//NEWS & UPDATES

The Legend of Zelda is considered by many gamers as one of the set of "trio" games that made the NES blow-your-mind great. The "trio" including the likes of Super Mario Bros. and of Metroid. Having never played a Zelda game, it was new for me. I know that Nintendo has Zelda fanboys left and right that lust for the next game in the series, so I decided to hit the roots and go back to what started the series and see what was so great that made Zelda games "awesome." Having been astounded by Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS, I was expecting something along the ropes of adventure + slashing + puzzle solving.

As soon as I booted up the game, it felt like any other game. It asked me for my name and I gave typed it in. Then the game started and my supposedly adventure into living through a classic was supposed to begin. I can't begin to explain how much I do not like about the LoZ. First I have to go into a cave and get my sword. Then I'm supposed to slash all these enemies. The entire time I am roaming through this world which I'm supposing is "Hyrule" since the game at the bat gives me no story whatsoever. What immediately annoys me is how many enemies there are on the screen at once. They run everywhere. Link has nowhere to run away. He's always getting in front of enemy fire. I died over 50 times playing level one. There's enemies in the water that shoot the crap out of you. Sand monsters that pop up behind you just when you think you got them all and then kill you. It's annoying.

What makes the game even worse is they have you traversing this world with a map in the corner that is gray and shows a tiny green blip that is supposed to be your location. I'm force to decide should I go left to right and then right to left and then left to right until I figure out I've travelled the entire level. It's a nuissance. Was it so hard to incorporate a proper map?

Then there are the weapons. The bomb is just about the only useful item for getting by an area filled to the sky with monsters. And how come I have to have full hearts (lives) in order to throw my sword? Slashing is an option I don't want to go for since it puts Link in close contact with the enemy, speeding up the GAMEOVER screen. Goddamn, it's a bitch.

In short, this LoZ was not what I expected and I expected a lot considering it is the first game that launched the "successful" LoZ series. I'm a greatly disappointed that it didn't give me this "enlightenment" to further want to play more Zelda games. Despite the LoZ being a bad game, I will keep an open mind on future Zelda games, as Phantom Hourglass is still lingering fresh in my head leading me to lust for more.

Is the LoZ worth a Wii virtual console purchase? I wouldn't recommend it.