Released on the Game Boy two years after the Super Nintendo masterpiece that was ‘A Link to the past’, ‘Links Awakening’ was the first time our intrepid hero had dared to cross onto the handheld games scene. With the Game Boy not being able to able to handle anything the size of ‘A Link to Past’ Nintendo set Link in a whole new world, far away from Hyrule.
The story goes that while Link is sailing back to Hyrule
from a far off land his ship encounters a huge storm. During the storm Link is
thrown overboard, awakening on the beach of Koholint island. He soon learns he
must find the eight instruments of the ‘Sirens’ in order to wake up the
legendary ‘Wind Fish’ in order to return to his homeland. Well, it was obvious
wasn’t it!
Surprisingly enough these eight instruments are located
around the island in eight dungeons, all of which must be searched and explored
to succeed in your task. Then once the eight instruments have been collected
they must be played in front of a big spotted egg on a hill where the ‘Wind
Fish’ resides in order to wake it.
Graphically the game is excellent, especially considering
the limitations of the Game Boy with great detail to found, such as small
cracks in the floor and well-animated characters throughout. Though the game is
not in colour everything is crystal clear and large on the screen meaning you
never get hit by a monster you could not see, or fall down a hole you did not
know was their until the last minute. Different areas of the game also succeed
in looking different enough from other areas with mountains, woods, swamps and
graveyards all meaning you never get bored with your surroundings
Like all Zelda games though the gameplay is where the game
really shines. As always the dungeons are excellently laid out needing clever
thinking and good swordsmanship to complete. Also two things have been added
since ‘A Link to the Past’, the ‘Roc’s feather’ and a new way of using the
shield in order to block attacks. Showing while the game cannot hope for the
scale of its Super Nintendo counterpart there is some progression and
development in terms of gameplay.
If there is one problem apparent it is with the difficulty
of the game. While Zelda fans will no doubt not struggle very often with the
enemies and puzzles they come across, any newcomer to the series may well find
it well beyond their gaming skills. Some puzzles truly are bizarre and require
lateral thinking to a ridiculous extreme. And while early dungeons are fairly
balanced, by the time you reach the later ones even getting through the first
few rooms requires heroic effort.
This however is only a minor gripe, as the game has clearly
been thought about and developed by people who care about what they are doing.
This coupled with the odd reference to other Nintendo games such as the Yoshi
doll and the pet chomp on a chain all help to add just a little more magic each
time you encounter something.
When all is said and done its clear to see ‘Links Awakening’
has quality coming out of all areas. It dose not live up to ‘A Link to the
Past’ but a gold bar with a fly on it is still a gold bar at the end of the
day. An excellent adventure for Link and one every Game Boy owner should be
hunting around trying to find, just don’t expect it to be easy to finish.
Overall 9/10
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