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Zelda DX - Links Awakening: Reviews

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Game Score: 9/10

Link's Awakening was the first Zelda title to be released on a portable console, and even now, in 2007, thousands of fans of the serie still see it as the best portable Zelda game, some even go as far as calling it the best Zelda game ever made. Link's Awakening DX is, on most parts, true to the original, and the few changes that were made don't take anything away from the original, awesome feeling this game leave to almost everyone who play it.

General Score: 9.5/10

After another of his epic adventures, Link set of on a journey aboard a ship. The ship is caught in a storm and Link is cast away on an unknown island. After a little while, Link realise that getting out of this island will be a hard task indeed, he will have to explore every remote corner of the island and venture through various dungeons. Look like what was suposed to be an ordinary trip turned into Link's typical, epic adventure.

Control&Gameplay: 8/10

This Zelda game follow this era's standard style: You can move Link left, right, up and down from a top view and slash your sword into four direction to attack enemies, or of course, charge your trusty spinning sword technique to hit foes surrounding you. This system is tried and true and does wonders in Link's Awakening, but one aspect of this game bother me and keep me from giving it higher than 8. You can equip two items at once, and most of the time, one have to be your sword, so this leave room for one other item. Some of them are needed on a regular basis, such as the Feather, the Power Bracelet, the Pegasus Boots and Hookshot, so you'll find yourself openning the menu a lot late in the game, once you start having a lot of items. This get kinda annoying, as it break the action and feel clumsy most of the time. But beside this problem, I LOVE the control of this game, jumping is pretty fun, you can swing the sword at amazing speed, wich is cool, and Link move at a good speed, so traveling never really feel tedious (until you need to pause to pull out the Power Bracelet and lift a stone <_<). The dungeons have a different feel to them than in the most recent Zelda games (Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, etc) the puzzle generaly take only a few seconds or minutes to solve, and most of the time, quick thinking does the job, this is a good thing since you won't get bored going through a dungeon you already know, since pushing a block don't take 5 minutes, unlike in a 3D Zelda. Moving Link and doing actions feel really swift compared to 3D Zelda games.

Music&Sound: 9/10

Awesome music for a portable game! This game have a very, very good overworld theme, each dungeon have it's own music (wich probably won't get on your nerves). Heck, I can't think of any bad music in Link's Awakening. The sound is fine too, of course, there are a lot of ''beepy'' sound effects, IT IS a Game Boy game, but none will make you want to mute the game.

Graphics: 8/10

Fine graphics for Game Boy... the color really help too, but it's still nothing awesome. I give it a good score since for most of the game, nothing is eye-tiring to look at (After playing the whole game on emulator, I think the only thing that bugged me about the graphics was the color choice for the Turtle Rock dungeon... bright orange hurt the eyes, some peoples might feel like lowering the screen's brightness)

Replay Value: 9/10

This is one of the very strong points of Link's Awakening, the game progress at a smooth pace, so it's not hard to play over and over. There are no real ''lenghts'' in the story, and some of the collectibles are very hard to find, or even almost impossible without looking at a guide. I'm sure you won't find EVERYTHING in a first run. One of these things that add replay value is DX exclusive: The picture album. if you move Link to a certain spot in the world, a cameraman will pop out and take a picture of you, there are quite a few hidden in the game, including a bunch of miss-able ones.

Difficulty Level: 7/10

The difficulty is fine through most of the quest. But the peaks are at the beggining, wich is kinda odd. Most of the boss fights are very easy, wich is dissapointing. But I can guarantee you won't be sleeping through the whole game, if you think this is an easy Zelda, you're wrong. Beating it with 0 deaths will take good gaming skill.

Pros/Cons:

Pros:

-Top View is the best for a Zelda game, and it's used here.

-One of the best soundtracks in the whole serie, even if it's only Game Boy Color.

-Fast paced game, no real lenghts.

Cons:

-Too many of the items are required to navigate dungeons, requiring you to open the menu too often, slowing down the action.

When all is said... this game isn't flawless, but in my opinion, it's the second best Zelda game in the serie, after A Link to the Past. Give it a try if you never did, you can't call yourself a Zelda fan without beating that at least once.