Sorry for the late post! Completely slipped my mind!
Official Website : http://www.zelda.com/tp/
Intro
Zelda as a franchise has always been a fan favourite since the first time it was ever released and it appealed to me just as much as the general populous. As such, one of the first games I decided to purchase alongside my Wii was Zelda : Twilight Princess. The game was quite a marvel overall and its high score of 9.5 on Ign.com only serves to bolster its reputation. Going into depth, I will look at the game through five out of the hundred lenses, namely
– The lens of Fun
– The Lens of Puzzles
– The Lens of Story
– The Lens of the World
– The Lens of Freedom
The Lens of Fun
-The game has many different activities and features that are not only fun but also provide enjoyment each time the game is played
-Notable fun activities include horse-riding (especially running over enemies and even being pursued by a bird while riding), fishing, tossing the boomerang and even general combat itself
-Even though one has to fight enemies constantly, the diversity of the enemies faced and the combat system allow for fun to be had throughout the game
– Also particularly enjoyable is being a wolf which not too many games allow the experience of.
The Lens of Puzzles
-Puzzles are found in healthy numbers in all the dungeons of the game
-They are easier at the beginning and slowly creep up the difficulty ladder
-Some puzzles are not part of a dungeon but rather simply require common sense and general knowledge (Such as when you are a wolf and need to get through a wall. Would need to think of digging or when you are faced with an arrow barrage and have to figure out that you need to dart through the field to avoid being hit)
The Lens of Story
-Twilight princess has a deep and satisfying story which is definitely needed for the game’s success.
-The story involves the transformation of Link into a wolf and also cleansing a shadow world which is really more than your everyday storyline.
-The story also has its fair share of surprises and twists (both pleasant and negative) which will keep the players intrigued throughout
The Lens of the World
-The playing environment in Twilight Princess is HUGE. There are plenty of interesting places for the player to discover and explore. Areas also stay unlocked so the world only keeps expanding as the game progresses.
– The environment is crafted to roughly resemble a real world environment so as to instill familiarity but also carries with it features (mostly monsters and other assorted evil things) not found in the real world to give that element of fantasy.
-The shadow world is mostly what sets this game apart from other Zelda games. It is frightening at times, carries even more hideous creatures and gives the player a level of challenge much higher than that found in the normal world.
-I believe the game world does honestly give players a desire to go out and explore more as players can get so much enjoyment from just wandering around smashing enemies into the ground and also looking for a variety of collectibles hidden throughout the large expanse.
The Lens of Freedom
-Players are largely free to do as they please in Twilight Princess
-The game does not force the players to advance the storyline and they can do it completely at their own pace
-The only time when players are constricted is when they are in the shadow world but even then if they willingly enter the shadow world; they are also allowed to freely exit it anytime.
-The game however almost reaches the point where it actually overwhelms the players with too much freedom, basically giving them so many choices of what to do next that they sometimes cannot decide what to do. Thankfully however, Link’s shadowy friend Midna can be called on any time after she joins Link to remind the players what the next thing to do is. Still, the level of freedom can be overwhelming to some.