Search Results for: BRILLIANCE IN LEVEL DESIGN

Teased relentlessly in the current era of internet memes and viral YouTube clips, The Legend of Zelda animated series can best be described as a product of its time. The show thrives on the trappings of NES-era Zelda, goofy humor and cartoon character archetypes typical of the 1980s. Link comes across as a lovable doofus, whining and spouting catchphrases as he persistently fails to get to first base with action-girl Princess Zelda. Together they thwart the inept plots of raspy…

So far we’ve seen a countless amount of impression pieces as Skyward Sword became more and more accessible on various conventions and events. But as the saying goes, beauty’s in the details, and various people drop various details, of varying significance. This particular detail will set everyone’s theorizing wheels into overdrive as it is potentially gigantic. A French preview has dropped the name of the third dungeon in the game, the one right before Link catches up with Zelda and ans obtains the lyre, as seen in the last trailer.

As a matter of fact, that very scene shown in the trailer might be happening in that dungeon, giving the huge cogwheel behind Zelda a very different meaning. So what is this dungeon? Hop inside to find out.

We’ve also updated our core Skyward Sword Walkthrough page to reflect this new discovery. As always it’s only tentative until we can confirm this, but if you head on over to the page you can see how we think this dungeon’s going to be framed in the context of the game.

As the final weeks wind down to Skyward Sword’s release, the game is steadily opening up and revealing more and more of its secrets to us. Foremost among the sources of these tidbits of info are those who have gotten a chance to play the game already, such as the Official Nintendo Magazine blowout we got a few days ago. However, most of these lucky people who have played Skyward Sword have kept a lot of dungeon information close to…

Kirby has always been a major part of Nintendo’s handheld gaming.  Kirby Mass Attack strays from the usual controls for the series, but it is inventive and fun to play.  We’ve been itching for a good handheld to come out since the release of the Nintendo 3DS, so it’s good to see Nintendo release a game like Mass Attack.  It might be for the Nintendo DS, but at least those who haven’t joined the 3DS group can enjoy this.

Sometimes at Zelda Informer, we just can’t contain ourselves and have to deliver a bevvy of reviews all at once. Today, both Matthew Blackwell and Erica Fernandez will be offering their take on Kirby Mass Attack.

Read both reviews after the jump!

I can’t sit still. The release of Xenoblade Chronicles over in Europe is just a couple days away, and though I’ve already heard about its tremendous merit from various sources, I took the last hour or so to pore over the Western critics’ reviews, and… wow. Some of the comments I’ve seen regarding what this game accomplishes have me floored. Metro GameCentral and IGN UK call it “the best Japanese role-player of the current generation,” while almost all others refer to it as the biggest, most ambitious, and best content-for-money value game on Wii. As one might expect, the game gets a lot of marks down for its graphics, which because the game is on Wii can’t quite match up to the HD offerings on other consoles, but for Wii owners who are used to what the system can do I’m sure this won’t be a problem.

Now, I realize that critics’ opinions aren’t everything, but by and large even the impressions from gaming laypeople seem to mark this as one of the most noteworthy RPGs this decade (and perhaps even the last two by some accounts). And that the game has succeeded (so far) at attaining the level of critical acclaim we often expect from Nintendo’s longtime legendary franchises is great, but it doesn’t mean that buyers will perceive its value. But make no mistake: this game’s success is extremely important when weighing the future of Nintendo’s attention to both classic and modern gaming values.

Why is that? It’s because of all the gaming values this game embodies: a massive exploration-driven world, engaging real-time combat, well-integrated growth system, and a deep story and rich side content that don’t detract from the core gameplay. These merits are especially important to fans of the Zelda series given the game’s close relationship to classic RPG conventions. I’d go so far to say that this game is as crucial to the future of deep gaming experiences on Nintendo systems as Skyward Sword will be to its own franchise – possibly even more since it’s a totally new IP without the brand recognition the Zelda series has enjoyed since the 80s, and thus its success should testify to its quality, not any existing popularity.

Jump inside for the buzz about the game everybody’s been making a big deal about.

People often ask me what I do with my spare time outside of making news posts at this lovely site. To be honest, I am usually hammered and can’t find my way back home. The last month, when I wasn’t busy replaying Twilight Princess to create new content for ZI (yes, believe it or not I am actually adding game content to the site, woo!), and when I was not drug down by massive hangovers, I have been busy reading a novel like top 100 list. I am not kidding here when I say this is the biggest Top 100 Games of All Time list ever compiled. I must say, it’s longer then some novels, but it was worth every minute. It’s put together really well, and frankly it was one of the best gaming related reads I have had in a long time.

This being the case, I am going to do something different here, especially for those of you that only care about the Zelda love. Instead of just telling you what Zelda games finished where (which I will do, of course), I will quote the entire reasoning for each in the series being where it is. In this sense, this may be the longest news post in the history of ZeldaInformer. What it also does, is make it so you as the reader not have to sift through that novel to find your favorite franchise. Come inside for one of the best reads relating to Zelda in recent memory.