The Legend of Zelda review by Tyson
Overall
Rent
Well I think I can hear the mob outside of my house now. Yeah I am giving The Legend of Zelda a rent status simply because of the games lack of direction and bad hint system. Like other games with these giant overworld themes you need a strategy guide to simply make progress and I don't really like that. Don't get me wrong The Legend of Zelda is worth playing but I feel renting or borrowing the game is the best option here.
Gameplay
So The Legend of Zelda starts out with Ganon capturing Princess Zelda. Its up to Link to gather the 8 Triforce
pieces so he can get the power needed to defeat Ganon and save Zelda. In order to get the 8 Triforce pieces Link
will need to explore the land of Hyrule. Hyrule is setup as one giant world similar to games like Metroid
or Goonies 2. 9 dungeons are scattered around the world that you will need to find and conquer in order
to get the Triforces pieces and slay Ganon. What I didn't like about this design was that the game isn't
very good at giving you any directions. Some of the later dungeons are hidden away and if you don't know
what item to use and where to use them then you wont be able to progress in the game. This is a game where
you will need a strategy guide or some player designed maps to help you through the game.
Some of the things I did like about the game was that it feels like one big treasure hunt. There are so many
different items to collect like bombs, boomerangs, candles, bow and arrows, and items like a raft. Each of
the items you find are also used througout the game in various puzzles or used in defeating various enemies
and dungeon bosses. I also liked how your sword, which is your main weapon throughout the game, can get upgraded
as well. The Legend of Zelda does a really good job at making you stronger as the game progresses.
With a lot of stuff the game does right I found it to do a few things wrong. As mentioned earlier the lack
of direction took some of the enjoyment out of the game for me. There was also times in some dungeons where
I didn't have any arrows to kill the boss or I was missing an item that let me progress through the dungeon.
Because I was missing the items it meant leaving the dungeon and killing enough enemies to get enougn money
to buy the items I needed. This felt way to grindy and I felt this was a bad design choice.
Control
The control in The Legend of Zelda can be a bit complex but they seemed to make good use of what they had. The start button will bring up an inventory screen where you choose which sub weapon you want to use with the B button. The A button will always swing your sword and as always the directional pad is used to move your character around the world.
Graphics
I think that the Legend of Zelda makes good use of the grahpical capabilities of the NES. Each screen has many different objects or its own look to it. Navigating the world isn't to hard since they really put a look and feel into each area. Everything seems to move and animate well with the only issues being when many enemies are on the screen. Generally when this happens you can see some sprite flickering or experience some slowdown.
Sound
I came away pretty impressed with the sound. The overworld has a catchy song to it and the sound effects are pretty good as well. The only annoyning thing with the sound is the beeping that occurs when you are low on life.