Saturday, January 30, 2010

RECOM: Twilight Princess by Nightmaredude




The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
by Nightmaredude
(Contributing Author)


The latest release in the Legend of Zelda series from Nintendo, released on the Wii in late 2006, is a revolutionary title—not only for the series, but for RPG gaming as a genre—because of the ground-breaking use of controls, immersive story, and luscious world. As with every game in the series, Twilight Princess features a reluctant hero trying to save the world and rescue the princess. One would think that after nearly 25 years, this formula would grow tiresome; that, everyone can agree on, is not the case. The plot is much greater than it seems: as time goes by, the story becomes an epic quest, an adventure, to save not only Hyrule, but the universe, from the unrelenting forces of evil and darkness.

As the story begins, the first thing the player notices are the lush beautifully designed environments. Grass drifts in the wind, water ripples and reflects sunlight while fish cast shadows on the bottom of small ponds. The over-world is massive, with several wide-open fields, lakes and rivers, towns, and many dungeons. The design of each dungeon and the amount of detail put into every single room is astounding. The highly detailed Castle Town and the immense architectural wonder that is Hyrule Castle are a pleasure to study. And that’s only Hyrule; from the barren wastelands of the Gerudo Desert, to the dark atmosphere of the Twilight Realm and the lofty perches of the City in the Sky, Twilight Princess has a diverse world that easily enraptures the mind as you wander about on your quest.

What would any Legend of Zelda game be without its timeless, awe-inspiring music? Twilight Princess does not slack in the department of mood-setting tunes. One of the first games (and most likely the only one to date) on the Wii that features a full incorporated orchestra, the superiority of Twilight Princess’s music shines as bright as the Triforce itself. Although it takes a step away from traditional Zelda-themes, the soundtrack is nevertheless a piece of art, lending majesty to the magical world of Hyrule.

One must not over-look the smaller details, as the sound effects featured in Twilight Princess are precise and realistic to the point of perfection. From everything to jingling chain-mail to shouts of pain, the game has a sound effect for everything. The only damper on this is the usage of the Wiimote’s speaker to project sounds specific to Link. Although it is a fantastic concept, the low quality speaker tends to distort otherwise perfect sound effects. This error is easily rectified by simply turning off the speaker, making this small mistake a moot point for nitpickers.

The story follows Link, the only Hylian in a small, out-of-the-way town, whose world is turned upside down when ominous clouds of Twilight transform the world into a bleak and desolate place. When Shadow Monsters kidnap the local children, his adventure begins. Link does the unimaginable and goes into the Twilight, where he is turned into a wolf and taken captive. The story really picks up when Link meets up with an imp named Midna, who frees him in exchange for a favour. She takes Link to meet Princess Zelda, who willingly became a captive of Zant, the usurper King of the Twilight Realm, in an effort to save her kingdom from unnecessary slaughter. Midna and Link are charged by the princess to find a way to destroy the Twilight and bring peace back to Hyrule. The ending of the game is a masterpiece, truly a moment where story-telling becomes an art in which Twilight Princess excels beautifully.

Story aside, the game itself features many technical innovations. The use of the Wiimote, specifically the pointer, is pure genius: you aim at the screen with various items, such as the bow for a precision never before seen. Movement is as expected: you move with the Nunchuck’s analog stick and readjust the view with the C button. Sword wielding is simple: you swing the Wiimote (not radically though, short even swings are sufficient) and Link will swing his sword. Battling is made easier with the inclusion of Z-Targeting (pressing and holding the Z button to keep a lock on a single enemy), which is improved upon from previous games.

Continuing with sword fighting, the player can learn a wide range of alternate, special attacks, which usually involves a combination of analog-movement, sword swinging and/or button pressing. There is one move, however—the shield punt—that has the annoying habit of turning instead into a spin attack, due to the similarity in execution of the moves; to perform a spin attack you shake the Nunchuck; to perform a shield punt, thrust the Nunchuck forward. Although shield punting is used frequently in the beginning of the game, one can overlook this small fault when the other, much more powerful moves are unlocked.

As with its predecessors, Twilight Princess features a fare amount of unique items. Some—like the bow and arrows, bombs and jars—have been featured in previous games, while others—the Double Clawshots and the Gale Boomerang, for example—are upgraded items from previous installments. Of course, the game features new items such as the Spinner (a giant top which Link rides upon to destroy enemies and reach high places via tracks), and the Dominion Rod (a wand, in essence, that allows you to control statues).

Twilight Princess features a wide array of challenges, but most of them are fairly easy to figure out given some thought. The legendary Water Temple, however, is a testament to gaming ingenuity; easily the biggest and most complicated dungeon in the game, it features massive puzzles that affect the entire dungeon and way too many rooms to count. However, the rest of the game’s trails pale in comparison, and from that point out, the game is easily completed. Twilight Princess does possess a ridiculous amount of smaller, optional side quests and mini-games to distract the player, often reaping massive rewards. Alas, this, too, is a weak point in the game: they are easy to complete, making Rupee hunting a breeze.

Lastly, the boss battles are elegant and well thought out, with well-designed bosses and unique usage of item combinations. But because of the easy difficulty of the game, they are no longer the same heart-racing, temper -flaring battles of yesteryear. With a calm mind and quick reflexes, the boss battles are much simple, whereas the potential for greatness remains unused. Even the final boss, Ganondorf, poses no real challenge. Despite this however, Twilight Princess accomplishes exactly what it was made to do: give one a righteous sense of accomplishment, and the realization that you alone saved a world from overwhelming darkness.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a game which fans both old and new can be proud of, and is certainly one worth the time to complete.

Friday, January 29, 2010

ExciteBike Tourney

Hey ya'll,

Just a reminder that the ExciteBike Tourney is THIS weekend! on Sunday! at 2PM EST.

Meet in the site's Chat to set up the game.

And get your registration in if you haven't already!!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Some Game Journalists Are Smart

Please, read these ...

In Defense of the Wii
~tvandlust.net
[link]


Hudson Dev On Mature Wii Titles: Focus On Passion, Not Platform
~Gamasutra.com
[link]


What Wii gaming is like for me
~Destructoid.com
[link]


Only bad Wii games sell badly
~eurogamer.net
[link]


The Only Thing Lazy about Nintendo is their Haters
~IGN blogs
[link]

Monday, January 18, 2010

an elegant solution.

Doesn't it seem like there's a new article on Game X or Genre Y not selling well on the Wii everyday?

Or how Company Z is shifting their focus away from the Wii because of low sales? (Regardless of low effort).

Well, here's a thought, gaming media: spend less time covering early proclamations of the Wii's demise, and more time covering the GAMES before they have a chance to die!!

Most of my "hardcore" friends have no clue what games are available for the Wii. All they know is that people wind up b!tching and moaning about poor sales.

So the games are left to burn slowly on the market. Eventually selling decently, but forever ingrained as a "failure" due to lack of knowledge and early under performance.

Do your job, gaming media! We'll all be better off for it!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

official shirt of WiiAreDeep? =P

I just may need to pick one of these up.

[link]

I've always liked the original "coexist" image - y'know the one with a slightly more important message.

[link]

but this tshirt really kinda gets at the heart of my gaming ideals. and that's pretty bad-ass.

in other news: No More Heroes is an awesome game. I'm just getting around to playing it in preparation for NMH2. for the first 30 minutes into the game I was like: "erm... how much trade-in value could I get for this?" but slowly, the quirkiness and characters started to grow on me. and right now? I'm really diggin' it.

I definitely don't think the game is for everyone - but what game is? well, NSMBWii. but ASIDE from that? well... Mario Kart Wii........ ok nevermind. ^_^

Monday, January 11, 2010

the sky continues to remain unfallen

the recently added "Sales" section seems more timely than ever.

we've been told for months that all sorts of "mature" Wii titles have "failed" in terms of revenue. thus, many inferred, these series' would never continue on the platform. thus, Nintendo's Wii would be responsible for killing the "mature" game market. the sky was a-fallin'!!

but here we are, on the verge of NMH2, and here we have rumors that a Madworld 2 might be in the works for the Wii.

[link]

hmmm, perhaps those numbers in the Sales section DO prove something - the sky ain't fallin' over the Wii's head!!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Jantak wins our first Pokemon tournie!

in acting, there are the Baldwin brothers. in football, there are the Manning brothers. in platforming there are the Mario brothers.

but in Pokemon? there is Jantak and his older brother Luxray20.

they took home first and second place, respectively, in the first ever WiiAreDeep Pokemon Tournie! and I don't know what planet you're from. but around these parts, Pokemon is a pretty fun/popular game. so the competition was, dare I say, intense? I dare.

but when the dust settled those two trainers got the most from their teams, and for the rest of us (I came in third ^_^ ) we just have to train that much harder for next time!

HonorBadges are waitin' in the Tournies section, folks! grab 'em while they're hot!

head over to the Forums to congratulate the pokebrothers and suggest what we should play next!!

Happy (belated) Birthday WiiAreDeep!!

welp... it's been a year... roughly.

January 1st, 2009 is when I launched this little endeavor. I honestly can't believe a year has gone by already. before you know it we'll be talking about Wii2s and PS4s and XBox 720s.

will the culture of gaming still need a site like ours at that time? I'm hoping not.

I'm hoping that, by then, all the consoles will have motion control from the get-go, and all the consoles will have HD output. why do I hope this? not because I love uniformity, but because that way gamers will not have enough differences to perceive them as battle-lines.

sure, the consoles will likely have subtle differences. Natal is certainly a different take on motion control.

but I believe this gaming generation is the most turbulent one yet, and hopefully it will be the most turbulent for quite some time.

yes, 3D HDTVs are already in the plans for Sony's future. but honestly, if people make a big deal about 3D gaming.... I'm just gonna throw my hands up and say to heck with these technophiles. =P

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so anyway, there is a new section above called Sales. it'll be fleshed out in less than 24 hours. check it out then.

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one last thing... THANK YOU for being a part of this site and this cause. sadly, after one year's time, I don't think we've accomplished many of the goals in our Mission Statement. we're succeeding in Step #4, but we still have a long way to go everywhere else.

but hey, it's only been a year and it's not like I do this full-time or anything (I sure ain't gettin' paid for it! =P)

we did upgrade from .tk to a .com - that was nifty. and I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think we were getting somewhere. it's just such a big problem for one lil' mom and pop site to tackle, am I right? we don't exactly have the audience reach of the professionals. =\

but, even as the little guy, hopefully we'll come up with some new strategies in 2010 and get some more of those goals checked off. maybe even become a LESS-little guy in the process...

anyway, thanks again everyone! enjoy your gaming!

~CrashMan

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Some Great New Years Resolutions

there are a few items on this list that I hope many, many people take to heart over the next year.

[link]

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also, Mike Fahey (Kotaku) wrote an article about a 3D Wii game being a "gimmick." I asked him why the Wii game was a gimmick but the PS3's plans for future 3D products were an "upgrade," an "advantage" and an "enhancement."

long story short, Mike took his ball and went home revoked my Kotaku Commentor Star. ...*sigh*...

Saturday, January 2, 2010

human. gamer. now? husband.

hey all.

it's late. we just got back from our Christmas, Christmas 2, wedding, honeymoon, new years, family dinner trip.

... time to recover for a couple days.

I'll be hopping on now and then for the next few days.

glad to be back!

the Tournies have been updated as the Pokemon tourney is coming down to the wire!

currently playing: RE Darkside =D