-Reviews-
-Previews-
-Cheats-
-Guides-
-Release Dates-
-Affiliates-
-Accesoires-
-Message Board-
-Drew's Special Section-
-Nic's Special Section-
-Contact Us-
-Poll-
-Banners-
-Add Your Banner-
The characters themselves are blessed with some wonderful animation and superb touches, with exaggerated expressions portraying a wider array of emotions on their faces, Link in particular running a gamut feelings as you guide him around the lush environments. His eyes skew angrily during fights, he pants and wheezes after performing a long and tiring spin attack, and he beams enthusiastically when you discover an item. The endearing little wide-eyed tyke may be a long distance from the eventually rugged hero from past Zelda games, but seeing as this game is supposedly set before any other of the titles in the series and harks back to a more innocent age, we can forgive him for that.
Playing the game is much like revisiting the last two 3D Zelda games, complete with context sensitive buttons, Z trigger lock on for sword fighting, a mixture of gaming styles which have you boat racing, sneaking around in barrels, chatting to various villagers, and solving numerous puzzles to progress in your vast quest. The quick responsive controls mesh well with the graphics, sucking you into the gaming world with little effort. In fact, it had us desperately hooked within a few minutes. For those magical moments, it?s like creator Shigeru Miyamoto has sneaked up behind you and slipped a dog collar ?which says "now property of Zelda Inc."- on your still and mesmerised head and neck. You belong to him, and all Link?s problems, joys and efforts become yours. In short, it?s totally mesmerising. And this was only during a couple hours of sectioned off play, let alone the complete game!
The green garbed elf is a lot nimbler than usual, getting much more airtime from his combat flips and jumps this time around which lends a larger sense of the magical in the process. The auto jump feature from Ocarina of Time and Majora?s Mask has returned, in all its quirky glory, but remains largely easy to use, also helped by a free and controllable camera controlled by the C-stick which was surprisingly intuitive. While this may cause problems in the final version, the emphasis on puzzle based adventuring rather than platform jumping is likely to ease concerns similar to those had about Super Mario Sunshine?s reportedly erratic camera.
One of the most enticing things about The Legend of Zelda was that while the sections we played were a wonderful example of the game on their own, when it all comes together to form a whole adventure complete with three-on-one battles, plot twists, secret items, innovative boss confrontations and more, it should be an experience to match that of the superlative N64 Zelda titles. We?re hoping for a dark and immersive experience when the game is finished in time for an early 2003 release, and there?s a lot of promise there already. Doubters had best keep their swords sheathed in the meantime ? Link?s already managed to slice their collective acid tongues with some impressively playable action already...and all while having a big, doe-eyed cartoon-like grin on his face. You gotta love it.