The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on Nintendo WiiU

Link and Epona. Image (c) Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the latest amazing game in this fantastic franchise. A mysterious dark figure has emerged from the Twilight Realm into the world of light.  Playing as Link, you must travel through dark forests, maze-like dungeons and far-off lands of Hyrule, trying to unravel what has happened and to restore order to a now broken land.

This is a single-player story-based game, where you travel through lands, face challenges, and solve puzzles as you progress. The first part is easy - choose a name for yourself (I stuck with Link) and your horse, and then into the game you go. You start off with 'simple' challenges to help you learn the controls, and figure out how things work. But nothing is really that 'simple' - even with the help from other characters telling you where to get the fishing rod, for example, you have a fair amount of thinking and figuring out before you can actually get it. Challenges relate to one another, too, so you have to solve one to be able to solve the next. This isn't simply running around bashing things - you do have to use your brain, and it's great!

Once you have mastered controlling Link and your horse (including herding goats, jumping over fences, and learning how to use your sword), you are off in the first foray out of the village. Outside is a dark and threatening land, but you have a mission to complete and many adventures lay ahead. It isn't long before things take a turn for the worse, and everything you have learnt to help you play as Link has to be re-learnt as you take on a new form.

This is a beautifully crafted game. Nintendo have taken a classic adventure and added a serious and classy style. The artwork is stunning, and the video clips are as enjoyable as they are informative. As well as many helpful characters, there are of course the many characters and figures who mean you harm. In this story, the darkness is quite palpable at times, and the atmosphere electric.

For the serious gamer, and anyone who wants to prove themselves, there is a Hero mode, where enemies deal double the damage and health-restoring hearts don't appear. As with other fantastic Nintendo games, you can buy Amiibo's that add new dimensions and features to the game - opening new parts of the game, or (for if you really want to see how tough you are) making the enemies even stronger.

If you have ever played a game in the Zelda series (I remember playing the Ocarina of Time many years ago) you will want to play this. If you haven't, well this is a great place to start. It is in-depth, it is immersive, it is challenging, and yes it has a dark plot. But the controls are finely balanced, the gameplay is excellent, the art work is stunning, and the game overall is fantastic.

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is available on Nintendo WiiU and is rated PEGI 12. Find out more from the Nintendo website. Our photos really don't do the graphics and imagery justice, and the atmosphere created is so much more intense than can be portrayed in this review - go and enjoy it for real!

Disclosure: We were sent the download code for this game for the purposes of review. All opinions are our own.