Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community

We haven't covered many big games on this site yet. I think, like Hollywood blockbusters, sometimes we tend to view franchise games as soulless and all about the money. Still, big games are the backbones of the industry, and sometimes they really do do things right. This review is a bit on the big side itself, but The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has a lot of interesting things to discuss, and only partially because it is first advanced title available for the Wii. I would venture to say that it is also one of the most advanced Zelda titles yet, although in certain respects it didn't live up to the hype.

Twilight Princess, like most of the Zelda games before it, heavily rewards longtime fans of the series. Recurring characters, locations, items, and even puzzles give a seasoned wielder of the Master Sword plenty of trips down memory lane, and perhaps that is the economic point of franchises. Still, there is something narcissistic and mystical about reincarnating into the same character over and over again to survey the good (or damage) you've done to the land of Hyrule in your years as the gamer-hero behind Link. Call it nostalgia or ritual, gamers really get something out of the smallest references to past adventures they've had in gamespace, and game franchises, if nothing else, can really cater to that type of gaming experience.

This is officially a review of the Wii version of Twilight Princess, but I've played on the Gamecube as well and the two are identical in content except for one curiosity, which, unfortunately, really strikes a blow to the nostalgic quality of Twilight Princess on the Wii. While the Gamecube Hyrule matches the layout of Ocarina of Time's map, Wii's version is horizontally reversed, which takes away that second-time-around feeling when you run from the forest to Kakariko Village after completing your first mission. Had I known this before, I might have opted for playing the Gamecube version first, but it's something that doesn't harm the game per se. Interestingly, this change was made in response to gamer preference for swinging the Wiimote with the right hand; since Link's sword hand is traditionally the left, the designers (in a show of fantastic laziness?) decided to invert the entire game. This brings up some interesting issues in terms of how medium and user interface affect the content of the game and (significantly, in my case) its effect on the gamer.

Wii gameplay for Twilight Princess is really fun, but this is not quite the gaming revolution that Nintendo promised. The novelty of swinging the Wiimote as a sword is soon lost when you realize that no, this is not Wii Sports and no, your movements with the remote do not translate directly into Link's hand. Instead of slashing enemies with the mighty strokes of my sword, I was whack-a-mole-ing in the vain hope that Link's animations would stop short and respond to my faster swings. The mechanic seemed really forced when the same sword-swing motions triggered radically different attack motions with wolf Link. Some people might prefer a trusty button. As for the pointing functions in the game, ranged weapons are a snap and feel much more like a test of skill than a joystick – once you get used to the sensitivity of the controls. However, the fairy pointer is useless for anything outside of menus and is noisy and distracting during play.

Still, the flexibility of the remote-nunchuk system works well for extended gaming sessions (stretch without pausing!) and does add that extra degree of involvement with the game that we were all hoping for.

There are a variety of conflict scenarios that really add some spice to fighting and puzzle solving in the game. From horseback jousting and arrow-sniping to sumo wrestling and snowboarding, the developers really came up with some fun activities that break up the swordplay action and are relevant to the main story arc. The dungeons are pretty standard Zelda fare, but more than a few boss battles stand out in my mind for innovative use of items. Just as they should in a game of this length, the final two boss encounters (one in the Twilight realm and one in the Light) bring almost all of your combat skills together in a really engaging series of battles that had a great cathartic effect – physically, mentally, and emotionally.

So how do the aesthetic elements of the game fit with an overall satisfying gaming experience? Visually, this installation is the next iteration of the Ocarina of Time aesthetic, with some special effects that give a nod to Wind Waker. While the overall style is realistic, many of the characters retain a comic/anime flair that Ocarina of Time preserved from the series' original styling. Obviously, the Wii can't compete graphically with the 360 or PS3, and the textures and rendering clearly indicate that the game was designed with the Gamecube in mind. Still, the aesthetic is coherent and does not feel like the designers tried either to overreach the capability of the system or oversimplify to compensate for its comparative weaknesses. Every region of Hyrule has its own visual character, and the dungeons stood out independently from one another in very satisfying architectural ways.

Among the more impressive visual aspects of the game are the stretched out dimensions. Hyrule is certainly more expansive in this incarnation, but the environments themselves showcase this spectacularly. The Wii's widescreen play mode really brings out the expansiveness of Link's surroundings and helps with HUD crowding, but the vertical spaces in the game are where the design really shines. Spectacular vistas await, whether from beneath a towering castle or from the top of a gorge.

These really engaging environments benefit a lot from the score, which plays up to the sentimentality of the gamer while adding some distinct overarching themes to the series that I hope will resurface sometime. Anyone interested in music in games should really take a look at the series as a whole, since there is a lot of remixing and reinterpretation going on here and in other parts of the series. There is also the integral role that music production takes in gameplay itself, though this is to a much lesser degree in Twilight Princess than Ocarina of Time. For this game in particular, the reactive score was really something – the music changes to fit the actions of the gamer. If Link is standing around on Hyrule Field, a very basic version of the area music plays, but once the gamer starts running on foot, more instruments are added. It gets even more exciting when on horseback, and the tune changes entirely when fighting. Boss battle music is similarly responsive to the action, with the mood of the music changing depending on if the boss is in a vulnerable position or not. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't encountered a game with “smart” music like this.

In terms of narrative, the Zelda series seems to be increasingly ambitious, but still sticks to the basic tropes of the series. Twilight Princess complicates a simplistic light vs. shadow struggle by exploring, albeit on the surface, the goodness in the shadow and the badness in the light, a complexity to which Ocarina of Time's “dark” dungeons – the Shadow Temple and Beneath the Well dungeon – alluded in visual aesthetic and play rather than narrative. Still, it was nice to literally move between light and shadow worlds; in a genre that is largely defined by freedom of movement, it only makes sense that Link's mastery over movement within and between worlds complements his narrative understanding of the complex relationships between Light and Shadow. Unfortunately, I think the game's storytelling took the easy road out when the emergence of an Ultimate Darkness toward the end of the game essentially erases much of the depth from Link's explorations.

The new visual and musical power in the game enables a real triumph for cutscenes in the narrative process. Love em or hate em, I was very pleased to see cutscenes in full effect for real turning points in the game. Link, a truly mute avatar, has only these few moments to develop some sense of character, but I feel like the cutscenes establish some really important things about him, which would explain why they are much more numerous at the very beginning and end of the game than in the middle. He makes a convincing character arc from naïve shepherd to chosen hero, aided by key battles and corresponding cutscenes.

Interestingly, Link once again fails spectacularly as a romantic lead in this game, and between the all-female Gerudo, all-male Gorons, butch-coded Impa, and Link's seeming disinterest in the many women that chase him (and seeming interest in Sheik/Zelda in male drag), I think there is real potential to analyze the series from a queer theory perspective.

At any rate, there weren't many cutscenes that felt frivolous, even if a few moments were laughably cliche. The game mostly avoids the gratuitous special effects and heinous violence on which other titles rely for cinematic cutscenes. There was a real effort here to integrate a cinematic experience (complete with virtual telephoto lenses, slow motion, and so on) into an otherwise text- and play-driven storyline, and while I can't call it an overwhelming victory, the results were quite beyond anything in previous Zelda history.

This is truly the most epic entry in the Legend of Zelda series yet.

That's not to say it's the greatest, however, or even the most revolutionary. At the end of the day, I'm still a bit lost as to how to judge it as a game. Twilight Princess was an amazing gaming and story experience, and I highly recommend it, but it's hard to say how it stands against the rest in the series. It surely doesn't redefine the series in the way that Ocarina of Time did, and most of the narrative aspects of the game were derived from previous entries. Both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask were more successful with a sinister visual aesthetic that would have fit perfectly with the darker themes of Twilight Princess, but neither of them were as expansive or detailed. Most of the puzzles are easy if you're a veteran of the series, but then, if you're a veteran of the series, the enjoyment of the game probably lies elsewhere. Despite all this, in terms of cinematic experience and gameplay mechanics, it is the most immersive entry yet. As a storytelling vessel, it works, even with a simplistic plot and flat characters.

I guess, in whatever vague qualities we refer to when we talk about them, I would call Twilight Princess a great game. Emotionally moving, physically engrossing, intellectually stimulating... all accomplished with technical skill that, when not outright keen, is a step in the right direction. In the future, the series would benefit from the balanced application of meaningful and artistic cutscenes, better Wiimote mechanics, and more exploration of the light and dark themes of the game. For my personal tastes, I think it's exciting that the games seem to be much bolder about openly expressing the spiritual and religious character of Hyrule, which has always been important but never fully addressed.

I guess I'll finish like Zach and say there is so much more to talk about, but the review doesn't need to be as epic as its subject. I now leave this conversation in the hands of others who have played the game.

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