Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"All it's cracked up to be"

Following a switch to side-view dungeons in "The Adventure of Link" that had some fans grumbling, the series returns to the top-down perspective format fans fell in love with in the original. While the story is pretty uninspired, really being just an amped up version of the original's story, "A Link to the Past" simply makes everything bigger and better, putting newer gaming technology to great use to continue a beloved fable.

As Link, you start in your house, quickly gather a sword and shield, and go off to the king's castle. It's not long before you discover that your nemesis, Ganon, is up to his old tricks. While you're already given a generously sized world to explore in the initial stages, an entire Dark World opens that's generally mimics the Light World, only more foreboding, dangerous, and filled with more dungeons. It's also where seven maidens are held (including Zelda), whose freedom you must secure so they may open the way for your showdown with Ganon. Favorite items like the boomerang and bombs are back, but lots of new items like an invisibility cape and a grappel are put to good use. Like comparing the original Star Wars to the Special Edition version, the game might be described as "exactly what the original would have been had the technology existed in the mid-eighties," and that's not a bad thing.

The simple fact that there's more than ever to do weighs heavily on the positive side of the scale. The new items and weapons both lend variety in the way you deal with enemies, and allow entirely new types of puzzles to be offered. Even new features like conveyor belt floors provide both new challenge and provide some interesting ways to access seemingly out-of-reach switches. The return to top-down dungeons was entirely the correct call, making them feel and play bigger and more expansive. Movement above ground is also faster, so even though the world is larger than before, treking from one side of the map to another on foot is no longer a grueling, laborious chore, and the latter part of the game's ability to warp to a degree in the Light World makes things even simpler.

There's little to complain about in the title, though the grunting that Link makes with each swing and parry of the sword tends to get a tad aggrivating. A missing touch that would've really been nice would be loading games on the fly. If you stock up to take on a tough boss and die, you can only continue (with or without saving) or save and quit (which wipes out your fully stocked save). If you want to reload, you're stuck shutting off your system and powering on again. The puzzles may also cause some degree of cursing because there are some doozies, and some plain horribly treacherous parts in the later dungeons are pretty nasty.

The gameplay is still simple and elegant, with controls that work well, easy access to maps and inventory, and clever use of environments to work your noggin. From the brightly tinged Light World to the dim and morose Dark World, the graphics are beautifully done, and even on the small GBA screen you can make out a bit of detail on people's faces. The sounds could be a bit better, and along with the grunting the traditional Zelda theme can get on your nerves after a few minutes. While there's little to do when you're done, you can easily get 20 hours out of your GBA cart, especially if you're a completionist looking to find every secret (and there's a lot of them!). The game's a truly worthy sequel that makes you as fond of the original as it makes you anticipate the next sequel.