Dan's Blogvent Calendar - December 5th

Apologies for the lateness of today's entry. I've been out for a meal with my work colleagues tonight. As a consequence, what follows may seem like the inane ramblings of a half-drunk man. Rest assured, that's because that's exactly what they are.

When I've not been Pokémon-ing over the last week or so (yes, there are times when that is the case), I've been putting a bit of time into another 3DS game - specifically the new Zelda title, A Link Between Worlds. I haven't spent a huge amount of time with the game - I've just retrieved the Master Sword and am about to storm Hyrule Castle - but the time I have put into it has left me with a few thoughts to share on this latest instalment in Nintendo's flagship adventure franchise. As seems to have become customary for these Blogvent posts, I'll be laying out those thoughts in a series of bullet points. Ready? Go!

• A Link Between Worlds delivers a comprehensive hit to the nostalgia centre in my brain. Maybe it's because I didn't play A Link to the Past until three years ago, and therefore all of its features and tropes are still fresh in my mind, but I've been consistently surprised by how much this sequel manages to evoke memories of the original within me. It's evident in the big things like the familiar overworld design and boss battles, but its success is just as much down to the little things, like the sound effects, subtle animations, and the behaviour of items and enemies within the gameworld. If it can get someone with limited experience with the source material giddy with nostalgia, then I'd love to hear reactions from those who hold up A Link to the Past as one of their all-time favourite games.
• Holy crap, this game looks good. The visual style of A Link to the Past not only survives the transition to three dimensions, but benefits from it. And then there's the 3D! Before A Link Between Worlds, I'd never played a game with the 3DS's 3D effect on. Sure, I'd flipped the slider up on most games, just to see how the effect looked, but I never felt like my experience was lacking for choosing to play in 2D. With A Link Between Worlds, I can't not play with the 3D effect on. The added depth to the top-down visuals looks fantastic, filling an already-vibrant world with even more life.
• I like the approach taken with Ravio's rent-an-item service. It's a mechanic that seems purpose-built to let novices pick up what they need to advance, without penalising series stalwarts by making them wait to get their hands on more advanced kit. Being able to explore the whole overworld more or less from the get-go was great, and left me feeling more encouraged to get stuck into the game's side-quests rather than letting them fall by the wayside due to an under-stocked inventory. There's a part of me that does miss the series staple of picking up a mysterious new item in each dungeon and then using it to solve puzzles and beat the boss, but that nostalgic buzz is a small price to pay for a much more flexible means of filling up Link's inventory.
• I'm still not completely sold on the whole 'merging with walls' mechanic at the moment. I thought its introduction in Link's escape from Hyrule Castle was great, but since then I've only really used it to cross holes in the floor, squeeze through gaps in walls, and dislodge those pesky maiamai critters. It's a cool mechanic, it just doesn't seem to be being used to its full potential, and I really hope that changes in the upcoming dungeons.

Thanks for bearing with me through this, and apologies if any of it is incoherent or self-contradictory. I'll try to make tomorrow's post a little less rambly (not having three pints beforehand will probably help). Thanks for reading guys, take care and I'll see you around.

Dan

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Currently playing - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)