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REVIEWS - The Legend of Zelda ::
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| Ancient skool. |
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| Game Info. |
Genre
Adventure |
Publisher/Developer
Nintendo |
Release
7/87 |
The Legend of Zelda
Welcome to 1337sville, population: you.
Reviewed by Rich - February 2005
With the apparently imminent release of the next Zelda game on cube, whiney bitches everywhere complaining about the lack of Cel-Shaded graphics getting ready to hang there heads in shame, as no doubt they did when they were complaining about them 2 years ago, I’ve decided to go back to the series roots and look at why it’s so popular. Zelda was an ambitious concept for 20 years ago. To put it into perspective before Zelda there was no console game save slots, games were either short enough to be completed over the course of a day, or they were saved via cumbersome password screens. But this couldn’t work for Zelda, the huge amounts of data contained in a save couldn’t be entered into a Metroid style password system, to cope with all the possibilities like doors opened in dungeons, heart pieces collected, items found, times died, the password system would not only produce mind meltingly massive passwords, but due to the law of probability entering a random stream of letters and numbers would easily land you a hit very quickly. Saving to a games disk wasn’t uncommon at this time, in fact, the Japanese Famicom (NES) had a disk drive that could have save data saved onto it, meaning that the length of the game was not a problem on the eastern market. However, the west didn’t have a disk drive or a tape drive, and so the only viable option was to work on a system for saving the game to cart, the result? Battery backup. With this (often overlooked) technology Shigsy’s team were not restricted by the length of the game or the amount of values that could be stored in memory (such as amounts of money or bombs) as all these could be stored on a chip that was constantly kept powered by a battery. The result was the freedom to create a truly unique gaming experience, not just pick up and play style smaller games like Exitebike or Metroid (which was probably the biggest game at a time) but an adventure that could offer fresh challenge over a period of months or years. This is Zelda, and it’s the first battery backed up game ever.
Gameplay
When you start the game, you are dropped in the middle of a screen with no information, no weapons, and just a cave entrance in front of you. You go through it and are given a wooden sword by an old man, and from then on, apart from a small highlighted block on your map screen, the game tells you nothing. Your isolated, with no clues as of what to do, you head towards the highlight and when you get there, you enter your first dungeon and from then on, you’re completely alone. This is the first instance of Nintendo isolating a player and leaving them for dead, and it’s a cold, hard truth that they don’t manage to touch again until super Metroid some 7 years later.
A lot of people, mostly 1337 fakers who have never played a game that doesn’t lead them by the hand every step of the way, say that this approach makes the game hard and overly difficult, but even they usually silently shut there whiney lame mouths when the challenge and freedom to explore and find clues on their own take over. And that’s the point of the isolation, there’s no huge story needed because this diverse world is begging to be explored, mapped and assaulted every step of the way. There are some secrets you will never find, some items you will never collect, and some script you’ll never see, but you easily could if you wanted, all you have to do is stock up and explore every stone, every screen, every room. There is no set route through this game, if your hard enough you could easily find a way to battle through dungeon 5 before completing dungeon 3 (good luck). If you don’t like a room, go into the room below you’re destination and bomb your way past it. The game rewards you for thinking outside the box, often “cheap” yet ingenious actions will not only help your progress, but also procure anything from money to helpful Items that aren’t necessary, but make life a hell of a lot easier.
The only other thing that I have to comment on is the difficulty of this game. Unlike later parts of the series you won’t be able to define and perfect your “route” through this game in countless replays, because it’s impossible. Instead even the most experienced player will have hair raising moments where they scrape through on half a heart even as early as the walk to the first dungeon, yet you’ll never die as a result of bad luck, only because your not good enough. Nobody has mastered this game to that degree, it’s not possible. At this time I’ll also point out that there are in fact two versions of this game, the first quest is finger-lickin’ difficult, and the second one, with rearranged dungeons (even the rooms are in different places) and all the caves and dungeon entrances leading to new places, not to mention new enemies and harder bosses, it’s no wonder you’re given a heavier duty sword and Armour pretty much on the offset.
I’ll also point out that this game is the perfect choice for GBA, no storylines to distract you in class, no lengthy cut scene’s to bore you on the train journey, just a game and watch style 8 bit adventure that you can come back to forever.
You want to claim your 1337? Well the class is in session; now watch in awe as Master Miyamoto takes you to school.
9.3/10
Control
The control is simple, the d-pad moves your character around, the A button strikes with the sword; the B-button deploys your secondary item. Start allows you to see the options screen and select new weapons, and select freezes the action and stops the music, like a pause. There really is nothing else to it, there is a single annoyance in the select button being used to scroll through menus instead of the D-Pad, however after an hour of play, it’s barely noticeable. Functional.
7/10
Graphics
These are the pinnacle of the eight bit systems. There’s no special effects, no parallax scrolling or particle effects (obviously), what you see is what you get, and it once again proves the old adage of “good graphics do not a good game make.” On the super Famicom (the Japanese SNES) Nintendo did redraw the game for the “Satellaview” in what is now called BS Zelda. The GBA could easily run the graphics pack and the sound from that, but the point is Nintendo don’t need to, the cart on the GBA is exactly the same as the NES in every sense of the word, chunky solid sprites included, and it highlights the over world design and the perfect balance all the more because of it.
6/10
Sound
The three tunes on the game and the four or so hit’s used are functional. The songs loop well enough for you to not feel irritated at all and the “heart monitor beep” that appears when you get close to dying, coupled with the main melody disappearing and the bass jamming up, help add to the pressure, but the game functions just as nicely turned down. A late night session on the GBA before going to bed will leave you humming it in your sleep, simple and effective.
7/10
Replay Value
I dare you to tell me you’ve completed all 16 dungeons, found all the hidden items, and never played it since. And even if you have, are you really satisfied leaving a completed Zelda save with over 300 deaths on your tally? It’ll take you an age to complete, and when you do you’ll be coming back to it to lower your score for the rest of your life. The action adventures Tetris…it’s never over.
9.8/10
Overall
It’s funny how I can spend £10 on the Gotham Racing machine in my local arcade, and set a high score, then go home and sit in front of a 20 year old game and have 8 times the fun, for about 12 hours longer. Like all classics (unless it’s made by Lucas), this won’t be updated, it won’t be digitally re-mastered and it won’t be dragged through the dirt by it’s sequels, it will stand tall as the most addictively simple game of it’s genre. One day you’ll play it, on that day you’ll understand. The best of a generation, and just for the record, the battery on my copy of the NES version hasn’t been changed since I bought it, for my 6th birthday in 1992.
FINAL SCORE: 9.4/10
=Amazing=
Send feedback to: tenderageinbloom@hotmail.com
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