The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review

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The Legend of Zelda – A Link to the Past was released November 21, 1991 to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and would introduce Nintendo fans to the 16-bit world of Hyrule. This version of Hyrule differed from the world explored in both The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link. A Link to the Past also gave a wonderful back story to the lore and mythology of the Land of Hyrule and introduced a second map/world – The Dark World.

22 years later (almost to the day – November 22, 2013), Nintendo took fans back to this version of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda – A Link Between Worlds.

A Link Between Worlds plays just like its predecessor, only with updated graphics and an orchestrated soundtrack. In this adventure, Link is living in a similarly situated house and works as an apprentice blacksmith. Link’s task is easy, deliver a finished sword to the Captain of the Hyrule Royal Guard. On his way to deliver, Link learns that there is a situation in the Sanctuary and the villain of the game is revealed. Yuga – whom is one of the more recent effeminate male villains – is casting the descendants of the Sages into paintings. His goal is to revive Ganon. His goal.

After witnessing all of this, it is clear to Link what he must do. It’s only after a confrontation with Yuga does Link find himself as a painting and finding pathways between Hyrule and The Dark World – now called Lorule (get it?). In this outing, Lorule is really the dark variation of Hyrule – each character encountered is the dark counterpart of the Hyrule version. After Link completes his quest of freeing the imprisoned Sage’s (with The Master Sword, of course), a final battle ensues between Link and Yuga.

lorule

Now – for those of you that have already played through the game, you’re thinking “well that’s wrong, Link actually fights _____. As a writer, I like to keep things secret, too. Sure – you can get on YouTube and find out who Link really fights at the end of the game, but I’m writing this to be spoiler-free. It’s a review, not a full on autopsy of the game.

That being said – this game is truly a fun experience. For those of you Zelda fans that are like me and are aged 30 or above, A Link Between Worlds is a terrific throwback experience to our childhood. The only disappointing thing to me is that this game felt easier to me than its predecessor. I can remember that it felt like it took me a year to beat A Link to the Past. Then again, I was 7 when the game came out, so I’m sure playing a new game as a 7 year old versus being 30 is a little different in regards to the learning curve.

This game offers a few new concepts to the Zelda gaming experience. The first, that isn’t completely new, is that in this game you can do the dungeons in any order. The last time this was fully explored was in the original The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This feature does not mean you can skip just to the end, but in the first half of the game in Hyrule you can do the dungeons in any order and the same when you arrive in Lorule.

Another new feature in A Link Between Worlds is the way you get items. The item-get for the game is a little different and can be rather annoying if you’re not stocked up on fairies in jars or health power-ups (or insufficient rupees). In this game, you can have access to pretty much every item in the game after the first dungeon. You pay to rent or to own (Ravio’s Rent-A-Center) each item. If you’re only renting and you die – all of your rented items are collected and you have to pay to rent them again. It’s an interesting idea that Nintendo tried, but there was just something cool and unique about playing a dungeon in any other Zelda game thinking “ok, this dungeon I’m going to get ______.” For A Link Between Worlds you just had to make sure you had the right item on you.

a link between worlds review

Now, if you were an expert player, then needing extra rupees and fairies and hearts wouldn’t matter as you could just not die and keep all your rented items. But have no fear – if you’re short on currency, you can always sell some of your collected fare to the witch. She can either pay you out right or can use what you give her to make you potions. This bartering/selling system has really taken off since The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword.

One last thing about items which is kind of cool – you never run out of arrows, bombs, or lantern fuel! In this game, all of the items are tied to the energy bracelet that you borrow from Ravio! This is not to say that if you’re firing off a lot of arrows that you won’t deplete yourself of energy and have to wait a few moments to recharge, but rest easy, there’s an upgrade to the energy meter.

If you bought your items and collected enough of the little “Maiamai” things and returned them, you could get your items upgraded for free – but you have to own them to get it upgraded.

Maiamai item upgrades

As far as the villain goes – Yuga isn’t anything special. At first seeing him, you think – sweet, we have a female villain, only to learn he’s not a she at all. Sure, Ganon makes an appearance in the game, but I don’t know why Nintendo has been avoiding bringing this character back around to us. Skyward Sword introduced us to what is essentially the essence, or The First Evil of Hyrule – Demise. Ganon’s story is as important to each story he’s featured in, just as Links and Zelda’s story for that particular game.

yuga and link fighting

A good example of this is Ganon’s feature in The Wind Waker, or Twilight Princess: Ganon is kind of like a Phoenix character throughout the series, he rises from the ashes anew and ready to extract his vengeance. Yuga’s premise is just to try and revive Ganon to beautify the world. A great M.O. for a femme fatale, but again, Yuga is male, so to me as a player, I didn’t really get invested in caring for his motives. Not that men can’t have a desire to beautify the world, but at that point, why not make Al Gore the villain then? Vaati would have made for an efficient sub-villain to the final showdown with Ganon for this game, but sadly the climax goes differently.

hilda zelda

I digress. The ending of the game is not completely upsetting. There are a few last minute surprises that will either give you a sense of shock or slap you in the face. Me, I was a little shocked and then thought well, you should have seen that coming. And the ending also really brings a very cinematic feel to a Zelda game that I was impressed with. Sure it was hands off after the final battle, but it was very rewarding to go through the climax of the story and still feel like a hero.

If there is one thing that I always admire about a game in the Zelda franchise, it is the soundtrack. A Link Between Worlds does not disappoint in this field. From the light traditional main theme before encountering Yuga to a building full orchestra Zelda overworld theme, this game has it all. The musical cues are very reminiscent of A Link to the Past, which makes sense as that’s the game of basis. One thing that I really liked was in the milk bar, there were two bards, one with a guitar, the other an ocarina. These two musicians play cover songs of music heard in A Link Between Worlds and a few other familiar Zelda tunes, if you request them to play.

But where the music really works for me – the final dungeon – Lorule Castle. After unlocking each level of the castle, the tune would change a little more each time, to the final bit of the theme including a choir. There’s just something about hearing lyrics (granted “oohs and ahs,”) to a Zelda theme, but I got goose bumps hearing it on my way to the final showdown.

a link between worlds logo

Nostalgia factor aside, A Link Between Worlds is a fun entry to the series, and provides interesting new characters, unique controls, wonderful new music, and fascinating dungeons and puzzles. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a must-play for any true fan of The Legend of Zelda series, and definitely a should-own if you own a 3DS or 2DS and are looking to add a game to your library.

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About Author

Ben Cornett is graduate of Western Michigan University. He serves as managing editor of The Hidden Triforce. In his spare time, he maintains his own blog. Ben currently resides in Ann Arbor.

  • Noah Glaser

    I personally felt the game deserved a 7/10 or thereabout. A Link Between Worlds was just way too easy and lacking in advances to the series. The item rental and addition of Lorule both felt like cheap addons that were not fully developed.

    • Hero_of_Legacy

      SAY WHAT?!?! Cheap add-ons? Lorule is like half the game, and I thought the item rental was quite good, and forced me to be much more carful at times, and while I admit it was it bit easy, it still had a fair bit of difficulty, must especially hero mode, have you seen that? 2-hit KO right at the beginning of the game, and not much better as the game goes on, which is quite difficult with the rental system. Also the idea of playing the dungeons in any order, without dependance on the completion of other dungeons is a pretty big advance. /rant

      • Noah Glaser

        I agree with some of your points. The hero mode would definitely make renting easy. But I feel most casual users bypass this mode.

        And Lorule, was the exact same thing as the Dark World from alttp….but was actually a whole different world. That was the cheap and lame part to me. They put no effort into the creation of a new world and just fragmented an old one.