it for you but after hyping up Vaati, who you only meet in Minish Cap (and there, right at the beginning!), the end of the game is very sort of anti-climatic and random.
Gameplay- Game Design (28/30)- The core of the effort in this game was placed squarely here. As mentioned I only played 4-player. While the hardware limitations might stop some, all my friends are smart enough to have GBAs, so we played the entire game through together and had an absolute blast, possibly the most multiplayer fun we've had this gen. Aside from the usual 2d Zelda-goodness, the game has a wide variety of challenges that require you to put your brains together, sometimes stumping all of us and requiring a visit to the FAQ. Battles are fun and sometimes hectic, yet what may have ended up being most fun was the competitive rush to get booty, and the back-stabbing we engaged in as a result. It's all useless in the end, yet you find yourself consistently wanting treasure, and the evil you do to your friends is likewise ultimately harmless. But loads of fun.
**Final Thoughts- I can't speak for the one-player game, but if you have 3 friends with GBAs, this is a must-play. The graphics will grate for a bit, but if you can get by them, there is an incredibly fun game here.
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