Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was one of the most anticipated games in 2006. Part of one of the most beloved RPG series, the game had a lot of hype to live up to. After playing the game myself on Nintendo's new Wii, I can honestly say that the game manages to live up to all of the hype.

The first thing that sets the game apart is the wonderful control system. To draw your sword, you simply move the remote in your right hand and your sword (or earlier in the game, a stick or your practice sword) immediately comes out for a strike. To switch weapons, you simply hit one of the directional pad buttons; and to perform Link's infamous spin attack you simply jiggle the left controller nunchuk. Probably the most impressive demonstration of the control possibilities is fishing. That's right, if you haven't heard, Link pulls out a fishing pole early in the game to catch some fish. The control scheme definitely gets a full 10 out of 10 for pushing the envelope and creating a system for controlling each aspect of the game that is as close to fully intuitive as can be without reminding us all of the failed power glove.

As always, the story of Twilight Princess is deep and involved. An evil presence threatens the kingdom of Hyrule, and even extends to threaten Link's own small village. Rushing to save some young villagers, Link is captured and wakes up as, of all things, a werewolf. With the help of a strange creature named Midna, Link quickly assumes the role of a hero to save Hyrule from the evil Zant. There are plenty of large dungeons with unique bosses, even an underwater battle.

Just to give you a small taste of this, I will give you a few hints on how to acquire the slingshot. First, you visit the local shop in Link's village. Here you find a woman sadly missing her cat. She can't sell the slingshot to you right now, she misses the little guy so much. Simple, right? Find the cat. Wrong. First, you find the pillars of ground over the lake, and find a patch of grass shaped like a falcon. Using this special blade of grass, you call a falcon to you and, using the Wii controller to aim at the screen, shoot -of all things- a monkey. The monkey drops a bassinette and runs off fearful of having a falcon power-drive him again. You take the basket to a very pregnant woman, who puts her baby in the basket and walks back to her house to give you a fishing pole one of the local children made for you. Armed with this pole, find that cat and cast into the water nearby (he's been eying one of the fish for a while). On catching your second fish, the cat will nab it and run off home. Follow him and the overjoyed woman will give you half a bottle of milk and sell you the slingshot. So yeah, it's rather in depth and packed with long puzzles and some very familiar weapons. In this category, Twilight Princess gets a solid 10 out of 10 once again.

As usual, Zelda also delivers a truly wonderful soundtrack. Nintendo understands the need of an epic soundtrack to accompany an epic game. The soundtrack never usurps the game, though. Rather, the music composed for this game simply adds a depth to the game, extending the gameplay into the auditory range. Here I have to give Nintendo their first non-perfect score yet- a 9.5 out of 10. They could have done a lot more with the soundtrack, but you can't fault them for recycling some of the same sounds when you look at just how long the game is.

Now for the category many people want to hear about- graphics. As beautiful as this game really is, Nintendo's Wii console is NOT a graphics powerhouse. Limited by the system's lack of power, this game delivers an amazing look anyway. It won't win any awards in this category when put up against what the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 can put out. Still, in this category, Nintendo easily manages an 8 out of 10.

Like every Zelda game before it, Twilight Princess is a truly remarkable and beautiful game. Even with the Wii's limited capabilities as far as graphics go, Twilight Princess manages to have beautiful landscapes and undeniably stunning cut scenes. The gameplay is long and stunning, and there's never really a dull moment. Even if you beat the game straight through, there seems to always be more that you can decide to do, and many mini games to keep you occupied into the Wii hours of the night. That's why this game gets a very high 9.5 out of 10. Because, while the graphics suffer, the game delivers so much else that it overshadows anything that the graphics could take away.

- Written by MT