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You can’t roll in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. You may not care about this, but I do. Massively. Since the dawn of time I’ve always, for no apparent reason, somersaulted my way through nearly every Zelda game I can remember but now, in 2013, I cannot do this.
Not in the version Nintendo has at E3 anyhow. As you may expect this has little impact whatsoever on the 3DS’ first new Zelda title, one of, if not the best game I’ve played so far. It certainly does nothing new: why this has been given its own unique subtitle is a mystery as this is A Link To The Past 2 in everything but name.
As well as the dungeon that we here at VideoGamer.com have already experienced, Nintendo was also nice enough to let us wonder aimlessly throughout Hyrule, which is an exact replica of the environment we explored back in 1991 on the SNES. I’d have to do a side-by-side comparison, but I’m 99% sure some areas are an exact copy and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Too many games nowadays simply upgrade what was already there, but A Link Between Worlds lovingly recreates a scene millions of us are familiar with but introduces a new story, mechanics, dungeons and bosses.
That’s not to say this is reinventing the Zelda wheel, though. It’s not. At all. If this had been slipped out in 1994, visuals aside, no one would’ve batted an eyelid. This exists purely to service those who regard the original so highly while also (hopefully) winning over a new audience who think it looks pretty… which it does.
Nintendo needs to start piecing together the bigger picture before we can all start crying Link-shaped tears, but if just walking around Hyrule field, blowing up walls and hammering down on poles can keep me entertained for a good 20 minutes, then it must be doing something right.
Editor’s note: If you’re not a Zelda fanboy, reduce praise by 20%.
