First Impression: The Legend Of Zelda – A Link Between Worlds (3DS) ~ The Future Of Zelda

Official website

Well, some of you guys might have already finished this game. Yet, I have not. There are a few games I’m playing during my free time so this one I play in parts. I have also a link to another world. It’s called real life. College is bothering me as well. Read as, giving me loads of work. Yet, I enjoy it. I would love to succeed in my future profession as a teacher. Anyways, enough about that. I got with the pre-order a special bonus. A chest that could open and close at will. And when you open it, the melody plays. You all know what it’s. It’s the chest opening sound. Anyways, this game is highly praised. Will this first impression add to the praise or will I rip this one apart? Of course not that last one since I’m such a Zelda fan. But I have some issues with the game. Oh yeah, I nearly always forget to add this part. But leave a comment with what you think of this game and / or my article. Thanks in advance. 

Graphics?

To be honest, when I saw the original teaser trailer, I was put off from playing this game. The graphics looked so ugly. Thankfully the finished product looks a lot better. Yet, I don’t think this is a graphic style for on portable devices. It more reminds me of games on the Gamecube then on games on the 3DS.

To be fair and objective for a second, the graphics are amazing. But like I already mentioned they aren’t my cup of tea. At least, not on the Nintendo 3DS. I’m a bigger fan of the design of the previous games. But I give credit where credit is due. The design of the enemies are similar to the previous game. I’m talking about A Link To The Past here, since this game is a sequel.

Fans of my blog know that I normally write about the story first. But I wanted to tackle this graphics part first. Since I honestly don’t care that much about graphics. Yet, I think some things in this game don’t look like they should. They don’t blend in with the rest of the look of the game too well for my taste.

Anyways, enough about the graphics. The animation of this game is well done. It looks alive. Also, the throwing of the spears from the enemies is perfect. You see a downwards motion and that’s just mind blowing.

Story

The story in portable Zelda games is never deep as in the console games. But this game actually challenges my statement. It builds on the previous story unlike the sequel of Ocarina of Time, which is Majora’s Mask. Also, the story is what YOU make of it. And now even more then before.

Out of order dungeons. They are finally back! One of the last times I can remember that you could do that was in Zelda I. The very original. In all other games you have to go from one dungeon to the next since you needed a certain item. But about that more later.

The story is played out nicely. Ganon returns but not on the way I suspected it to be. Also, the other world isn’t the past. It’s a mirror version of Hyrule. And thank the triforce for that. Nintendo really knew that they should make the other world something different.

But I can’t give my full opinion about the story yet since I haven’t finished it. But I promised to talk about the items later. And now is the time. You can buy and rent nearly every item in the game from the get-go. While this has me still mixed, the mechanic actually works and provides additional challenge. Renting an item costs you 50 rupees.  And buying, well at this point in the game, 800. While it’s true that you can farm out rupees, it makes you think about spending them when you don’t farm them.

This makes the dungeons not having an item in them. So, it’s basically a rush to the boss. Is the game easier then? Well no. Some dungeons are extremely challenging. And some puzzles are as well. Thinking out of the box with the mechanic that you can merge into walls is just great. First I thought that it would make the game easier and give you the ability to skip puzzles due to being able to go over holes. Yet, with some well placed design, this isn’t possible.

New and old?

So, I’ll go more in depth in my review. But because this is my first impression, I’m going to try and keep it short. So next up is the music. And holy smokes is it beautiful. It might happen that the music makes it on my favorite game music lists. Yeah, those articles. For some reason, I really enjoy writing those. And this music truly inspires me to write more. Many Zelda tunes are in this game. New music as well. Also, the themes are recognizable from the older games while it still manages to keep fresh.

Also, when you merge into the wall, the music sounds like you outside of the game area. Like you are approaching the game world. And that you hear the music. Lovely touch.

While I hate the save points, it provides a nice challenge. They went from the ability to save everywhere to save statues like in the previous Wii title.

Backtracking is thankfully a thing of the past! You have now a bell for calling a witch that will drop you off at any activated save point.

Wait, I’m nearing the end of the article and I haven’t talked about the controls and the new inventory system. I try to keep these kind of articles at the same length and now I’m really nearing the end. So, I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. When I’m finished with this game, I’ll surely write a review about it. So, keep your eyes open for that. But until then, let’s save Hyrule!

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Game Music Favorites #2: Bigger Sequel.

As I’m The Legend Of Zelda, Link Between Worlds and the Special Case of Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies along with Age Of Empires II HD on Steam and Corpse Party – Book Of Shadows on PSP, I don’t have a lot of games to review or make a first impression about. Surely I can write two about Age Of Empires and Zelda, but I need to play a bit more of them first. But before that, I liked my previous article enough to already make a new, possibly more lengthy, article. Let’s dive into a load of amazing music that I found during my adventures in game. Feel free to leave yours in the comment section down below. Or your opinions on my selections. I love hearing feedback. Anyways, orchestra is ready to go, so yeah.

#1: Alan Wake (DLC) –  Old Gods Of Asgard – Children of the Elder God

Link

Alan Wake is an amazing game. And various others told me that the soundtrack is amazing. And I totally agree. The music makes the game more tense.

At the end of each chapter, they have placed an amazing song. This is one of my  favorite tracks in game. The atmosphere is tense and I enjoyed it an awful lot. The other songs aren’t really my cup of tea. Honestly I don’t like game music where there is lyrics. Expect when it’s on important moments.

But the DLC has the best music! The fighting scenes are tense. And the music makes you sit at the edge of your seat. Totally wonderful.

I wish I could find time to finish the DLC’s. I started to write this article ten days ago and I finally finished this part of it. Yup, like I said in my previous article, I’m that busy.

Anyways, on the the next track!

#2: Corpse Party: Blood Covered OST  – Chapter 5’s Main Building Theme 2 (PSP Version)

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I have talked a lot about Corpse Party. I love the game to death. It’s near perfection in my eyes in the visual novel horror genre. I applaud the creators of the game like a mad man.

I’ll probably choose a lot of tracks in this series with my favorite game music in it, so stay tuned. I talked about the music in my review. And since I haven’t finished Corpse Party – Book Of Shadows, I think it would be silly to put a track on here of that game.

But the last chapter’s music is just amazing. I even had it as my ringtone for quite some time. It’s upbeat and it makes you want to finish the story. It motivates you to fight on and solve the final riddles that the game presents to you.

While it’s upbeat and very melodic, the creepiness of the game doesn’t go lost. The track makes you feel tense while ready to dive head on in the action. This track is proof how music in a horror game doesn’t always need to be scary.

#3: Rise & Fall: Civilizations At War – Main Theme

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Let’s fight aside famous hero’s of Rome, Greece or Egyptian wars. Much to my disliking, the in game music is extremely short. With each track being just a minute long, the music just loops too much.

Yet, it isn’t bad music. It’s tough to find it online though. Maybe Midway hunts down uploaders and stops them from uploading the music. Yet, the main theme is uploaded several times.

Truth to be told, I haven’t come near completing this game. I just like the mechanic of having a RTS game and where you can see the battles in 3D. And control the movement of your hero. But I was a bit too young when trying to take on the campaign.

This music is so lovely, the creators even made it that you can’t tell when you loop it where it ends and where it starts. I wish this style of music was in every adventure game. This track, I see it used in more then only this style of game.

#4: Lux Pain – Pumpkin Pon

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Pumpkin Pon, is such a bright and relaxing place in Lux-Pain. In this visual novel, some darkness has taken over a town. You can see the darkness and how it eats away at people.

While trying to hide your special powers, you go undercover. This game is long, dark, gloomy and sometimes hard. But when this track starts playing, it always puts a smile to my face. Upbeat and melodic. Fun and inviting. Just like the bar it’s named after.

The game is underrated, but it isn’t for everybody. When I ever have time to replay it, I’ll surely review it.

#5: Time Hollow – Opening

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Oh. My. Lords. This theme song. It’s the definition of amazing openings. If you can, go find a version of the intro and watch it. And then tell me, you aren’t curious to play this game.

While the Japanese version is totally different, I prefer the English version of this one. I sing along with it every time I hear it. And yes, it even puts a tear to my eye thinking how well written this game is and what impact it has on me.

This game is way to short and I wish Konami made a sequel on this one. Where the game is longer. Since there are so many unexplained things left. And Konami, if you are reading, please make the sequel just a bit longer? Okay? Please?

#6: Monster Tale – Pressure’s On.

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There is a lot of good music in this Metroid-vania game. But this is one of my favorite tracks in-game. The music that plays with this boss battle is just so tense, that I was easily distracted by the music.

And when I finally could concentrate on the battle, the music helped me through the battle. I admit that I download music of games for tracks like this. Electronic rock. Sadly enough that this video cuts of the music midway. That, or YouTube must be glitching on me. Oh well.

This game is one I want to review. Yet, I has been some time since I played this game so I can’t give it a fair judgement. So, keep your eye out on a review of this pearl.

#7: The Last Remnant – Press to Victory

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Only recently I started playing The Last Remnant. I bought Broken Sword 5 – The Serpents Curse and I saw that this game was on sale. To make a nice round amount to pay at the check out, I bought it. I thought I earned some great games after doing some hard work in college.

And I heard some amazing music in this game. It blew me off my socks and I will surely play this game a lot more. It’s interesting and it got a story I can relate to. Well, relate as in, I saw it in different games as well and I wanted more of that style of story!

This music truly sets the right tone on the battlefield and I’m curious when it will be used again in the game. I have only played it for like a hour and I am attached to it. So, probably for Christmas I’m going to ask Santa to give me a bit more hours in a day since I want to play so many games besides studying and this is surely one of them.

I advice to get this game. It’s a cheap one and it’s made by Square Enix. Yeah, good stuff!

#8: Phoenix Wright – Ace Attorney 5: Dual Destinies – Pursuit: Ambushed

The Japanese box-art because we only got an eShop release.

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Objection! This music is totally awesome. It’s the best pursuit music I have heard in years. In all the series, this music is my favorite track in the game. It’s the moment you finally crack the case and place the suspect under high stress.

Ace Attorney looses a lot of it’s charm if you play it without the music. I mean, a big orchestra even played the music of this game. Think about it, people who care so much about a simple text based game on the Nintendo DS. It even started on the Gameboy Advance in Japan!

All the songs, and all the remixes of this series are worth listing to. Yet, this is my number one track in the whole series. Thanks for uploading the extended version!

Closure

So, I think I’ll leave this article here. I’m finishing up DLC of Ace Attorney 5 and Alan Wake. While I’m beating also games I have nearly completed. So, expect new articles in the future. While I try to fight through college as well.

I hope you enjoyed reading through this article and you enjoyed the music tracks I picked this time. I’m nearing the 100th article I publish on my personal blog. So, I’m truly excited. Anyways, back to Broken Sword 5. The update downloaded. 🙂

First Impression: Nicktoons – Spongebob and Friends – Battle For Volcano Island (PS2) ~ Thou Are Summoned

(Little blog news: Sorry for not writing a lot. I’m extremely busy. Follow me on my Twitter for updates.)

Wikipedia entry

Back when the gameboy advance SP was the latest of the latest gameboy’s from Nintendo, I could rent out games from a local game store. The same one I buy most of my games at today. I love those guys. They are extremely friendly, talk with you about games, have an amazing helpdesk… Lot of advantages. For those who are interested in some Belgium culture while learning about my opinion of the games I play, here is the site of my game store. But be warned, it’s in Dutch. Game Mania is just awesome. I rented the latest Zelda game, which was the Minish Cap, and a few other games. The GBA version of this game was among them. Bummed out that I had to return the GBA version because it was so awesome I looked all over for this game. Sadly enough, I wasn’t able to find a copy for myself. Until one day I passed by and saw this in the 2nd hand PS2 games shelf. I was thrilled. Finally a copy of this game for myself. Not the one I wanted but hey, it’s a start. My expectations where high. I tried to set them really low to avoid a major disappointment but I was happily surprised. This game is pretty great. Why, I’ll explain in this article. But don’t let you get fooled by the fact it’s a kid’s game. Don’t judge a book on it’s cover, or a game on it’s box-art. Who knows, there might be a great gem inside. Anyways, let me know in the comments how I did in this article and your views on this game. Even when you didn’t play it. So, here we go. 

Open yet closed?

Expect it, I’ll make a lot of references and comparisions to the GBA version of this game. Something I really liked in the GBA version is the fact you could walk around and pick the order of the levels yourself. Of course, parts where locked away until you reached a certain point of the game, but you didn’t had to finish all the levels in one section before you could advance to the next section.

If this game works with the same idea, I can’t tell just yet. From what I see now, it’s a tad bit more linear. But there is a central hub. And here is the neat thing, you are free to explore the whole thing. The restrictions from the GBA version aren’t there.

But what I really like in this version of the game is how the story is presented to you. It’s a big improvement above the GBA version where the story was somewhat absent. Your goal in this game was a bit unclear, since it was only explained at the start and the end of the game. The cut-scenes in this game really aids to bring character to the story and really makes the game more fun.

Damage?

This game got a lot of marks from me. But one thing makes me doubt if this game is actually worth all my praise. The absence of a proper health display is worrying. You have to guess how many hits you can still take before you die. And the only thing that happens after a lot of hits is that your green behind the still image of the character changes into orange and then into red. In the GBA version you had a limit amount of hearts. And that provided a bit more challenge. With the actual amount of health you have in this game, it gets a whole lot easier.

Another thing where this game loses points is that the music is forgettable. Don’t get me wrong, it’s does it’s job but it’s actually not good enough to want to download the OST or get it stuck in your head. On the other hand, the voice work get a big thumbs up. I really like the sound effects and I think they add more then the music to the game. The voices really makes the funny story come to live. I also like the nods to previous games and to the series of the characters who are in the game.

Graphically this game is colorful and pretty. This helps a lot when you want to explore the world since it’s a blast to do. And here is where it gets even more interesting. Thanks to a whole ton of collect-ables and unlock-ables, this game’s replay value skyrockets. And then the possibility to take multiple paths helps a lot too. Exploring this colorful world is really fun to do. And this is backed up by a lovely short loading screen where great animations are displayed.

Speaking of which, the animation in this game is good. I really like the attention to detail in some parts. Patrick’s health display also changes the more hits you receive. I didn’t see it happening with the other characters though. I really like how this game all comes together.

Finish?

I think I might finish this game in order to review this one. I actually think they deserve it for this game.

The level design is extremely well done. They added in spawners that pop out more enemies for you to fight until you destroy the source. The combat works great for a kids game but isn’t more then mashing the attack button.

The control scheme is alright. To my knowledge, there are two different settings. But I didn’t had any complaints about it while playing this game.

I also found out that this game might be short. After finishing two levels, the save file said I completed 20% of the game. Hopefully this is a mistake since if the game is extremely short, the marks will fall in the review.

Thankfully, the game is multiplayer too. You can play this game with two players. Or that’s what I can gather with the empty not used space and the mention of “player 1”. So, I have to check on that.

Anyways, that’s all for this game. Thanks for reading and I hope to catch you at a next read. But I’m now going to continue playing games to make new articles for you guys. Cheers!