Straight to the point for anyone crazy enough to wonder... YES this is a great game, it's a Zelda game. But just how great is it?
Pros:
- Very long game with many dungeons and areas
- Most detailed Zelda yet
- Vast and appealing landscape
- You can transform into a wolf and explore an alternate Twilight world
- The bow item uses the Wii Remote for aiming which is much nicer than an analog stick
- The most cinematic approach a Zelda game has taken
Cons:
- Many areas will feel very familiar to anyone who has played Ocarina of Time (N64) Lake Hylia, Death Mountain, Gerudo Desert are all beautiful but in my opinion far to similar.
- No reason to return to areas. There is a distinct lack of side-quests that leaves the otherwise beautiful scenery feeling empty. The lack of emphasis on exploration truly hurts the experience.
- The difficulty level is incredibly easy. You may get stuck on some puzzles but many of the gigantic and amazing boss battles give little satisfaction.
- Cookie cutter design. Dungeon gets you a new item which opens next dungeon, story hinges on the same collect ancient items it always has. You will know that a cut-scene is about to start before you walk into it.
- Wii remote sword controls leave a lot to be desired. This game was ported from the Gamecube and received a quick and tacked on control scheme. You waggle the remote instead of clicking a button. It is less accurate and silly. (upcoming Zelda: Skyward Sword promises to completely fix this).
- Wolf link soon looses his novelty due to very basic attacks and no enhancements.
I have given what may seem a large negatives list. Don't be discouraged though, Twilight Princess is still one of the best experiences on Wii and far far away from being a failure. It's just that in the shadows of its predecessors, at times it struggles to capture the same level of immersive game-play. To the few people who haven't tried the Zelda series before or maybe are still stuck with the old 2D games, I would still recommend it. However I can easily say that Ocarina of Time (freshly remade on the 3DS) and Wind Waker for Gamecube are superior experiences that define the adventure game genre in scope and atmosphere respectively.