The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Year: 2013
Rating: E
Time Played: 895 minutes / 14.92 hours
While I bemoan remakes of games that are just straight ports from their original system, I can appreciate remakes that add a little something to make it worth playing the same story over again. That was definitely the case with The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Basically a 3D re-skin of A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds modifies the mechanics and story just enough for me to consider it a moderately unique entry in the Zelda series. In fact, I think I like this game more than I do the game it was originally based on.
This game’s stereoscopic effect really adds to that top-down visual style that defined the earlier Zelda titles. So, while everything looked gorgeous in its reimagined 3D form, the game already lent itself to this technological feature. I also appreciated how open this game was, as it allowed me to acquire all the items that would have normally been trapped in dungeons whenever I wanted, thus giving me the freedom to explore the world of Hyrule the way I wanted to. Plus, the new mechanic introduced in this game had plenty of clever little uses throughout the play-through.
Partly because of the openness of its exploration, there was never a point where I really felt stuck or at a loss of what to do next. If I came across a stumbling block, I’d warp over to a different part of the map or tackle another one of the many dungeons and see if it was any easier. Being able to upgrade the items the way I wanted to was also just as nice as having them be easily accessible on the lower touchscreen. Overall, Nintendo took a classic from their Super Nintendo inventory and improved it more than I thought could be possible.
A superior adaptation of a Nintendo classic, I give The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 5.0 stars out of 5.
