'Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess HD' is not that HD

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Being one of the most popular franchises in all video game history,  Nintendo releases a Legend of Zelda title on almost every console. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has always stood out in the Zelda franchise for its compelling characters, tone, and story, making it a perfect title to update for a new generation of players. In almost every way, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD improves on the original game, while adding a much needed challenge.

Same old pacing issues

One of the main issues with the Original Twilight Princess revolves around the sluggish pacing of the game. Being stuck in Ordon Village at the beginning of the adventure makes for boring gameplay with little to do other than a few fetch-quests. While the issue of pacing is primarily at the start of the game, it leaves a lasting impact on the player. The Hero of Time should be doing more than herding goats and knocking down bee-hives. This is remedied once the plot picks up pace, but getting through the prologue feels more like a task necessary to get to the meat of the game rather than a fun, rewarding adventure game tutorial. Overall the tutorial feels tacked on late in the development cycle because they felt they needed one in the original game with little being done to remedy that in the remake.


High definition or minor updates?

The purpose of an HD release is make a game feel more immersive by updating graphics. The HD remake of Twilight Princess succeeds in this regard. The game looks much more attractive than its Wii counterpart and the colors really pop. Sadly, lighting is not updated resulting in a lack of shadows, making the game feel less high definition and more like a simple port of the original. Part of this stems from the choice made to crank up the contrast during cutscenes, effectively washing out most of the pasty characters.

Another problem is the shakiness of characters during cutscenes. Specifically, when a character is positioned close to the screen, the outlines shake ever so slightly. While this does not distract too much from the game, it becomes more and more apparent as cutscenes become more common throughout the game. Ultimately, while the game looks much better than the Wii version, there is a lot lacking from what an HD remake should entail. Twilight Princess HD looks more like a minor update than a HD rerelease.


More difficulty options

The best addition to the re-release is the inclusion of Hero Mode. Twilight Princess has always been regarded as one of the easiest Zelda games to complete. The addition of Hero Mode makes the game much more challenging from the start, but is not required for younger players or those looking to complete the game quickly. The option is there, and it is much appreciated. This is especially welcomed by gamers who adventured with Link and Midna back when the game was first released in 2006, making a new playthrough more than just a rehashing, but a way to hone familiar skills.

Amiibo support also adds some difficulty options, such as adding more arrows into the game. This makes it easier for younger or first time players to get through the more challenging dungeons, but does not force seasoned or returning Zelda players to take an easier route. What may look like “pay to win DLC” to some, serves as a fun way to get some relief from more difficult portions the game has to offer.


TL;DR

HD rereleases can be great opportunities for developers to introduce older games to new audiences while improving on the original formula. While Twilight Princess adds great new features like new difficulty settings, new playstyles, and better graphics, not all of the graphical issues with the original were ironed out, and the same plodding intro takes too long to complete before getting to the meat of the game. Overall the game still holds up, this time around being more welcoming to new and old players alike.

+ Smoother Graphics

+ Enhanced Difficulty settings

- Unimpressive lighting/shaky graphics

- Intrusive tutorial and dull first act

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