Haha, scared ya, didn't I? Okay, now, onto the review.
It's hard to figure out how to start a review for any Zelda game because immediatly there is so much to talk about, so I'll do my best from the beginning. You play a young farm hand named Link, living in a farming community with barely more than 4 houses and yet they need a mayor. Soon things go from simple and normal to you being dubbed the chosen hero. So saddle up on Epona (or whatever you name your horse) and set course across Hyrule, in the biggest version of it in any Zelda game.
Those who played Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker on the Gamecube will be very familiar with the control scheme for TP. Everything is mapped to the same place but there are subtle differences. For one, you can only have two items out in slots now instead of a max of three. No problem, you usually only need two at a time anyway to solve any puzzle or defeat any foe. And what items you have! In my opinion, TP gives some of the best items to date in any Zelda game. Tools such as the Spinner and the Dominion Rod are not only effective weapons, but fun as hell to use in any situation. The only continuing flaw with the items is that, like in other Zelda games, you get a new item in a dungeon, use it to progress, use it to defeat the boss, and rarely use it again after that. The only exceptions are tools such as the Clawshot, Bow, and occasionally the Iron Boots. A minor fault that leads to predictable game play.
Again, the game play is similar to that of Wind Waker and OoT, but in a way that is a splendid mix of the two. Throughout the game you'll run into a wolf spirit who will teach you hidden sword skills that are essential to taking down your more skilled advisaries.
Now I couldn't talk about TP without mentioning the wolf form. During your travels, you are at some point sucked into the Twilight infected areas of Hyrule, and there you are forcably transformed into the "blue-eyed beast". In wolf form, things are definatly simpler. Since you can't use items, puzzles become simpler to solve since there are very few ways you could attempt to solve it. Combat is quick and vicious, though often times because of the wolf's quick and sparatic movement, making sharp turns is hard and you lose your enemy fast, leaving you open for attack, which is very fatal in the first chapter of the epic.
Many familiar aspects of the Zelda universe make reapperances such as Poe Hunting, fishing, and horse back riding; as well as throwing in new features such as Bug Collecting, snow boarding, and even sumo wrestling.
Musically the game is familiar. Perhaps, too familiar. I think it's fair to say this franchise is long over due for an orchastraic score. Other than that, the sound works perfectly, and the graphics are the best the Gamecube as ever put out (although it's too late to save the purple lunch box).
Admittedly, with my first impressions of this game I had a score set out in my mind to give it. First a 9, then an 8, then a 9 again, and then pumped up to a 10 after the third dungeon. The reason being is that the game doesn't really find it's uniqueness until some half way through the game. Before that, it's so similiar to OoT that it feels like they didn't really try. Not that being like OoT isn't a bad thing, it's just that after playing OoT nearly 20 times, you wish for a fresher experience, which TP does eventually deliver on.
The one real beef I had with the game was that the camera was a bit difficult at times. More often than I'd like the camera would be behind a statue or a wall and I wouldn't be able to see Link, or rotating the blasted thing would be such a chore that I would be soon knocked off the ledge I was barely standing on.
The reason I love TP is that it has something for everyone. FPS, platformer, fighter, action/adventure, suspense, drama, comedy, the works. That's what puts this game at a perfect score. If it didn't have all that, it would be down in the 8's. Now that that wouldn't be a bad score either. It's like a beautiful woman with an annoying laugh and six toes on each foot. You take the bad with the good. However, TP has enough redeeming qualities to make up for the predictable game play and the itchy camera.
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