Writing a review for Twilight Princess is painful for me, because there's so much I want to get incredibly in-depth about, yet at the same time I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't played the game. Leaving me only able to talk about general ideas and hinting at specific ones so that no one fires me angry e-mails about how I ruined the game for them.

First things first, this is game is amazing. It's pretty much everything you could hope for from an epic Zelda game. Visually it follows in the same style as Ocarina of Time from the N64. It has the older, mature link that all of the fans have been crying for ever since Wind Waker for the Gamecube was released. The great thing about Twilight Princess is that it's clear they went all out on every single aspect of the game possible. You can really tell they poured their heart into this one and it easily shows. No aspect of the game is sloppy - everything is nice and tight.

Nintendo made the smart move of keeping everything about the Zelda franchise you would hope for, then really going over the top and adding new experiences to the universe. If it wasn't for all of the wonderful new types of items, dungeons, and especially the story, then this Zelda title would only seem like all the other ones you've played before it. But by adding so many new elements that look to be unique to this game alone, it really makes Twilight Princess its own game, rather than one similar to games before it.

The whole first half of the game, I'd say, you collect all the items you're used to. Such as the boomerang, the bow and arrow, the iron boots, etc. Once you collect all the familiar items, you'll find yourself unable to guess what the new item in the new dungeon will be, especially while in it. You'll be scratching your head to figure it out, only to realize it's something completely new and original to the Zelda universe. That's when this game really kicks off - when it gets done pleasing the fan base with the usual material and steps up to make the adventure brand new.

One of the most unique aspects of this game is the Twilight realm. It's obviously the ultimate Nintendo cliché: light vs. dark. But the title really pulls it off by making the Twilight realm its own unique personality and creating it to be visually pleasing to the eye. When in this realm, Link is forced to turn into the form of a wolf. It's clear there's not much reason as to why link turns into a wolf rather than some other animal, other than the fact the developers thought it would be cool. You find yourself face to face with a brand new character, Midna, a descendent of the Twilight realm. She decides to ride along on your back and help lead you on your quest, as long as you help her.

Personally, I think Midna is awesome. By being rather mean to Link, she brings an intriguing part of the game forward by making you really wonder what her true motives are. She's a very interesting design of a character, and does an incredible job of drawing you into the story.

As a wolf, you have the special "sense" ability. This allows you to view spirits that are trapped in the Twilight Realm, and also lets you see scent trails. This extra sense ability is used really well, and reminds me a lot of Samus' extra visors in the Metroid Prime games. The wolf is a wonderful addition to the Zelda universe, and fits perfectly with this game.

As for the dungeons, there's a lot of them. I counted nine total - but there's a few hidden "mini" dungeons spread across the overworld map. As I said before, the first half is filled with your usual elemental dungeons - earth, fire, water, etc. Then they start getting creative, thankfully, and introducing some new places. Except for the third one, which was ridiculously evil for me, I found all dungeons to be pretty cut and dry. That's not a bad thing either. They were very straight forward and very enjoyable, without relying on too much back-tracking or unnecessary wandering around. That being said, they weren't particularly puzzling to me. Maybe I was just too smart for this game, but judging by how often I would be completely fooled by other Zelda games, I found this game just a little too simple to work through. That's only to get through the dungeon. If you want to get some of the extra chests not needed to get to the end, those tend to be a little more challenging - but the reward of money was not usually helpful in making me want to find them all.

That is one major problem I've had with this game (which isn't really that bad if you think about it.) I always had money. I had tons of money - with nothing to spend it on. I honestly had to pretty much throw my money at somebody taking donations to get rid of it most of the time because there was nothing to really buy. And all I did was keep getting it. Before, if you were to be maxed out on Rupees, and you were to open a chest with money in it - you'd take it, but still be maxed out - so not really earning any money at all. But now, if you don't have enough room in your wallet, Link will gladly put it back in the chest and close it. Sounds like a nice idea, right? Yeah, I guess so. Until you get to the end of a dungeon, realize you missed a specific item in one of the chests, and you look at your map to see six more "unopened" chests. Then you wonder... "crap. which ones were the ones I opened that had money in it..."

The boss battles in Twilight Princess are really big, and really scary looking, but they aren't much passed that. Don't get me wrong, I loved fighting the boss battles - but man where they easy. The game put the wrong emphasis on what the challenge of the boss should be. I think the challenge should be trying to stay alive as you fight a fierce battle with them, but the game sees the challenge as trying to figure out how to beat them. Which is nice - it's fun for a few moments trying to figure out how to beat them, but once you do, it's just a matter of doing it a few times until they die. Most bosses were really awesome though, and if they would have made it much, much more difficult to win it would have been perfect.

My only other real complaint is the style of this game. (gasp, did Ray just say those words? The greatest looking Zelda game ever, and he doesn't like the style?) Well, I have to be honest - The style works fine, but it's a little brittle. I know most people have been dying for this "mature" Zelda look. I'll tell you were it really succeeds: when the game is serious. Take the cutscene above - that's pretty scary looking, and really, really effective because of the style. As noted in other reviews, its obvious someone was watching way too many Lord of the Rings films. This game has a very dark edge to it - and it works extremely well. The cutscenes are so much more cinematic and creepy that it really draws you into the game. It gives it it's own personality. But then there's things like this:

This mail man is the exact opposite of the style presented by this game. In fact, I can pretty much say he's like a cartoon character. This is where the style fails - and this is what Zelda fans don't seem to realize about their beloved franchise. Their games are not only serious, but comical and cute. Not only this character, but many others in this game have very cartoonish features. They're comical looking, but with "realistic" textures and it just doesn't work. This is why after much thought and review, I still prefer the style of Wind Waker.

Yes, I really did just say that. I may end up being the only person who ever feels this way, but think about this: Wind Waker had a cartoonish cel-shaded look that allows for characters such as this mail man to act cartoony. When the game wants to get serious, they just turn off the cartoonish actions of the characters and get down to business. Wind Waker's still offered flexibility between all elements of the usual Zelda game and I feel they hit it right on the money with that one. But with a realistic look, you're stuck in the world of realism. And in a realistic world, you can't expect some little mail man practically skipping towards you with cute background music. It just doesn't work.

Once again though, I'm not saying the serious style is bad - it is certainly incredibly effective with the serious stuff. But once they try to do the usual cute things in Zelda games (the sound effects, the music, the dialogue, etc) it just doesn't quite fit correctly.