The Legend of Zelda series is a series that I have a particular fondness for. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of the series, but I do enjoy the games. I’m mostly familiar with 3D games, but I’m familiar with a few of the overhead view games. The latest zelda game that I played and beat is Link between World, and it’s actually my second time beating it. So without further to do, here are my thoughts on Link between Worlds.

Story
If you played almost every other Zelda then the story here should be very familiar, especially if you’ve played A Link to the Past. This story once again deals with another world, expect this other world isn’t a twisted Sacred Realm but an alternate Hyrule: Lorule. Like Ganon before a grave danger comes  from Lorule, a beauty obsessed wizard named Yuga with the power to turn people into paintings. Thankfully Link has a strange merchant by the name of Ravio to help Link against the dark forces, and there’s a bit of twist with Ravio that I found to be interesting. Another interesting thing was what Nintendo did with the princess of Lorule. Overall, the story of Link between World is almost the same as A Link to the Past, but I thought the twists involving a couple of the new characters made the story much more interesting. The game also has some neat graphics to help uplift the story.

Graphics
Link between Worlds is another game that shows that a handheld console can have good 3D graphics. Models are smoothly made and well animated for a handheld game. Textures are also pretty well done for a handheld game. Additionally, the game has some nice lighting effects, though it’s only in effect in certain moments. But, perhaps best thing about the graphics is how they emulate the overhead view of the old games. Every model is actually titled back and when viewed from the game’s camera gives the perspective of how it looked in the old games. Overall, the aesthetic of the game is rather nice. The aesthetic is also complemented by the game’s sound design.

Sound
This being a zelda game you can expect great music in this entry as well. However, I do feel that the tracks in this game are just update versions of the ones from Link to the Past, which were good. And in the same vein of the modern Zelda games, characters occasionally shout in order to express their emotions, which makes for a better told story. There are some great sound effects that can rather goofy at times, like when enemies fall into a pit. Sound is also important part of giving the gameplay some extra impact.

Gameplay
If any of you ever played Link to the Past then you should be familiar with the standard mechanics of this one. However, there are some differences that should be noted. One is the inclusion of the stamina bar, which governs how many times you use an item. Replacing ammunition with stamina may seem dumb to some, but letting stamina regenerate is better than grinding for say arrows. Second is that none of the items are found in dungeons, instead they are rented from Ravio. Renting an item means paying Ravio some rupees for use of the rented item until you die. It may seem a neat to get items very quickly through the rental system, but dying means returning the rented items to Ravio and requiring you to pay Ravio again to rent them. This may not seem terrible during normal mode, but on hero mode it get very annoying. However, you can purchase the items at Ravio’s shop after the fourth dungeon or so. Additionally, every item can be upgrade by bringing ten shelled octopus babies to their mother. In fact, upgrading the master sword far less annoying than it was, but you do have to gather two special items for the sword but no wait time. Now, perhaps the biggest addition is the ability to merge onto walls, and it’s used frequently to important aspect of the game: explorations. This ability allows Link to cross gaps easily, retrieve items merged on the wall, negate damage, and cross between worlds. However, merging costs stamina to maintain, so that could be a problem if you’re merged on a moving block over a pit on low stamina. Now, perhaps one of my big gripes with the game (not counting the rental system) is that the map is vastly similar to Link to the Past’s map. However, even though most of the dungeons of the two games share the same names they can be rather different from each other. Bosses are also much more improved from Link to the Past, as nearly each one require to use your items. This method of fighting bosses to me is more enjoyable than just hitting the boss in these games. But with every boss fight there is the chance of death, and that’s why you bring fairies and potions. Fairies are unfortunately useless after you get more than eight hearts, instead I just used potions. There are three types of potions: red, blue, yellow, and purple. Red potions restores eight hearts, blue potions restore all hearts, yellow potions grants invincibility, and purple potions damage surrounding enemies. However, you can’t buy these potions instead you have to give monster parts to a witch. I do like having gather ingredients for something, but the process is incredibly grindy. I also found that only the blue potion is truly useful, but you may purple and yellow potions during hero mode. Overall, the gameplay is great with my some gripes.

Link between Worlds is a great entry in the zelda franchise. The story may be predictable, but it does some twists that haven’t been done in the franchise. The game has great presentation with its visuals and audio, and does a clever trick to give it the perspective of the old games. The game itself is also great, but I think it gets weighed by the rental system. All in all though, Link between Worlds is an great zelda game for those who miss the old games.

It has been a long time since I read one of your reviews, but at least I was not disappointed! You have a good structure, plenty of details and, most importantly, ample comparisons with the "original" game. However it would have been better if you talked a little about Link to the Past to situate "modern" players who may not have played it better.