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Platform: Gameboy Advance Genre: Role-Playing Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo/Capcom ESRB: E (Everyone) Released: Q4 2002 Support AE! Buy Games Here:
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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastScore: 9.0 / 10 |
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Pros: - A classic is a classic no matter the platform - Everything that made it a classic in the first place - Multiplayer |
Cons: - Only one active inventory slot means lots of pausing - Multiplayer is a waste to single players |
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"The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is a classic no matter the platform. It’s not a perfect game but it’s bound to keep you happily playing for many hours."
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For old school fans of the Super Nintendo, I can gloss over this review by writing, “A port of the original,” because from what I can remember of the original not a whole lot has been changed. But younger gamers who may lack the experience and only be familiar with the N64 Zelda games I can gloss over this review by writing, “It’s a Zelda game,” which should speak for itself.
You assume the role of the ubiquitous Link, (you can name the character anything you want) as a sinister plot is hatched by an evil wizard to claim the land of Hyrule for himself. It falls upon Link (as it usually does) to find the Master Sword, vanquish the evil wizard, traverse a mirror dimension, and save the seven Princesses. Like any Zelda game there are critical items to acquire, dungeons to conquer and many secrets to uncover. It’s also probably one of the best GBA games yet, especially if you own a cable link and know three people that have the game.
The multiplayer game is called Four Swords and if I had actually managed to play it, I might be able to tell you more than just the title. This is mainly due to my gaming style. When I’m playing on a GBA, I’m almost always commuting to work, which doesn’t facilitate any four-player games. So all my knowledge is second hand and therefore unreliable. I could make something up or quote reviews from Gamespot or Electric Playground but I won’t.
The single-player quest will keep you gaming for many hours. Starting with the earliest Zelda games, this has always been a strength of the series – once you start you just have to keep playing. Puzzles are cleverly integrated into the game so it doesn’t feel like dungeon crawls are actually key hunts. There are levers to pull, multiple levels to explore, switches to uncover, numerous creatures and beasts to hack down, and, yes, keys to find.
One problem is inventory management. Since you only have one slot for an active item (other than your sword), you’ll have to switch equipment often and this means pressing pause, selecting the appropriate item, unpausing then using the item (whether it be arrows, the boomerang, the hammer, the shovel, etc.) However brief the pauses, it does break some of the pacing. But since the buttons are used to the max the problem is unavoidable. (The actual control is very good.)
The sound is a bit tinny out of the speaker but for the most part retains the quality of the original.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is a classic no matter the platform. It’s not a perfect game but it’s bound to keep you happily playing for many hours.
- Omni (January 29, 2003)
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