A Link to the past

Over the last few weekends, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has really absorbed my time. I had started playing this game a while ago, but I was frustrating stuck at a point in the game and abandoned it (put down to some poor Wii controlling on my part).   But as the old adage goes, practise makes perfect and so after another 2hrs evaporated (and countless in-game deaths), I was finally through!
Sure, the graphics may not be the most realistic, but the playability is what shines through.  
It is a rather engrossing game, with a quest objective throughout the game.  As the dungeons are defeated and new weapons/tools are added to the armory, previously inaccessible areas are opened up - which really adds to the exploration element of the game.  These also add to future complexity of puzzle solving as it requires observation and the ability to integrate and apply prior knowledge and skill.  I still have yet to finish the game, but hopefully I can work my way through it soon!

I remember playing the original Zelda game on the NES back in the 1990's.  It was a great game that stretched the limits of an 8-Bit gaming system.  The maps were huge and the dungeons were tricky.  The odd game for me was the Zelda II which had a top down and side scrolling element.  Zelda III was one of my favorites as it was the only incarnation on the SNES but really had incorporated some new elements while returning to the true top-down perspective.  Unfortunately, no N64 or GameCube meant I missed out on a few episodes!

In all the Zelda games I have played, the underlying theme/formula was largely in common - starting off as an average joe and after helping someone out (and picking up a sword no doubt) end up on a large quest (ahhh, how simple life can be!).  The process of slowly upgrading, listening to villagers speak of rumours or legends can lead to some real rewards which ends up transforming the character into a warrior who eventually has enough at his disposal to send off the evil enemy.  (Hmm, come to think of it, there are a lot of games which use this thematic...).

Playing these games at a young age, I really enjoyed the way in which the characters matured.  Looking back over the years, I wondered whether I had followed a similar trajectory to the in-game hero.  I remember starting out at uni and work rather eager to conquer the world....yet here I am so much more "mature" and still playing games with the same thematic some many years later!  Although it's so easy to just keep pressing "Continue", perhaps I just need to get out some more!