Review | The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Words (Nintendo 3DS)

Look a little familiar?

Wanna hear my thoughts about The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds?

Today I shall be reviewing the newest installment of the ever growing Legend of Zelda franchise, A Link Between Worlds for the Nintendo 3DS. Originally planned as a Link To The Past remake it was decided by the great folks at Nintendo that the remake would be scrapped in favour of a completely new game instead. Shall we have a look and see just what I thought of this game then?

The game itself follows the same sort of style as most LOZ games with one obvious different detail - the dungeons were NON-linear! That's right folks, for the first time since the very beginning of the series the player can choose to wander around the landscape and decide which dungeon is to be completed first (with the obvious exception of the first and final dungeons). How you may ask? Surely the point of these Zelda games is to proceed to one dungeon to the next, collecting an item that is required to proceed to the next area and thus the next dungeon and so on and so on, right?

The new 'renting' system allows you to choose the item to use.

Correct I say, that is what the other LOZ games have done - not this one though. The game tackles this problem by having a system whereby you rent an item that would be needed for the dungeon of your choice. This eliminates most of those Big Chest items you get (exempt of course from the items not really needed to complete the game such as better armour).

Classic fighting in Zelda games is a staple of the series.

My feelings on this, in all honesty, are rather mixed. While I do enjoy this freedom to run around and tackling whatever cave or castle I feel I can take on, to me it seems that in this case there is no real difficulty curve. Instead of going from one place to the next, with each place getting harder and harder, you are put in a position where you can do any one you choose and while some may be more difficult that others, there is no real significant difference. If you complete the dungeon you thought was the hardest first, then surely the other dungeons would be a walk in the park for you to pass right? Just a thought.

The merging into the wall is a great puzzle base idea.

One of the major aspects of the game was the new power to walk in walls and turn into 2D for a period of time. When I saw this on the adverts I thought it was a awesome idea that could create some of the best puzzles in a Zelda game to date. Using the Wall Power combining with these rented items all within a time limit would be the definition of a challenging and fun puzzle and the reward of completing it successfully would be enough. After playing the game though sadly, I found that it wasn't like that for most part of the game - in my own honest opinion you understand.

Eastern Palace - the first true dungeon of the game.

The best part of using that function was during two parts of the game - The Eastern Palace and the Tower Of Hera. While it may seem like there is nothing wrong with two dungeons featuring puzzled to incorporate the new system, it was the fact that these two dungeons are two of the very beginning ones just before you have your choice of dungeons. You used this power to make your way out of the tower and around the outside which I thought was an amazing way to have puzzles. After the first portion of the game is complete however I felt that the power was used sparingly in favour of rented items.

The Tower of Hera is the second or third dungeon of the game.

The items being rented was a good idea for the whole non-linear aspect, it just made it seem that this item was the only use for the dungeon of choice. The Hammer was only used mainly for one dungeon, the Ice Rod for another and so on. There wasn't really a puzzle that I can recall that required more than a single item and the power. Remember in the early Zelda games (such as Link To The Past and the Oracle series) where you had all your items near the last dungeon and you had to use not just the one found in that dungeon, but all the rest as well as whatever power or item was special to that game? It just felt to me that while in those games you needed to think of what to use, how to use it and with what other item and it made it a challenging and fun game to play - especially from a puzzle playing aspect. With this game and the system they use, it kinda just makes you think 'I have to use this item and the wall power - but in what way do I use the item?' and there isn't really many ways the Bombs or the Slingshot can be used.

Don't get me wrong though - I love the game. I have played on it and finished it and played every aspect of it. The new system will be loved by many people I know that, it's just I guess I can be biased to the older generations of gaming where it seemed they focused on the gameplay and not just the graphics and presentations. Maybe back then they didn't need to think of new ideas to make it succeed as there was not many ideas that had been used already.

What are my final thoughts on A Link Between Worlds?

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a fun game. It looks amazing and plays well and while the story is similar to the other games in the series, it is enough different to not feel extremely repetitive in terms of story. I think that the other Zelda games on the DS systems took advantage more of the DS style of gaming with the touchscreen and stylus. The game is enjoyable don't get me wrong but to me with the lack of a true difficulty curve it seems that this game is in the middle of easy and hard all the way through the game and I did find the game just not as challenging as others in the series.

What did you think of the Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds?

The British Gamer. Signing Off.