neurological dryer lint

i'll say this first: if you like zelda games, then twilight princess is worth buying the system over. like SMB3 on the NES, or ocarina of time on the N64, it's the killer app, and it came out at launch. although i would imagine the gamecube version is just as quality, the time factor (i.e. it's out now for the wii) makes it worthwhile right now.

of course, that's if you like zelda games. cause this one was made for hardcore fans. if you're a casual follower of the series, you've played ocarina once or twice but never all the way through, you may find this one a serious - almost frustratingly so - challenge.

i'm nine hours in and not even to the second dungeon yet. there's solid 4-4.5 hour 'training' period where you learn the new controls, the backstory, and how to operate in the light and twilight worlds - including spending a decent amount of education in "wolf mode", where you run around as a wolf with a sarcastic witch on your back.

well... the wolfen will come for you with his razor.

graphically: it's beautiful. haters who called it jagged and ugly because it doesn't look like final fantasy XII or gears of war miss out on the artistic aesthetic that defines the look and feel. if wind waker was a saturday morning cartoon, twilight is a renoir. like i even know what that means.

music is phenominal, much more understated than in ocarina or wind waker, a great mix of new stuff and new versions of classic tunes. best zelda music ever: hyrule castle in zelda III. one problem: now that there's a speaker on the wiimote, there's no easy way to mute it.

so... the controls. clearly they had to keep this playable on the cube controller, so the only stuff you use the wiimote for is swinging your sword and point & shoot weapons (the bow, slingshot, boomerang, etc). i love the point & shoot, but honestly i could do without the sword actions - it's more annoying than cool. for the first few hours you get confused over which weapons require a button push and which ones require moving the wiimote. that said, everything feels natural and before long you're used to it.

i've always been amazed that they can still think of new puzzles after ten games in the series... well clearly they're running dry - some of these are obscure and overly compicated, even for the committed fan. you really need to know your zelda history to make your way even through the intro stuff - the designers assume you've played through some of the tougher titles in the series' history.

the storyline isn't super-compelling, but i'm not even a seventh of the way through the game, apparently. i'm sure it will pick up.

so i'm hooked. totally exceeded my expectations. a few little gripes, but absolutely worthy. majora's mask sucked, and wind waker, while great, was a serious tangent... this is the true successor to ocarina.

i was so engrossed on sunday that i missed the first half of the "if you don't win this your season is over" bengals / saints game. it says something about the first few hours of twilight princess - i was herding goats and rescuing monkeys instead of tuning in. i figured we'd lose it anyway - after the catastrophic failure of last week, no one could say with any certainty that we would pull it off. but after OSU escaped michigan and UC manhandled rutgers, it was fitting that the trifecta be completed.