Quote: "Parallel Remodel is a game that’s fair to the player and doesn't want to force any super tricks, stunts or logic to finish the game, while still having a decent difficulty. It makes Parallel Worlds enjoyable. You don’t have to use save states or cheats to finish the game. You don’t have to be a veteran or a super player either. You will not be frustrated while playing."
I find myself having to point this out because it's just not true.
You WILL be frustrated.
You WILL find yourself abusing the save state so hard your finger gets sore from how hard you're jabbing the button.
However, if you're anything like me, you will find yourself enjoying the heck out of this game anyway.
Graphics
The graphics in the original game are among my favorite Zelda graphics ever; they are crisp, clean, bright and easy to see. The hack and remodel make great use of these graphics, not blurring or changing things.
Sound
Just like the original in catchy tunes. I can't remember if they created anything new for this game or just remixed the original tunes, but it's a typically wonderful musical mix.
Addictiveness
What can I say? I'm hooked. Just like with the original game, I can't put it down. It has all the tricky dungeons, surprising discoveries, and puzzling side quests of the original game, but totally new and shiny. And a few added features that are pretty neat too.
Story
Honestly there's only so much you can do with a story without some serious graphics changes. The story feels a bit rushed and packed in-but then again, that's kind of a Zelda issue, not a hack issue. It's always "dump Link into the world and hey, let's go rescue some princess you've never met". It's kind of like the Mario franchise: how many times can you do essentially the same thing over and over and not have it be a bit stale, story-line wise?
Depth
As with any good Zelda game, there's a bunch of stuff to do. Sometimes you're just searching for hearts, sometimes you're helping people...it literally doubles the playing time of the game, which is a really great thing. The hack doesn't loose any of this charm; the side-quest puzzles are still there, the hearts are scattered for finding, and the secrets are still as fun to trip over as they used to be.
Difficulty
The difficulty level has been reduced by quite a bit. That part they're not lying about. I played the original for about two hours before I gave up crying. (Not literally, but pretty close.) I'm not a super awesome player of these games, and it was just too hard for me. But even while I bemoaned the difficulty level, I couldn't help but adore the graphics, the new mixture of levels, music and game-play, and the amazing work that went into this hack. I don't think I've ever seen a hack so well done.
None of which helped when I was killed by a swarm of minor creatures on the map level on the way to the first dungeon for the fifteenth time.
This game is easier. The balance is quite a bit more fair to the player and, as they stated, the backtracking has been highly reduced. However, you'll still find yourself dying a lot. A LOT. The enemies on the main world screen are out to get you; you'll be amazed (for awhile) and then resigned as you find yourself constantly under attack. The bosses are always hedged in with extra difficult little bits (more spikes, anyone?) and there's enemies on the main world screen that you just can't fight. (Beamos outside!)
There's times, when you're maneuvering through a big room full of enemies, spikes, moving platforms, Beamos and holes, that you're suddenly struck by the fact that this is the easy version????. But then you'll notice the details-some of the Beamos mysteriously don't shoot, for example. Watch a few videos of the original if you've never seen them-almost all the dungeon levels were dark, to begin with. It was insane.
So yes, this is the easy version. The decision to use the Save State button is up to you...but I'd highly recommend it, unless you like slogging through the same dungeon rooms twenty times.
The puzzle difficulty has been reduced as well. I haven't gotten to the legendary ex-algorithmic logic puzzles in the final dungeon yet, but I watched some videos and I had a hard time following someone else showing me how to do them...which didn't bode well for my chances if I'd ever made it there myself. Comparing the amount of back-tracking they had to do in a few of those videos with what I had to do, it's quite clear that they went above and beyond in their efforts to make it easier to do.
Overall
This is an amazing game. If you can handle some frustration, I highly recommend this game. I plan on beating the heck out of it, finding all the heart pieces, and digging out every last secret. The original was a marvel of hacking genius, and this remodel is a marvel of not reducing your players to quivering lumps of terror. Er, I mean, making the game easier to play.
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