21 July 2003
Zelda arrived Saturday, and I’ve played it quite a bit since I updated my video card drivers so I could use PAL-60 mode with the video in software (I think this might also mean Winning Eleven isn’t in black and white, but I haven’t tried it). Not thought much about the game itself, because I was expecting a lot and it’s delivered. But the graphics, oh, the graphics.
I was one of those people who, when the screenshots were first shown, said ‘hey, that looks really cool,’ rather than ‘that’s way too “kiddy” .’ My faith has been totally vindicated: this is the most gorgeous game I’ve ever played. Not only is it technically impressive, with the cel shading making it like an interactive, three-dimensional cartoon, but the animations are varied and full of character. One of the things I liked best about the graphics shown with Looking Glass’s Dark Engine was that although the models were crude, they moved like people (or zombies, or skeletons, or insane midwife robots, or giant, snarling pieces of meat). Pretty screenshots are all well and good, but a games has to move well. And boy, does Zelda move well.
The difference between playing it on a TV and a PC is disconcerting. On the PC it still looks good, but with the inevitable blurriness. But the worst of the lot are screenshots, which I take in the software and seem to lose their aspect ratio as well as detail. That’s not stopping me showing them, though.
If you throw a bomb in the water, it acts realistically.
You can be a seagull.
To learn one of the Wind Waker tunes, you have to watch an Elvis impersonator dance it.
Some mild annoyances: a Game Boy Advance is required to use the Tingle Tuner, a special feature, and there’s only an illusion of freedom at the beginning. You can’t go ‘off the rails’ ; just yet.
The translation is generally excellent, but this is the best bit so far. It’s a game of battleships run on one of the islands by a sarcastic, bitter guy who sues cut-out portraits to provide a little background story to the game.
Link
Pictures of Link
Posted by Jessica on 25 January 2004 at 16:4:35.