August 2005 - the month Nintendo broke a legion of fans' hearts, as well as sealing the fate for the lagging Gamecube, with the announcement that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess would be delayed at least a year so the development team could create a better game. As the months passed, the rumor mill began to turn, churning out whispers that the call for extra development time was actually a ruse to buy time for Link to make the jump from a sinking Gamecube to the rising star once codenamed the Revolution, now known as the Wii. [I think I liked Revolution better! Ed]. As they are known to do, Nintendo kept the majority of the extra development time shrouded in secrecy - that is, until March 2006, when details of Wii-exclusive features that make use of the motion-controlled controllers were revealed. This was quickly followed by an E3 announcement that those Wii-extras would only be available in the Wii port, to be released along side the Wii itself.

This pairing brings about two huge questions - is this the greatest Zelda game to date and is this the greatest launch title to date? The answer to both is a resounding yes! Twilight Princess combines the realistic, gritty look of Ocarina of Time with the wide-open exploration of Wind Waker, before expanding and adding to the series' canon to craft an adventure for the ages. By making use of the Wii's most obvious feature, motion-reading controllers, Nintendo have reinvented how gamers will approach adventure games for years to come. Despite suffering from a focus on gameplay over presentation and Gamecubeitis, the Wii's Twilight Princess delivers an adventure of a lifetime, which for Nintendo, comes at just the right moment.

What would a Legend of Zelda adventure be without a kingdom in peril? Hyrule is yet again in trouble, this time falling prey to the King of Darkness, whose darkness is feeding on the land and its inhabitants like a virus, splitting Hyrule into two - the light and shadow realms. Link, as the chosen hero must steer Hyrule back to the path of light with the help ancient, dormant powers, accompanied by a sarcastic, selfish shadow demon known as Midna.

The latest release in a series never known for its storytelling, Twilight Princess attempts to change this perception with a generous use of cut scenes. Unfortunately, the inexperience in this area shows, as Nintendo hasn't pushed the storytelling envelope in years. Most of the cut scenes are great, with professional editing and camera positioning, but others are the exact opposite, giving them an amateur feel. The story weaves an interesting and well-written tale, developing many different characters, including the wonderful Midna, yet it falls short when furthering the development of its star, Link. He seems to have the same occupied look during every cut scene, rarely showing emotions like joy, fear, anger or hatred. He hardly makes a noise during these scenes either, such as a sign or grunt. Though Midna does a fantastic job of speaking for Link, no one else does, almost as if he is talking to them and not to us. I look no further than the anime series Gungrave, whose nearly silent lead Brandon is brought to life brilliantly without the use of his own voice. This is a serious drag that needs to be addressed in the future.

Twilight Princess was the flagship title of the Wii's launch, as no other established Nintendo brand appeared in a new game on day one (Excitetruck hardly counts), and with the delay of the Gamecube version by two weeks, the pressure was on. Link not only had to sell himself, but he had to sell a system as well. And sell a system he did, as Twilight Princess achieved a near 1:1 tie-in ratio with Wii sales, translating into nearly every Wii owner taking the game home. But this wasn't done by simply existing - although that can't be completely overlooked - as the inclusion of a system-exclusive set of controls not only gives gamers a deeper sense of immersion, but it will change your outlook on adventure games.

The best part about all of this hype about new controls is that they are no more difficult to use and understand than trying to playing any 3D Zelda game with a normal controller. With your left hand, the nunchuck controls your movement via the analog stick, first person scanning with a press of the C button and lock-on targeting with the Z button - the normal, non-motion-sensitive actions. While it might seem like a boring controller at first, lacking motion controls, the nunchuck has its share of making you look silly fun. By swinging the nunchuck from side to side Link busts out his patented swing attack, and by tilting the nunchuck to face to the right and rotating it, you can reel in your catch when lure fishing.

The Wiimote, as you can tell, is where the action is. For starters, it controls every single attack outside of the swing attack. While it is not the exact replication of movement some gamers may have been misled to expect, Twilight Princess's take on swordplay/wolfplay is nonetheless the most important addition to the game and genre. Swiping the Wiimote from side to side sees Link brandishing his sword and slicing whatever is in his path, or if he is in wolf form, brandishing his teeth and biting away. It may not be as accurate as simply pressing a button, as how you react is factored in, but that imbues the controls with a human-like characteristic that fleshes out Link and attaches him to players in a way never before imagined. Not every swing translates and not every swing hits, but when he misses, you miss. The feeling is surreal in the best way possible.

Items are all controlled with the Wiimote, including mapping them to the D-Pad. Simply press one of the four D-Pad directions and you will select an item to be used with the B button. Items such as the iron boots, milk, potions, etc. are executed with only one button press - I call them the "no fun" items. But try the Gale Boomerang or Hero Bow and you will never desire to play another Zelda game with a regular controller again! Once you have selected an item, you find yourself using the Wiimote as a pointer. Move the crosshair around the screen until you come across what you want to shoot and fire away with the B button for pinpoint accuracy.

Within a few hours of playing time there will just be no way to fully enjoy an adventure game without the Wii controllers again. I know I have raved about the controls in other Wii games in my other reviews, but Twilight Princess takes the cake. This game definitely lacks the universal appeal and low learning curve that games like Wii Sports offer to non-gamers, but that's the way it should be, as anything else may have diluted the gameplay. Though it may be awhile before Link has a challenger for his adventure crown, I can only hope other companies out there are taking note.

For all the wonders the gameplay provides, the presentation makes the majority of the blunders. Upon the first few hours of the game, spent in the grassy mountain village of Ordon, you will see more than your fair share of revoltingly ugly textures. The grassy ground and mossy rocks formations that make up the ground and walls appear to be smeared versions of something once identifiable. These would be awful on the Gamecube, so I have to assume I should be outraged that they appear like this on the more powerful Wii, which is a shame, as the layout and development of the land is excellent, creating realistic dips and crevasses, rock formations and mountain faces. Textures do improve as you progress, especially in areas lacking vegetation, but that underwhelming feeling never seems to fully subsides.

Character and object models, on the other hand, all look amazing, easily fitting the bill of what I was anticipating graphically. Everything of this nature has deep textures and multiple layers, along with fluid animations, really bringing them to life. Character designs are original and, more often than not, odd, creating inhabitants and beasts that define the image we usually have in our heads for those who live in Hyrule. I'm not sure which is scarier though - the orcs or the humans! Lighting, shadow and particle effects also take a cue from the characters and objects, providing many of the "wow" moments, with the shadow world hogging the spotlight.

I hate to dog this game graphically, but there really is no way around it - there are plenty of you out there who will find no gripes worth bringing up with the graphics, and that's totally acceptable. But after playing better looking games on supposedly weaker systems, I have to wonder just what the Wii is capable of, even when a game supports 480p and 16:9 widescreen resolutions. At best, Twilight Princess tickles the possibilities of what the Wii can produce and hopefully a product developed strictly on the Wii instead of a Gamecube game retooled will pull away the ugly duckling veil that is currently shrouding the system.

In the sound department you will find little to grumble about musically, as the MIDI tracks are composed with grandeur and spirit, mixing in old favorite themes with soon-to-be favorites. The problem is, as many other reviewers have pointed out, that they are still MIDI tracks. There is no denying that many of the songs are beautiful compositions, but they have that fake, digital sound MIDI that Zelda is known for. I would have loved to hear these through the instruments of an orchestra, bringing the series, musically, to the next level, but that desire will have to wait for another time.

All the classic sound effects make a return here, as well as some new, at times loud and abrasive, ones, all of which combine into a perfect pairing; the gallop of a horse to the flapping and screeching of birds to the room-shaking roars of bosses all erupt from your speakers. Voice acting is still absent, outside of random exclamations and Midna speaking in a shadow world tongue, however. Each one of these only teases gamers with what could have been, as no voices would have been better than the so very little we receive. Come on Nintendo - you have the resources to hire competent voice actors - it's time to bring the series' presentation fully into the 21st Century.

If you have any fear of Twilight Princess not providing enough bang for your buck though, you can put those fears to rest; never before has a Zelda game been this huge. Taking a page from the open-ended, sprawling landscapes of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Twilight Princess provides a quest that can span up to fifty hours to complete, along with more collectibles and side quests to pursue than any Zelda game to date. Think of it as "to the point Oblivion," because you will never feel overwhelmed by a bombardment of side quests and requests for favors that Oblivion is known for - you have the main quest, sprinkled with optional diversions. Yet, to draw another comparison to Oblivion, not once will you find boredom in your tasks, as the pacing is near perfect.

For all the ups and downs Twilight Princess takes in terms of presentation, there's simply no denying the wondrous, deep adventure and revolutionizing gameplay that takes the edge off of the lack of graphical power. There is no denying that even had it remained on the Gamecube, much of the flare and enjoyment would still be retained, but this is the Wii and the gameplay possibilities it brings to the table truly push Zelda to an even higher echelon, easily justifying the substantial delay needed to produce this version. It has been a long time since a system launched with a true killer piece of software, that one game that nearly every system owner picks up on day one, but Nintendo has shown just how important that tactic can be.

Reviewed by Tony Peters for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).