The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS): Must-have originality

I remember the first Zelda game I ever played as if it were yesterday. A friend of mine invited me over to his place in order to test his Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The guy had bought it at a vintage fair the day before. His buy was accompanied by a few old-school games, including 'The legend of Zelda: A link to the Past'. The game dates from 1991, so you can imagine what my first thoughts were when the 16-bit soundtrack reached my ears. After numerous dungeons, boss fights, explorations and a 6-hour gaming session though, I was hooked.

Since then I started to collect all Zelda games. A hobby that cost me a lot, if you know that the latest release, 'A Link Between Worlds', was the seventeenth instalment in the franchise. The fact that this new game is an indirect sequel to the 1991 game mentioned above, has only enlarged my personal obsession with the series.

Of course, expressing my personal feelings isn’t perhaps the best way to start a review? Well then, let me put it in this more objective way: If you own a Nintendo 3DS, 'A Link Between Worlds' is an absolute must-have.

Familiar old-schoolness

Don’t get your hopes up for a totally original game in the series, now. This newest Zelda game follows the success story of its predecessors. That means that princess Zelda gets captured by some badasses once again, and it’s up to you, young hero Link, to save her. In order to get her free, you must face dozens of bosses at the ends of twice as many dungeons. In order to complete this, you’ll need three times as many tools and four times the amount of patience. Again, there is no one to tell you where to go to first, so you’ll be spending most of your game time finding your way around the game, unless you use a playthrough, which we sincerely recommend.

At the same time, Nintendo surprises us once again by using new techniques in this game. They get the maximum out of the 3DS with this game by taking the 2D/3D issue very literally. You’re able to walk with a three-dimensional Link throughout the kingdom of Hyrule, encountering many foul beasts on your way. If you’re getting tired of this hack-and-slashing, Nintendo has come up with a solution in this game. With a simple push on your A-button, you can merge with the wall which leads to you walking around surfaces in a two-dimensional way. This new feature also opens the possibilities to new challenges and puzzles, which get integrated in the game in such a smooth way you quickly get addicted to switching between 2 and 3D, just for the sake of it.

Another big difference with its predecessors is that the weapon-usage got a total makeover. In earlier games you had to find the bow, boomerang, master sword, hookshot and the other equipment that magically fit in Link’s pockets. Mostly often, you had to go to the lowest floor of the dungeon, where you would find a big-ass chest containing the item you need. In 'A Link to the Past' though, you’re able to rent all the items you need from the very beginning of the game. The consequence is that the game can be played in a random order. No linear gameplay anymore, thank you very much.

Verdict

With the Xbox One/Playstation 4-debate we had going on, people were starting to forget Nintendo. Some sites even stated that they were out of the game-business. Surely, Nintendo’s not going to show up with GTA VI on their console within a few years. Violent, big-ass blockbuster games just aren’t the Nintendo way. What they will do is just keep on making great games as this one. Let the big boys, Sony and Microsoft have their battle amongst each other - Nintendo just has to keep on doing what they’re doing now: presenting immersive gameplay to their public in lovely games.