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This game is a prelude to the Four
Swords storyline, which is in turn, a mirror of the main Zelda
story. There is a sword (Four Sword) that can cast down evil (Vaati),
though only with the
power of light (Zelda's
Light), and they need to
find an artefact that
grants the wearer their
wishes (Minish Hat). As Link, you're
called on by Princess
Zelda to attend Hyrule
Town's centurial Picori
Festival, but an evil
sorcerer named Vaati has
designs to ruin it. He
unleashes monsters
across Hyrule and turns
Zelda into stone - Link
is called on to visit
the Minish people and
ask for their Light.
While doing this, he
must restore the
legendary Four Sword to
its former glory, as it
is the only blade that
can cast down such evil.
On his journey, Link
meets with a mysterious
hat named Ezlo, who is
also on a mission to
stop Vaati. Without
legs, he's finding it
hard, so he buddies up
with Link's head and the
two embark on their
adventure.
The Minish Cap is an extension of
gameplay found in Flagship's Four Swords and Oracle titles, but
it does throw plenty of its own original ideas into the mix. The
puzzles and fighting
elements are largely an
extension, and sometimes
an advancement, of the
mechanics seen in the
two Oracle games, and
from Four Swords, TMC
takes the idea of being
able to clone Link four
times to solve certain
puzzles. This Four Sword
leads to some
interesting puzzles -
you often have to figure
out the correct pattern
of Links that will
enable you to manoeuvre
through certain
obstacles, or to hit a
set of switches at once.
Unfortunately, the
ingenuity of Four Sword
puzzles within dungeons
is not replicated on the
overworld. There,
puzzles amount to having
charged your sword with
enough elements (the
more elements infused in
the sword, the more
clones you can create)
to be able to push a
certain size of block.
New to The Minish Cap
are Kinstones, stones
which have broken in
half and grant the
pairers good luck if
they reunite the two
halves. These parings
can created golden
enemies that drop
hundreds of rupees, open
secret pathways, or
further the story. It
sounds like an
interesting idea, but in
honesty it only serves
to fuel one of the
game's biggest problems
- nonsensical overworld
puzzles. In between
dungeons, you have to
follow hideously broken
crumb trails to access
the next stage in your
quest. Whether it be
retrieving books or
retrieving Kinstones,
these tasks are always
awkward, always
ambiguous, and always a
pain in the arse.
Vanilla Kinstone
pairings are a pain
because you don't know
why you're doing it. You
might uncover something
as important as a dojo,
or as mundane as
another Kinstone.
There's one sidequest in
particular that has you
running across Hyrule
looking for 6x6 pixel
walls in random caves
for the reward of an
extra bottle. These
walls are so mundane,
you'd hardly notice
them, and if you did
think to fuse Kinstones
with a wall, you'd say
to yourself, "okayyyy....
what now?" Worse,
Kinstones must sometimes
be collected from an
overworld area that
exists purely to house
these Kinstones, in
order to advance to the
next dungeon. I don't
know why I'm
collecting Kinstones, I
just know that the game
has placed some
artificial roadblock to
make it seem like
there's more content
that there actually is.
Annoying.
A better mechanic is
that involving the
Minish Cap. With the
cap, you can shrink down
to Minish size and
explore the world either
as two-pixel Link, or in
some areas, as "normal"
sized Link where
everything else is
massive. Outside of
dungeons, this can get a
bit tiring as everything
conspires to limit your
progress and generally
make life as awkward as
possible - silly, broken
sidequests and all. It
does shine, though, when
you get to see the world
from a Minish point of
view - where rain is
lethal and bookshelves
make excellent homes.
Inside dungeons, the cap
is hideously underused
aside from dungeon
bosses. Most bosses
involve use of the cap
in one way or another -
it might be to let you
crawl inside bosses to
deal damage, or to put a
new spin on
traditionally mundane
enemies (a bit like
David and Goliath). So,
while the Minish idea is
pretty cool, it's not
used to full effect.
Everything is so
unnaturally positioned
to limit your progress,
and I suppose this is a
problem with the game as
a whole. While the Zelda
series involves a lot of
backtracking after
acquiring a new item, so
you can reach items and
places that were
otherwise teasingly
inaccessible, in The
Minish Cap it just seems
so artificial, and so
dense with temporary
dead ends. Traversing
Hyrule has never seemed
so much of a battle.
An area where The
Minish Cap truly shines.
This game is drop-dead
gorgeous, easily the
pinnacle of the 2D Zelda
games. It's so dense
with detail, so crafted
and characterised, that
Hyrule is more alive in
this Zelda than in any
other 2D incarnation.
While dungeons are quite
sparse, and nothing much
to look at, the
overworld is an
intricate maze where
light breaking through
tree canopy reflects off
morning mist, where
towns are full of life
and vibrancy, and where
characters and enemies
jump off the screen and
revel in your
imagination. Beauty
aside, this game is also
a technical tour de
force for the humble
Game Boy Advance. TMC
can up the enemy count
seemingly at will; there
will be more than one
occasion where so much
is happening on one
screen, whether it be
massive Gyorgs weaving
between each other while
shooting energy balls in
every direction, or
Wizrobes appearing at
every side of the arena
and cutting the screen
up with their magic
blasts, that you'll lose
Link in the midst of all
the action. The huge
bosses use
sprite-scaling and
rotation as if it never
went out of fashion -
creating some unique
encounters that could
only have otherwise been
created in 3D.
As with past Flagship
games, the sounds are
pretty good. Nothing
mind-blowing, but good.
As Link rolls and
slashes his way through
the game, he makes
grunts and yelps
reminiscent of Ocarina
of Time, but somehow, it
works. The little noises
all the characters make
help them come alive
that little bit. The
music in the game is,
again, pretty good, but
not best of series by
any means. Overworld
music is cheery when it
needs to be and creepy
when it needs to be.
During the final boss
fight, that's when the
soundtrack really comes
alive and creates an
apocalyptic mood so
perfectly fitting to the
weird, intense
atmosphere of the
battle.
Because the music plays
its role in supporting
the mood created by the
wonderful graphics, The
Minish Cap may be the
most atmospheric 2D
Zelda yet. A Link to the
Past did a pretty good
job of creating its
Light/Dark World
dynamic, and so too does
TMC create an
interesting contrast
between the land of the
big and the land of the
small. When you're on
the rafters of a man's
house, talking to the
Minish people that
reside there next to
apple cores and old
books, well... when have
you done that in a game?
You feel in such a
secret place - it makes
you look around and
wonder what stuff is
going on right under our
own noses. For a short
while, anyway. It's
probably just germs and
stuff.
The Minish Cap
bought a few innovations
- the Minish Cap itself,
which we'll hopefully
one day see the full
potential of, Kinstones,
which we'll hopefully
never see again, and
awesome new bosses,
which is a tradition
that must be upheld.
Realistically, The
Minish Cap is solid, yet
flawed. Like The Wind
Waker before it, the
game has a lot going for
it, but it slips up in
so many crucial areas
that we can only give it an 8.
|
Gameplay |
7 |
Overall
8 |
|
Graphics |
10 |
|
Sounds |
8 |
|
Atmosphere |
8 |
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Contribution |
7 |
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