The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a open-world action-adventure game only for 3DS, which was developed and published by Nintendo, and it is a direct sequel to original 1992's title A Link to the Past for SNES.
It's one of the sequel had retained a similar formula as the early Zelda game with fully top-down perspective, while introducing a newer element that been added to this game.
I've been a long time fan of the Zelda franchises since my childhood days where I grew up playing games like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Windwaker, and Twilight Princess. As a grown adult, I recently enjoyed the first original Zelda game on the NES at the time when I had NES classic mini with built-in 30 games as my Christmas gift back in 2018.
After experiencing my previous fun of my 3DS system which I've been busy spending time of collecting more 3DS games last year, it took me awhile to get a copy of A Link Between Worlds which I been searching everywhere on online stores like Amazon and Ebay for cheaper sales, so I can now finally gets a hands on with this game which I've spend for a weeks of fun of playing on my 3DS.
A Link to the Past on SNES are always been one of my all-time favourite in Zelda Franchise, but will this game on the 3DS considered another Zelda's masterpiece? the answer is yes everyone, it is a pure perfection of the whole 3DS libraries that definitely deserve a must own for entire 3DS owners will able to enjoy their full Zelda experience filled with epic open-world adventures, clever puzzle-solving, has selection of items, full exploration with over 15 different locations in 2 different kingdoms, and cool boss battles is what makes A Link Between Worlds on 3DS a terrific successor to one of the greatest original SNES game of all-time.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game takes place after the event of A Link to the Past. It is set in between the Hyrule and Lorule as the story explains the ancient Hyrulean legend tells of the events where the evil was been defeated by legendary hero and being sealed away by the Seven Sages, while the Triforce was divided into three pieces to prevent evil from returning again.
The game focuses on silent protagonist named Link who sets out his adventures to restore peace to the kingdom of Hyrule after the mysterious sorcerer Yuga captures Princess Zelda as well as seven sages and then escapes through a rift to the ruined world of Lorule.
After obtaining a magic bracelet from the merchant named Ravio, he gained ability to merged onto walls which allows Link to reach previously inaccessible areas and travel between Hyrule and Lorule.
I got to say the story in the game is done absolutely fantastic with interesting timeline settings that falls between the events of Link's Awakening for GB and the original Legend of Zelda for NES.
As the story goes on, I really liked the idea of having the story involves the evil who had stolen the hyrule princess and seven sages which allowing him to resurrect the demon king Ganon which makes Yuga one insane menace did a vile things in the game.
Most of the plot points in the game are not very complicated to follow once you're getting used with how the story works when reading the entire dialogue in the game which is the reason why the storylines are done such a incredible job.
You have a ironic characters like Link who is a huge adventurer and experienced fighter that fights off against the evil and saving a hyrule that made him becoming the legendary Hyrule warrior which is the reason why Link being ranked as one of the greatest video game heroes of all time making him a notable recognisable icon in gaming.
We know Zelda is one of a memorable princesses in the whole franchise as we liked her for its calm personality and also a friendly to her long-time hero Link which is the reason why they listed her as a most beloved video game princesses.
I got to say that I wasn't disappointing with the Yuga as a villain in the game because he is just an evil as any of villains in Zelda franchise. He just likes to make trouble against people in Hyrule and had an obsession with his painting which made him quite disturbing to watch as well as you see him turning his head with his smirky face while he's holding his portrait on his hand, god that's one crazy dude there.
He kinda reminds me of Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 in terms of design. He had sinister looking face paint, long-dreaded hair, and his crooked dress that made him quite appealing which is the reason why the villain is actually amazing in the whole game especially with his final true form had a similar concept as the Ganon from A Link to the Past.
Then you had a merchant named Ravio who dressed up in funny bunny costumes which I don't find him quite annoying as the others do in different Zelda game (hey I'm watching you Tingle and you too Navi).
He was a bit unfair at the beginning in the game until he's becoming much more loyalty to Link in the middle once you get used with this character.
Lastly you have a Lorule princess named Hilda which is kinda look like a Zelda's dark sister (not to be confused with two of the aunts from Sabrina the Teenage Witch are also shared a both names which is weirdly coincidence) who trying to help Link finding way of saving Zelda and seven sages in Lorule world.
The game's presentation still retains a same location as the ones in A Link to the Past. In Hyrule world, you have lake hylia which has huge amount of lake and windmill house, the central Hyrule has Link's house, the castle, and blacksmith's places.
Kakariko Village are more like a village places filled with chicken farm, small shops, bee keeping, and elderly's homes.
Eastern place filled with series of rocks, the lost woods is the place where master sword being located in, the Sanctuary is a cathedral near close to graveyard, and watery places with sea creatures in Zora's Domain, While Lorule world takes place in alternative universe making it more darker version of Hyrule location which I think it replicate the game nicely from the 1992's original SNES title giving it a full nostalgia look of the classic Zelda game.
Overall, it has fantastic story, memorable characters, and incredible overall presentation.
Gameplay
You take control of the hero Link in top-down perspective as your main goal is to save Zelda and all seven sages by defeating bosses in each dungeons that been marked on the map.
The top screen of the 3DS shows the full gameplay action with UI's life bar and magic meter, while the bottom screen of the 3DS shows the overhead map which helps you locate the area where you left off making it easier to navigate.
You will have sword as a main weapon and shields as a defense item, so you'll use them to attack the enemies by pressing the B button, while holding the B button lets you perform swinging spin attack in 360 degrees. You can also defend yourself by holding the R shoulder button to weld your shield which prevent enemy damaging you with their projectiles.
You will have a selection of items where you can buy or rent items from the Ravio's shop, but you still need to collect rupees before you're start purchasing stuff in the shop. There are useful equipments that you will need it for not just exploration, but also the dungeons might come in useful such as bombs that opens up new passage, boomerang that stuns enemies, bow that shoots far-range, fire-rod that melts icy objects, ice-rod that froze enemies, the hammer thats pounding the obstacles, the hookshot that helps you transport to special surfaces or grab objects, the lamp that lights up the dark area, and it also introduces two new items such as sand-rod that creates the blocks of sand and tornado rod that launches you up in the air in which these are the items that leads you to the next area of location.
There are gears of items that may improve your player's ability such as pegasus boots that allow you to sprint through the level in high speeds can also break into weak walls, gloves such as power gloves or titan's mitts which lets you lift up a heavy objects, the Hylian shield that works effectively on enemy's magic attacks, there are two different of tunics such as blue mail which reduces the damage when hit by an enemy by half while the red mail offers even more greater protection than the previous tunics, and Zora's flippers that lets you swim around the water.
Once you obtained three pendants that leads you to weld and use master sword which is the strongest weapon to use in the game. You can shoot the beam from the sword in far-range distances which can only work if your health meter are fully replenished, but you can also upgrade your master sword by obtaining the master ore item where you can take it to blacksmith to upgrade your sword ability, so your master sword becoming even stronger that works effectively against big tough enemies.
You will need a empty bottles that you can fill a different kinds of potions from the Witch's shop which requires three monster's organs to create and purchase the potions you want to add on your item such as red potion that adds half of your health, the blue potion that adds full health, the yellow potion that made you temporarily invulnerable to damage, and the purple potion that damages all enemies nearby, so this should help you using these during the battle.
Aside with the weapons and items, you can explore around the overworld which has over 12 to 16 different locations to visit, so you can able to discover a hidden secrets in caves, accessing through portals that leads you to two different worlds, obtaining heart container item that upgrades your health capacity, collecting 100 lost maiamai, talking with villagers for help or info, playing mini games such as rupees rush and octoball derby, and being able to find dungeons that was marked on the map that really keeps you busy with the game even more the longer you play which is the reason the game has a great amount of overall play length.
Inside the dungeons level where your main goal is to defeat the certain boss to rescue sages that was stuck on the portrait, you are being required to beat the puzzle solving aspects that leads you to the next area.
Some of the puzzle solving involves hitting the switch to open up blocked doors, merged onto moving walls, walking across the narrow bridge, switching between red and blue paths, placing two of the eyeballs on the objects, walking around the dark areas, and avoiding trap's projectiles which is done pretty amazing for its puzzle design, but there are some of the segments that are done actually clever in the game such as walking on the invisible bridge, finding a way to get past of invisible walls, setting the thief free from the prison without getting caught in action, finding the two different hidden paths in skull woods, evading from floaty hands, creating pavement rock to walk across using ice-rods, and there's lots more cool stuff that increases the overall fun of the game.
I got to say several of the enemies are actually done good, so you have jumping skeleton that evades your attack, the buzzy blob will electrocute you when hitting them, the icy statues will leap you off the edge of the platform, the round creatures that steal your rupees, the jellyfish beetle will bounce you off when attacking them, the round-eye bat flying around you, the eyegore will run approach you in close-range, and there's more of them had their own variation of ability and attacks.
So far, I really pleased with the overall gameplay design that is played brilliant as the 1992's original SNES game.
It retains the same formula as the classic Zelda game in terms of top-down perspective filled with many exploration, obtaining items that are come in useful, fighting out tons of bad guys, helping villagers in need, joining mini-games activity, visiting two different worlds with many locations, and the best of all is the dungeon stage offers a impressive puzzle solving and has shares with epic boss battles such as Moldorm, Margomill, Zaganaga, Knucklemaster, and best of all Yuga that keeps the game entertaining thanks to enemy's patterns system.
The combat gameplay worked absolutely flawless when it comes with numerous selections of items like sword, shields, bow, hammer, rods, bombs, boomerang, and hookshot which is worked effectively on not just any of puzzle solving, but it worked well against any types of the enemies which is the reason why it made the game quite simple to use.
I also liked the wall merging mechanics where you can able to walk through on the walls which I think it's pretty innovative for Zelda series that bought many of wonderful ideas that been featured in the game.
The only minor issue that kinda annoying is that your equipment items that you rented are likely being taken back to the same store which forcing you to re-pay it again which is kinda sucks, but gladly it didn't hurt the game's overall if the shop owner Ravio had to change his mind later part in the game, so it's not a bad thing.
Overall, it has brilliant gameplay design, tons of explorations, clever puzzle solving, and epic bosses.
Graphics
The graphics is looking phenomenal when its comes with 3DS's stereoscopic 3D. The level environments on most of the locations is looking damn amazing with vibrant details on buildings, objects, trees, and rocks to make the game look nice and cartoony to fit well on Zelda universe.
I also liked the use of visual effects on lava, lakes, and sands with many uses of particles that looked pretty good in some locations. My favourite part in the dungeons is the dark areas where you had to use the lamp to light up the rooms, but in some areas without lighting up really shows the hidden invisible walls which it really shows how well animating the game looks in terms of lighting design and I got to say the floating objects looked pretty awesome on draw-distance in some dungeons and caves especially having the 3D effects turned on is looking spectacular to see things in the game.
The character models is looking quite terrific on the 3DS system with facial expressions and whole animations just looked so adorable on character like Link and Zelda in general.
Overall, it has amazing level design, impressive visuals effects, spectacular 3D environments, and terrific character models.
Music and Sounds
I really liked the Zelda soundtrack in general especially with their signature theme song in every Zelda games which is the reason why it sounds really catchy that made the whole series quite memorable.
This game still retains the same soundtrack from the original game with incredible re-arrangement, as well as some newer music are been added to the game which did a fabulous job in the whole game.
I also give the game credit for the best sounding design on the 3DS because of the sound effects are mostly just like the originals with recognisable chimes sounds and jingle effects when obtaining items
and solving problems like opening block doors and open up blocked caves, but I also liked the atmospheric noises in the game with the sounds of winds, lavas, and waterfalls, and then it has a grunting voices from the enemies which I got to say its sounds remarkable.
Overall, it has recognisable soundtrack and best sounding design.
Special Features
The game has new difficulty option called hero mode which most of the enemies deal four times more damage making the game even harder to beat, but it also adds replay value which is welcome edition.
It also features streetpass challenge called Shadow Link battle where the player been encountered by shadowy figures comes from other 3DS devices leading to battle against each other and then the game also shares with cool easter eggs referencing to familiar classic games in the series.
Overall, it's a great overall content in the game.
Advantages
Incredible presentation
Brilliant gameplay design
Tons of exploration
Clever puzzle solving
Epic bosses
Terrific graphics design
Recognisable music and sounds
Replay values
Disadvantages
The item that you rented more likely to taken back to store after death
Final Verdict
Presentation 10/10 - fantastic story, memorable characters, and incredible overall presentation.
Gameplay 10/10 - brilliant gameplay design, tons of explorations, clever puzzle solving, and epic bosses.
Graphics 9.5/10 - amazing level design, impressive visuals effects, spectacular 3D environments, and terrific character models.
Music and Sounds 10/10 - recognisable soundtrack and best sounding design.
Special Features 9.5/10 - Hero mode, Shadow Link battle, and Easter eggs.
Overall 10/10 - This game is a truly masterpiece that is definite a must buy for all 3DS collectors. It filled with many incredible stuff that the fans of the series should able to experience their Zelda universe featuring excellent storylines, innovative gameplay, outstanding exploration, and has replay values which is the reason this game is being one of my favourites on my 3DS libraries.
The Legend of Zelda are always been a strongest video game franchises that is so massively popular over a decade because we all know Nintendo is one of the top-dog company that shares with the unique creative ideas and pushing many talented developers to create the greatest game of all-time. The price wise is fairly decent enough to pick this copy for less than £15 thanks to Nintendo Selects discount.
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