“The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD” is a complete remastered version of 2006's “Twilight Princess." Originally made for the Nintendo Gamecube and the then brand new Nintendo Wii, “Twilight Princess” was an attempt to bring the Zelda franchise into a new generation. Departing from the cartoony style of 2003's “The Wind Waker," this game told a story with a much darker tone and new art style to compliment it. “Twilight Princess HD” attempts to remaster the game with enhanced graphics for the Wii U and tweaks to the original's gameplay, following in the footsteps of other remastered versions of older Zelda titles. This is not a full review of the game. It's only been out publicly for a day at the time I'm writing this. This is a general first impressions article on my experiences so far, the differences I've noticed between this and the original and what I think of it so far. I will be doing a full review at a later date.
The first thing that immediately becomes apparent when starting this game up is the HD conversion. It looks absolutely outstanding. The game runs at 1080p at a smooth 60 frames per second. The character models and environments look much better than the Gamecube/Wii original. The original had this weird haze effect that made a lot of the game look a tad bit blurry. That's all gone now and the game looks the best it's ever been. The game's lighting has also been improved immensely. The original really emphasized how dark some of the environments are and it made exploration in the darker areas kind of a pain.
The visuals aren't the only thing that has been improved. The gameplay from “Twilight Princess” has been given many tweaks that help improve the overall experience. Returning from other HD Zelda games is the ability to use the GamePad's gyroscope to aim ranged weapons. I've always been a fan of this method, as the gyroscope feature on the Wii U and 3DS has made aiming items much more fun and smooth to use.
The game has also fixed a lot of the more frustrating elements of the original. There are sections in the game where you have to free an specific area's light spirit. To do this, you have to collect Tears of Light. This process in the original was annoying, boring and tedious. However, this game cuts the amount of Tears you have to collect by about 50%, making it a faster and smoother experience.
The jumbled mess of an item screen from the original is gone. Now all your items are organized on the GamePad for quick and easy access and fusing items is more convenient to do. The game also adds in amiibo support and people who got the game on release got a Wolf Link amiibo, which allows access to a secret dungeon where you must fight multiple hordes of enemies. Every other Zelda-themed amiibo has different functions. Link and Toon Link will refill your arrows. Zelda and Shiek will refill your health. And Ganondorf will make it so you take double damage, enhancing the game's difficulty. Keep in mind that the recovery item amiibos will only work once a day, so use this new advantage wisely.
So far, “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD” is giving me everything I wanted and even more. As far as first impressions go, this game is a satisfying experience. If you want a more detailed review of the game, then join me at a later date when I'll go over the game in a more in-depth review.
