GoNintendo 'EoD' thought - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD review

Bumping this one up for the End of Day thought, just incase some people missed it. I'm sure most of you already have your mind made up on Twilight Princess HD, but hopefully my review helps some others make up their minds. Please have a read and enjoy! See you in a few, short hours.

It's funny how things work out sometimes. Here we are, getting ready for the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. From announcement to release, the path for Twilight Princess HD has been pretty smooth. That's not exactly how things went for the original release. Twilight Princess was met with a few delays towards its GameCube release, which included the big bombshell that the title would also be a launch game for Wii. When we first heard about Twilight Princess, we didn't even know what the Wii was, let alone that it was on the way!

Now with Twilight Princess HD releasing very soon, we actually see that we're in a similar Zelda situation. We don't know all that much about Zelda Wii U. We've seen just a few tidbits of footage and learned a handful of details, but that's it. What we do know is that the game was pushed back, just like Twilight Princess. We also know that there are rumors of the game hitting NX at launch, which once again, is the same path that Twilight Princess took. As we wait for confirmation on all things Zelda Wii U, we get the revamped version of the title that caused us all that waiting and heartache in the first place.

The good news is, Twilight Princess HD certainly makes for good company. While it may not be a brand-new Zelda game, it could end up being a new Zelda experience for many gamers. I mean, it's nearly been 10 years since Twilight Princess launched on GameCube and Wii! Can you believe it's been that long? That's certainly enough time for a bunch of new Nintendo fans to have populated the earth, and Twilight Princess HD could be their first taste of the franchise itself. Whether you're jumping in for the first time or playing it for the 10th time, Twilight Princess is still just as much fun in its HD outing. As a matter of fact, it's pretty safe to say that Twilight Princess HD is the definitive experience between all released versions.

Even though Twilight Princess has been around for nearly a decade, I'm going to stay away from spoilers. We have to keep in mind the fact that newcomers could be taking on this game for the first time. A big part of the fun with any game is experiencing the story for yourself. I don't want to rob anyone of that element of the game, especially when Twilight Princess had some of the strongest characters in the franchise yet. It's actually quite fun to go back and experience the story and character development, because you see just how certain characters came to be popular, and you also see how Nintendo has fine-tuned their storytelling as the years rolled on.

What I want to do is focus on the new elements of Twilight Princess for those that are double dipping, or even triple dipping. Twilight Princess HD may not look like it's exploding with new content on the surface, but I do believe the fresh content and tweaks included make for a great experience when lumped together. There's really nothing included in Twilight Princess HD that I felt hurt the experience at all. Not a single new element cheapened the experience for me. It all comes together as a cohesive collection of ideas that help breath some new life into the title.

In my mind, above all else, the control tweaks are the biggest change that Twilight Princess HD offers over the original. When Twilight Princess came out on Wii and GameCube, there was a pretty big split among fans. Some were very eager to try out the motion controls that Wii provided, while others wanted to play the game on the platform it was originally intended. To this very day, that debate still rages on. GameCube fans will fight to the end, saying that their version is the way the game was meant to be played. With Wii fans, the argument comes from getting Zelda as a launch title and also getting a unique motion control experience right out of the gate. While that argument may never end, I'd like to think that Twilight Princess HD will help bring a lot of people together in the controls department. I think this title is the perfect marriage of traditional and motion controls.

If you wanted to use button presses to swing Link's sword instead of waggling, that's here. If you want motion controls to fine-tune your movements with items like the slingshot, boomerang and more, that's here as well. If you don't want to use motion controls, you simply don't have to. You can use the right analog stick to control things as you would expect in any other game. Aim items and move the camera with that analog stick and never think of motion controls again. Those that like a more Splatoon-like motion controlled experience can get something very similar from Twilight Princess HD.

I really found myself enjoying the combination of both control options. I personally don't like locking on to attack certain enemies. If I see a spider climbing up a wall, I want to free-aim and take it out. I want to use a little of my own skills to eliminate those pests, rather than let the game do a lot of the work for me. That's why I really enjoyed the mix of traditional and motion controls. I would do main aim adjustments with the joystick, then tweak my position with GamePad motion controls. I'd also do the same when going into the first-person camera. Move the joystick to a general area where I wanted to see, then make specific motion-controlled movements to get the look I wanted. These features are there if you want them, but not necessary at all. You can even eliminate motion control completely by playing with the Wii U Pro Controller, so there shouldn't be any room left for complaints from either side.

Then there's the GamePad screen itself, which is used for item management, maps and other details. As we saw with Wind Waker HD, there's just no better way out there to go item-picking in Zelda. Skyward Sword had a really unique method for choosing what items you wanted, but I still have to say that the GamePad screen option is the best one available. Just touching and dragging items to buttons on the fly makes for such an easy experience. No need to pause the game and jump into menus, toggle things on and off and then repeat a million times over. Having the item management and map right there in your hands makes the entire experience that much more seamless. You're not taken out of the action as much as you were in the originals. This kind of screen inventory usage makes it much harder to imagine going back to the old ways.

A step down from the controls comes the superfluous content. There's a handful of goodies thrown in here to make the experience new in some areas. Biggest of all those is the Cave of Shadows, which is an amiibo-locked experience. This cave plays much like challenges in other Zelda games. You'll hop into a cave and have to fight your way through waves of enemies to make it deeper into the cave. You'll only be able to progress so far early on, as deeper portions of the cave require you to play more into the main adventure. It's also important to point out that this experience puts you in control of wolf Link only, which plays into the challenge. It's certainly an enjoyable experience, but it's nothing amazing or worth the purchase price alone. We all know the amiibo itself is the real thing to get excited about!

There's some other new content in there as well, but the ideas get smaller as we go along. You can find new treasure chests that offer up Miiverse stamps. It's always nice to have something new to hunt down in an old experience, so while the Miiverse stamps themselves may not be the most exciting, it is fun to get out there and find every one that's hidden in the game world. There's also tweaks like a new lantern for Poe hunting, faster loading times and even quicker climbing speeds. These all may not seem like big deals on their own, and that's because they aren't. The important thing is that all of them help to improve the overall experience and don't make it worse by any means.

I think furthest down on the totem pole would have to be the visuals. I don't want to say that Twilight Princess is an ugly game, because that's not the case by any means. It's still a very nice looking game, and that's made even more true by the HD revamp. It may not be as huge a visual overhaul that some wanted, but I think the change is quite a noticeable one. I think the real thing to point out is that people may be looking at the original release with rose-tinted glasses. Twilight Princess HD looks like the game does in your memories. You might not see a big change at first. The real difference comes up when you compare footage from the original to this Wii U version. The game has been significantly cleaned up in some big ways and it makes for a much sharper presentation. Unfortunately, we don't get that side-by-side comparison when we're playing, so I fear some will take issue with what they feel to be a rush job, or a quick upscaling of the visuals.

The important thing to remember here is that...everything included in Twilight Princess HD that's 'new' just falls into the bells and whistles department. The real important part of the game is the game itself! We're talking about the overall experience that the player goes through. Many of you have gone through that already and may very well go through it again with Twilight Princess HD. I feel that the new content does make another playthrough worth it, especially if you want to experience the different control scheme. I find it amazing just how those tweaks and changes make for a much better flow in the gameplay. That said, if the controls aren't doing it for you, you might find this revamp a hard sell.

It's an amazing game, through and through. It's one of my favorite Zelda games, and it has one of my favorite characters ever. The game itself is just as fun and engaging as it was 10 years ago. If you're a Wii U owner and you've never played Twilight Princess, there's no doubt that this HD version is a must-have for any self-respecting Zelda fan. It's an absolute no-brainer of a purchase. If you HAVE played Twilight Princess before, that purchase decision might be a bit tougher. If you want the amiibo for your collection, why not grab the game as well? If you're not into amiibo, you have to decide if the new features warrant another purchase for you. Again, it's a fantastic experience from top to bottom, but's not like Twilight Princess is that old in the grand scheme of things.

I can't make the decision for you. Look at the new content. Look at how much you enjoy the original release. Are you ready to hop back in and ride with wolf Link on his adventure one more time? You already know what's going on in the bulk of the game, and you also know the new content. You should be able to purchase this game and not be disappointed or hang back until the game gets a tad older. What I can say is, if you do decide to pick this game up, I do not believe you'll regret the purchase. Even though Twilight Princess is still fairly fresh in my memory, Twilight Princess HD sucked me in just like it did the first time around. I'm very happy to have had the experience again.