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After Link sealed Ganon in the Sacred
Realm in The Legend Of Zelda, peace had fallen upon the land of
Hyrule. As always, that peace was not to last, as an unknown
sorcerer has come to Hyrule and placed a curse on Princess Zelda,
who has fallen into
an eternal sleep. Link needs to locate all of
the shards of The Magic Crystal, which will open the
gates to the Great Palace where the sorcerer had escaped. Very
little of this story
is conveyed in the
game, as you'd
expect with an NES
action RPG, making
it the experience a
little dry.
For this Zelda game,
Shigeru Miyamoto
left the development
to another team,
largely unsupervised.
Because of this, the
game is wildly
different to its
prequel, adopting a
side-on view for the
majority of the
game. The only place the viewpoint is the same as its
predecessor is on the overworld map, where action is limited to
simple movement between towns and dungeons, avoiding
random-ish monsters who, if touched, suck you into a mini-level
full of enemies. The
new viewpoint allows
more jumping
sections and
technical combat not
seen again until
Twilight Princess.
Unfortunately, the puzzles
are even simpler
than the first
game's, and Link has
access to fewer
items.
The game still has a
high longevity, as
along with being the
hardest Zelda of
them all, it remains
the only Zelda where
you level up through
experience points.
Newer gamers will
lament the slow control,
while the hit detection is quite clunky, making
combat hair-rippingly hard or even unfair, despite similar games
such as the Game
Gear's Ax Battler
remaining immensely
playable.
The graphics are better than in The Legend
Of Zelda, but the locations are still rather bland. The
side-view lends
everything,
including characters
and enemies, a far
more detailed
realism, though
dungeons become
Metroid-style
crawl-fests with
black backgrounds.
Although the game
opened up the whole
of Hyrule to the
player (as opposed
to just the south
west in LoZ), the
zoomed-out view
means the NES has to
represent landscape
through primitive
tiles, contrasting
with the other
viewpoint and thus
leading to an
overall disjointed
experience.
The sound effects are predictably
awful, though they
disappointingly haven't progressed from Link's first NES
outing. This time round, though, not even the tunes are catchy,
which means that you will soon be reaching for your remote and
turning the volume down.
When they threw the top-down view point out of
the window, they also threw what atmosphere the series had out
with it. Instead, there is no longer any mystery, and we end up
with a side scrolling beat 'em up, brutalising the dungeons and
overworld and
leaving little soul. Despite looking cobbled together, the
world
map adds a little grandeur as the view is quite zoomed out so
you can see how vast the whole place is.
While a drastic
change of pace from
the first game, the
game's few lasting
legacies are the magic
bars and a mountain
of broken
controllers. The
side-view did return
in a few later 2D
Zeldas such as
Link's Awakening,
thankfully in an
immensely more
playable form.
There's a lifelessness that permeates every
facet of this game. 3.
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Overall
3 |
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Graphics |
3 |
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Sounds |
2 |
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Atmosphere |
5 |
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Contribution |
3 |
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Shortly after sealing
Ganon in the Sacred
Realm in the original
Legend of Zelda a
sorcerer came to the
land of Hyrule, seeking
to resurrect Ganon by
using the blood of the
hero, Link. Impa, a wise
old woman told Link of
the magician’s evil
plot, and told him that
he was to find the
pieces of the magic
crystal so he could open
the gates to the Great
Palace and to defeat the
evil sorcerer once and
for all, who had placed
Zelda into a sleep that
would last for eternity.
Adventure of Link –
Plagued by Zelda
fanatics wanting more of
the same became one of
the most controversial
titles in the series.
Released in 1988 in
Japan the game didn’t go
down as well as Miyamoto
had expected, who had
taken a big risk
changing the style of
the already popular
Zelda I. Miyamoto had
Implemented a level up
system similar to some
turn based RPGs. For
each monster you kill,
you get EXP (or
Experience) and once you
get enough you can level
up a certain attribute;
sword skills, magic or
health. Not content with
only changing that,
Shigsy went on to change
the combat system, by
changing the perspective
to that of a side-scroller.
Some of the beauty of
the original Zelda was
sacrificed to make these
changes, but in AOLs fan
opinions, these changes
added a whole new depth
to Zelda, with more
emphasis on the battle
side of Legend of Zelda
(while the puzzle
element was lessened
considerably) The
lifespan of this title
is immense, with many
places to visit, plenty
to do and dungeons to
make you frustrated to
the point of throwing
your controller at the
screen screaming
obscenities ‘til your
throat is sore.
The graphics have been
revamped from the NES
original, to accommodate
for the different view.
The graphics are better
than before, as the side
view gave the designers
more room to give Link
and his foes more
detail. The overworld
map, which kept the top
down view for obvious
reasons, looks bland and
boring, the sprite for
Link is plain, and the
tiles are perfectly
square, giving no detail
or difference to the
world of Hyrule.
The sound effects aren’t
groundbreaking, but they
parallel Link's first
adventure, with good (if
not a little annoying)
tunes for towns and the
overworld map (the
dungeon tune is still
prominent in my mind).
Although different from
the rest of the series,
I feel the Zelda
Atmosphere is still
there, and is the most
memorable of the Zelda
series in my opinion.
You either loved this
game, or hated it. It
was the most memorable
personally because of
the introduction to a
dark and mysterious
character… one which
pops up in the water
temple on Ocarina of
Time. I’ll leave you to
figure it out. The
length of the game and
the feeling of progress
all adds to the
atmospheric feel to the
game.
Although the
contributions Miyamoto
made to this game never
appeared in later games,
apart from the
introduction of the
magic bar, they still
added to the Zelda
series, so fans weren’t
left thinking ‘what if’.
I’m disappointed the
battle system didn’t
show up in any of the
later titles, as I found
it one it hosted some of
the toughest battles on
a video game, especially
with the harder versions
of the Knights and the
bosses’ were just as
tough.
Although this game has
its down sides. Although
I acknowledge Ocarina of
Time being the best in
the series, this title
is my favourite, with
its challenging gameplay,
original ideas and
updated graphics, this
is very much in the feel
of Zelda.
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