Chasing the Tri-Force
Derek Hidey
Issue date: 12/6/06 Section: The AT Wire
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In an article written on www.joystiq.com, Vladimir Cole, a contributing writer, gave a short and unofficial review of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Nintendo Wii. Cole criticized the game by complaining about the color: "Imagine being a freshwater fish after a heavy rain. All around you: brown." Later in his article, he criticized the Wii by referring to it as "the engine that couldn't" and "it's clear that we're playing a GameCube game that's had motion-sensitive controls bolted on in order to move Wii boxes off of retailer shelves." What is most disturbing about his complaints were the examples he used to justify them. If anything, I would have to say that Cole is the reviewer who couldn't, and it's clear that we're seeing another review that's had stretched criticism bolted to it to get attention.
Cole's first example of his disappointment comes from the color palette in Twilight Princess. He believed that the developers didn't capture the bright and vibrant colors found in most Zelda games. Cole made a reference to Windwaker and its cel-shaded style. What's the big deal? Ocarina of Time wasn't cel-shaded and it is still referred to as one of the best Zelda games ever created.
Cole attributed classic Zelda gameplay with the Wii's "graphical shortcomings." Okay, so it should be obvious to everyone that the Wii is not as powerful as the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3. I think that we have all come to terms with this fact by now because we've never relied on Nintendo consoles for our realistic representations. Cole made this notion clear, but says that people who believe gameplay is more important than graphics "do gaming a disservice when they artificially partition [them]." He made it sound as if the visuals in Twilight Princess were 8-bit.
His largest complaint is how the player must read signposts by walking up to them, pressing the "a" button, reading the sign, and pressing the "a" button again to zoom out again. Understandably, you would think that wouldn't have to be done with next generation abilities that can achieve new levels of detail. At the same time, however, this is classic Zelda, and most fans of the series have come to accept these things.
Cole's first example of his disappointment comes from the color palette in Twilight Princess. He believed that the developers didn't capture the bright and vibrant colors found in most Zelda games. Cole made a reference to Windwaker and its cel-shaded style. What's the big deal? Ocarina of Time wasn't cel-shaded and it is still referred to as one of the best Zelda games ever created.
Cole attributed classic Zelda gameplay with the Wii's "graphical shortcomings." Okay, so it should be obvious to everyone that the Wii is not as powerful as the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3. I think that we have all come to terms with this fact by now because we've never relied on Nintendo consoles for our realistic representations. Cole made this notion clear, but says that people who believe gameplay is more important than graphics "do gaming a disservice when they artificially partition [them]." He made it sound as if the visuals in Twilight Princess were 8-bit.
His largest complaint is how the player must read signposts by walking up to them, pressing the "a" button, reading the sign, and pressing the "a" button again to zoom out again. Understandably, you would think that wouldn't have to be done with next generation abilities that can achieve new levels of detail. At the same time, however, this is classic Zelda, and most fans of the series have come to accept these things.
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