Game: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Console: GameCube
Game Type: Action/Adventure
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Rating: E for Everyone
Digital Journal — Link and Mario should really team up. Between the two of them, they’ve rescued more princesses than, uh, someone that has rescued an awful lot of princesses. Four Swords isn’t quite that, but you can still have a lot fun with four Links.
This time Link is off to rescue the princess and a group of Shrine Maidens. To aid him in this endeavour, he’s been split into four. If you’re playing the game solo, you can coordinate these Links into formations, which is important because you often need them to work together in order to achieve goals. For example, a giant rock can only be moved or lifted with all four Links hauling, a pressure plate will only activate if all Links are standing on it, and so on.
If you’re playing with buddies, then up to four of you can play through the game cooperatively. Slashing monsters, pulling levers and chains, even picking up a buddy and throwing him over a chasm to the platform on the other side. What’s particularly interesting is that, if you use a Nintendo Game Boy Advance (GBA) as the primary controller, the gameplay will switch from your TV (when you’re outdoors) to your GBA screen (when you enter a building or cave). The caveat: If you want to play multiplayer of any kind, you must all use GBAs (the standard gamepad will work with solo play, however).
It’s a simple game, but it gives you a fair bit to do and play with. You’ll encounter different weapons, such as bows, torches and boomerangs. In addition to their offensive value, the weapons typically have an extra feature that makes them useful. For example, boomerangs can retrieve items. In one of the games I played, I fired an arrow at a lit torch, and it lit up other torches as it passed them. Cool stuff.
And if you don’t feel like getting along, there is a competitive mode called “Shadow Battle.” This is your basic deathmatch mode, but there are some nice maps with interactive elements. My favourite one is on an island surrounded by lava where you can step on plates to shoot fire at each other.
Now the graphics: The game feels and plays like an old-school Zelda, and it looks like one too. Top down, camera way back. In fact, it looks a lot like a GBA game blown up on your screen. There are some nice animated cartoon effects similar to the ones used in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, but this is not really the game you break out if you’re trying to impress your friends with the graphical prowess of the Nintendo GameCube.
The real selling point of Four Swords Adventures is the multiplayer, which I really had a lot of fun with. One of my friends remarked it was a little like a Zelda mixed with Gauntlet, though you don’t often fight hordes of monsters as you did with Gauntlet.
While it lacks the majesty of a “full” Zelda, Four Swords Adventures is a good way to kill a rainy Sunday afternoon. Just be sure you invite some friends with GBAs over first.
