Oct 15, 2019

Link's Awakening Remake: the review: the rant

Nefty Doesn't simply do a Gameboy Review of a game getting a remake on the Switch if he doesn't have the switch version already. While I had the Gameboy version review ready for some time I didn't publish it until I got the switch version. Yesterday I was finally able to play the switch version and I'm three-quarters done with it.

 I'm torn with this game and it's giving me a lot of trouble to review it fairly. It's cool remake of a GameBoy game that I love.  It's the closest thing to a 1:1 remake of the game. Which is a double edged sword.

Let's begin:
Story:
After defeating Ganon in A Link to the Past; Link decides to travel tthe world to train. As he's returning home on a boat; a storm sinks Link's ship and he becomes a Castaway on the Mysterious Koholint Island. Now he must travel this Mysterious Island searching for the instruments of the sirens in order to awaken the wind fish who resides on an egg at the northern most point of the island. A new adventure awaits link as he unravels the mysteries of the island.
8.0

You may have noticed that I copy pasted the story part from the GB review.  that's because the story didn't change that story didn't change and it remains faithful to the original.

Graphics:
 the stylized graphics match The Surreal atmosphere of the game.  also they have this upgraded Gameboy Graphics inspired style to them. They will feel like a downgrade through those who didn't play the original and are playing this after breath of the Wild. The world's fastest plasticky waxy looked with kind of like a super7 Masters of the Universe action figure... (I went there)
While the graphics are in Revolutionary I do believe that they managed to pull off what they were intending to do flawlessly.
8.5

Sounds and music:
Here is where my disappointment begins:
The music updates are amazing... when I listen to them on YouTube. For some reasin, In-game the music sounds muted. A few tunes sound slightly off. But to be fair, 26 years of listening to the original songs may do that.
8.0

Controls:
Here everything changes for the better!! I have 6 buttons!!
Sword, Shield, Power Bracelet AND Pegasus Boots are always available once you obtain them. The remaining 2 buttons are the ones that force you to "item switch" and if dtruth be told, it's more like 1 Button, since you'll want the Roc's deather equipped 99% of the time. The only issie I have is the awkward diagonal moves. The original game operated in 4 directions: up, down, left, right. This one does too, but characters can attack diagonally as well. (It can screw up some arrow shots.
9.5

Gameplay:
The game plays classic over-the-top Zelda; just like the original Zelda, or A Link to the Past.
You know that usual travel across the land enter the dungeon get the item repeat until you have all the 8th dungeon items and have to head to the final dungeon 2 beat the game.
There are a couple of mini games within the game but the only mandatory minigame would be the crane game in order to get the Yoshi doll to start the trade sequence that gives you the magnifying glass which reveals the pathway for the final dungeon... they are stolen small segments where the action is to the like Super Mario Brothers or some rooms in the original Zelda dungeons.
9.5

Another segment that was straight up copy from the game way we've uses nothing pretty much changed here...
Before you start with:
"Nefty, what about Dampé?"
 Let me finish. The biggest changes to the gameplay are simply the dungeon maker which to be honest isn't that great and the beefed-up mini games. I kind of wish they would have found a way to keep the photo side quest as well.

Fun Factor:
I'm not entirely sure but I think this version is slightly easier than the Gameboy version.  I think this remake is on par with MGS The Twin Snakes. Same old game, couple of new tricks that make it easier... but this time we got anime cutscenes.
9.0

Overall:
Link's Awakening the Remale gets an 8.75 as its final score. I understand the awkwardness of having a "superior version" underperforming to the "inferior original version". I guess that being a simple remake of an older game and being TOO TRUE to the original CAN make the remake seem inferior. While the Original was pushing the boundaries on the GameBoy, this is an average effort for the Switch.  as much as I like the game it's not worth $60.

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