The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Good
The way Zelda was successfully ported to the handheld system, the storyline, its interesting and different from the other zeldas. All the little subplots were good too, like the exchanging items bit, and collecting the sea-shells. all in all a true classic and one that kept me glued to my gameboy for weeks

The Bad
Nothing really, almost flawless game, so it would be impossible for me to find fault with it.

The Bottom Line
handheld RPG masterpiece

The Good
Lightning flashes, waters splash and Link (the hero and the person you play) is clinging desperately to the sinking ship he is on. Link is washed overboard, and drifts ashore on a beatiful tropical beach. A girl finds him, takes him home and nurses him back to life. When Link's awakes he talks to the girl called Marin and learns that sinister creatures has started to appear on the island. Link heads down to the beach to try and locate his sword, and there he encouters a owl. The owl starts telling Link that he is the one who has to awaken the Wind Fish, who is asleep in a giant egg on the top of a vulcano. From there Link's adventure starts...

This game is simply awesome! Let me first tell you that when I got and played this game I had never played a game in the Zelda series, and although I suppose I should have, it didn't affect the gameplay at all. There's no twisted plot or background story (like there usually is in these kind of games) that you have to know of in order to play it.

As you start playing you slowly begin to get completely drawn into this vast mystical island. You see the game from a top down perspective, but sometimes when you go undergound you switch to a side perspective. The progression in the game is nicely done. For example, you get new items such as shields and swords along the way, but also other things, such as the power bracelet that lets you lift and throw object. But you will also find many different items such as: a boomerang, a bow, bombs, a Yoshi doll (cute, huh?) and so forth. The quests you go on are both varied and exciting, and of course the skill level advances along the way (some very tricky ones too).

What I really like about this game is that there is also plenty of time to explore, and to earn money in different ways. For example, you can get a shovel; and when you dig in the ground you sometimes find money. There are also several small games within the game, such as the fishing game. I can't say how many hours I spent playing this one (many though). It should also be mentioned that you don't only travel by land, but when you find a certain object you'll also be able to swim and dive around in the lakes and rivers of the island.

You meet many different kinds of NPC's who either gives you quests or assists you. One such is the wise owl who can best described as the Dungeon Master characacter from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon (if anyone remembers that), meaning it sometimes shows up giving clues, hints, sets you on quests and so forth (of course it vanishes mysterious). You can also buy and sell stuff to the NPC's and much more fun...trade things. The monsters you battle are typical "Nintendoish", and several subbosses awaits you.

The graphics in the game is lovely. Couldn't have been done better for the Gameboy. Character designs and the locations are topnotch; and has been done with great detail.

The music is nice too. It's perfect background music, and very dreamy and mysterious, which fits the game perfectly. The soundeffects are pretty standard though.

The Bad
It's hard to find anything that I personally don't like about this game. Though there are some small annoying glitches in the game where you get stuck and such.

The Bottom Line
This game is simply great! For me it personally rates as one of (if not THE one) best game ever made for the Gameboy. It's depth and vastness is simply amazing. If you like these kinds of games, play this game immediately, and if you don't like them...well you don't know what you are missing. ;)