I’ve always been a massive Legend of Zelda fan since I was very young, and the series has yet to not leave me in sheer and utter awe. The most recent Legend of Zelda offering from Nintendo has been The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Seeing as how my favorite Legend of Zelda game was A Link to the Past, released way back in 1992 for the Super Nintendo, I was slightly skeptical of A Link Between Worlds since it’s a sequal to that game. Boy, was I wrong! I haven’t played my 3DS too much in the past but this game gave me more of a reason to do so. I couldn’t put this game down! Even though it had similar elements that A Link to the Past had, it was its own stand alone game. Even those who never played A Link to the Past could easily pick up and play A Link Between Worlds with no problem. I was done so well, that there were no story gaps, to where you had to have played A Link to the Past in order to understand it.
Story-wise, it was your typical Legend of Zelda title, Princess is in peril, and the Hero of Time, Link, has to swoop in and save the land of Hyrule. Though in this game, you had the element of going between two different worlds, or realms as I came to understand it. So now instead of just having to save Hyrule from utter peril, Link is now faced with the task to save Lorule as well. Lorule is similar to Hyrule in so many ways, such as structures and locations, but is very dark and somewhat depressing. With new dangers lurking around every corner, Link is tasked to travel between realms in order to solve puzzles and conquor various dungeons. This game is so much like all of the ones before it, yet so very different and refreshing.
My biggest qualm I had with A Link Between Worlds was the fact that you had access to all of the items in the beginning and all you had to do to acquire them was simply ‘rent’ them from a new merchant character named Ravio. Anyone who’s played any Legend of Zelda game in the past knows that you acquire these special items by completing certain dungeons and having to do the dungeons in a specific order, based on the items you get. In this game, that entire premise was wiped out. Now that you can rent the items from Ravio, you are able to choose what order you want to do the dungeons in. The experience is left completely customizable to the player. In the beginning I had a slight problem with that, seeing as how I am a creature of habit whe it comes to my games, and that whole deal was a major convention in older Zelda games. But I have to tell you, I was pleasantly surprised, and really enjoyed this new way of doing things in the Legend of Zelda.