It was an exciting day, some ten years ago when the original Twilight Princess for Nintendo Wii hit my doorstep. It was the pre-DigitalChumps days, but I was reviewing the game nonetheless—and I still remember just how thrilled I was with the depth of the experience. Not that Wind Waker wasn’t terrific—it was, and in many ways, it has aged better—but Twilight Princess seemed the logical successor to Ocarina of Time. And it even looked and played more like it, with a greater number of dungeons (and items) than Wind Waker, and a considerably darker feel overall. In spite of some occasional rough edges and complaints about the Wii version’s waggle controls, it qualified as a masterpiece of its time.
But the game hasn’t aged well. And if you were to fire up the old GameCube or Wii today and try to enjoy it, you’d soon find yourself swimming in a sea of jagged 480p-grade geometry and blurry textures. It would likely be reason enough to put it down after a short while, and that’d be a shame—because Twilight Princess really does contain some of the series’ best moments, even if most of those are found interspersed with some dreary scavenger hunts within the Twilight Realm.
Much like Wind Waker HD, that’s the draw of Twilight Princess HD. And also much like WWHD, the game looks much better than you probably would initially guess. It’s not current-gen, per say, but it’s most certainly twice as nice as the original. And in spite of its lack of more sophisticated visual effects (see: Xenoblade Chronicles X for an example of what this console is capable of), merely thanks to the ultra-high-res textures that have replaced many of the game’s blurrier moments, it frequently looks gorgeous. And that’s to say nothing of the frame rate, which is now locked at 30 frames per second.
The gameplay has also seen some improvements. Things are thankfully entirely button-based this time around, though you can choose to aim by tilting the controller if you prefer (or you can completely disable that feature like I did). Both the Wii U GamePad and the Wii U Pro Controller are options, and if you choose the former, the touchscreen provides its own useful breed of functionality. Not only do you get an easily accessible map, but also a permanent inventory screen, and of course, the ability to play on the GamePad if someone else in the family decides to hijack the television to watch reruns of The (godforsaken) Little Couple or Grey’s I-can’t-believe-it’s-still-on-TV Anatomy.
Other added content includes Hero Mode (2x the damage and no hearts) and collectible stamps (hidden in cool locations around the game’s dungeons for instance). There’s also (predictably) amiibo functionality (Zelda-themed amiibo figures add hearts or arrows, and Ganondorf double enemy damage). The boxed of the game that we received ($59.99 MSRP) includes the Wolf Link figurine, which when used immediately warps Link to the Cave of Shadows, which is essentially a great big combat dungeon. You can record your completion times and compare performance with friends… but if you’re expecting something on the grade of one of the game’s trademark dungeons, don’t; you’ll be disappointed.
Speaking of which, the dungeons are where Twilight Princess really shines. It’s arguably the best selection of dungeons in any Zelda game to date, and that’s saying a lot. Even the very first dungeon—the Forest Temple—doesn’t arrive until around the three hour mark, and it’s longer and deeper than the final dungeon in many other Zelda titles. In other words, this is a Zelda game for the diehard fan. It takes everything Ocarina did and consciously kicks it up a notch, takes it to the next level, and sets it on fire. It knows its fanbase and it thoroughly acknowledges it through some serious fan service. If you’ve yet to experience it, this is absolutely the time to jump on board. It ought to easily keep you busy until the next major installment in the series hits doorsteps this holiday season.
And the dungeons have never looked better than they do in Twilight Princess HD. Every little crack and detail in the walls and floors is now visible, and the game’s art really shines. Although TPHD can’t really compete with other games foundationally designed for this generation of consoles, Nintendo did a fine job of refreshing the textures and bumping up the polygon count to at least render it mentionable in the same breath. In terms of visual presentation, this is certainly no Xenoblade Chronicles X (few games are), but it is gorgeous, and it is a clear reminder that Zelda in 1080p is the stuff dreams are made of.
How well has the gameplay aged? Well, apart from some pacing imperfections (the game starts off a bit slow and is a bit tedious in its tutorialized opening sequences), for the most part, it feels appropriate amongst its contemporaries. The camera can become a hindrance at times, but the use of the right analog stick helps to quickly alleviate any issues with its position. The Tears of Light collection sequences in the Twilight certainly hold their purpose, but those portions of the game reek of the purplish-hued Dark Aether of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes in that you’re usually just yearning to return to the Light World for most of the journey.
But the dungeons… again, at the risk of sounding redundant, these really are some of the best dungeons in the entire series. They’re not only massive, but they can unexpectedly deceptive in their puzzles more regularly than those in most other Zelda titles. And they’re also diverse, unique, and creative in terms of their structure and foundational design: there are dungeons you’ll play alone, dungeons in which you’ll have a tagalong servant, and dungeons that at first don’t feel like dungeons at all. I won’t name any of them to avoid spoiling them for any Twilight Princess virgins, but just know that you can expect some curveballs throughout the course of the adventure.
The in-between action isn’t as enticing as it might have been ten years ago, thanks primarily to the rise of streamlined open-world games like Skyrim and Fallout 4 taking the crown for both scope and detail of the surrounding world. Towns and overworld areas feel pretty sparse in comparison to the elaborately detailed dungeon and forested environments, and there just isn’t as much to do or look at. Visually, some of the Hyrule Field areas and other open-ended, large-scale portions conspicuously lack foliage and other fine detail that exquisitely lines those other games. Nintendo surely could have spent more time here dressing things up to match some of the more stunning smaller areas (such as the Light Spirit fountains in Faron Woods or the Sacred Grove), but it still looks fine. And it’s still a lot of fun; using your items to access hidden areas and collect things like heart pieces will never get old.
One other small criticism: the soundtrack, which is well-composed (as evidenced by the fantastic Twilight Princess movement in the Symphony of the Goddesses suite) really could have used a live orchestra treatment. Like Wind Waker HD, this is a bit of a missed opportunity, as it really could have breathed new aesthetic life into the game and helped match the updated visuals to an appropriate aural presentation. But the MIDI is still pretty good quality, and the soundtrack is memorable and very good overall.
Bottom line: if you’ve never experienced Twilight Princess before and you’re a fan of the Zelda series, this is almost certainly worth the purchase, even at its arguably steep price for a visual reskinning. This version is far superior to the original, frequently beautiful in spite of its decade-old artistic foundations, and it’s worth committing to for sake of its magnificent dungeon design alone. On the other hand, if you’ve played the game before and it’s still fresh in your memory, TPHD won’t add much to entice you. If nothing else, for die-hards who’ve already been through this gargantuan adventure once, it represents a flavorful appetizer for what hopefully will be an amazing installment of this timeless series in around ten months’ time.
