I got a Wii this weekend (finally).  I also bought Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess yesterday, and have spent the better part of this afternoon exploring Hyrule – or, well, the tiny bit of Hyrule I’ve managed to see so far.  (I was informed by my friend Mark that TP is probably the longest Zelda game in the series – and boy howdy, considering I”ve essentially just spent the last 4 hours revisiting the same three or four areas, I can more or less guarantee that’s right.)

The game itself is fun.  It has that undeniable Zelda feel – enemies are a little quirky, the quests are a little oddball without being goofy, and there’s some nice puzzles along the way. One thing that’s bothered me so far (and I have no idea if this is the case) is the linear feel of the game – it lacks that expansive overworld that’s been signature of the series since the beginning.  Perhaps the exploration comes later, once I finally get out of the forest… I sure hope so.  So far, moving from one dungeon-like area (even the village feels a little like a constrained dungeon) to another begins to wear and get repetitive.  I recall having fun just riding Epona across the landscape in Ocarina of Time and having a blast finding stuff to do.  This just feels cramped.

The controls are a little… frenetic.  You wiggle your controller to swing the sword, and use various button combinations for different types of attacks.  During pitched battles I feel like I’m just flailing around aimlessly.  This is the Wii equivalent of button mashing.  However, unlike button mashing, which to the untrained eye might look like skill, this just looks like someone having a seizure.  Still, the controls are fairly responsive, and auto-targeting is a great boon.  So, ultimately, it doesn’t distract too much from the fun.

Overall, the experience has been enjoyable.  It’s still a little too early (er… for me) to tell if this is a great game, but I haven’t been discouraged from going forward.  So good times.