It's Dangerous to go Alone

Dah duh, diddle dee dah, diddle dee dah, diddle dee dah dah dah

I wouldn't really describe myself as a gamer. I mean, I play then. I'm a young(ish) person in the early 21st century. Of course I do. But I rarely stray far from the shallows of general gamer culture and what little understanding I have of developments and issues in the industry comes from a combination of cultural osmosis and knocking around with people who actually do know their Fox McCloud's from their Naughty Dogs. This is partly down to the fact that gaming tends to be an absolutely massive time sink, time that on reflection, I would rather spend doing other things. However, one franchise that I usually will make time for is the Legend of Zelda series, which I have a huge amount of affection for. You could call this the 'dibs' principle. Links Awakening on the Gameboy was the first time I realized that a game could engage you emotionally, that it could subvert your expectations and that it could play around with themes of perception and reality*. By simple virtue of being the first game I ever played that actually bothered to throw in some art alongside the entertainment the series still holds my interest twenty plus years later. A new instalment was released on Friday, which has prompted my ramblings and the above doodles of Link, the game's protagonist.


 Early impressions of Hyrule Warriors are largely positive. It looks pretty, controls well and is stuffed with continuity porn for fans of the series. It cannot be stated strongly enough though, that it plays nothing at all like a Legend of Zelda game. There's very little exploration, no logic puzzles and no overworld.This isn't surprising as it's basically a game called Dynasty Warriors (which I've never played) repackaged with Zelda characters and settings. What it is, is a hack and slash button masher. Aside from the boss fights, there's not really much depth to the gameplay beyond hitting baddies until they die. Luckily hitting baddies is a lot of fun. At some point in the design process it appears to have been decided that there's no kill like overkill. Before hitting an enemy would make them fall down, here it'll knock him and his fifty mates into the air, who are then hit again by the twenty five foot blade of pure energy you've just pulled out your trousers. Then they'll explode. It is deeply, deeply stupid, but hits the spot if you're looking for something fast paced, undemanding and entertaining. The fanboy is also loving the option to kick ass as different characters from the Zelda universe, though God alone knows who thought it necessary to make Agitha, the creepy insect kid from Twilight Princess a playable character. I strongly suspect that, despite a range of play modes and unlockable content, the game has very little longevity. But it'll do until we get a proper Zelda game next year.

Some relief that the United Kingdom will remain united for the time being, although a growing unease at what the rest of the country's being offered. The Prime Minister's statements thus far sound suspiciously like someone trying to have their cake and eat it; avoid the loss of power, revenue and prestige that'd follow a Scottish departure and rush through a system in England that'd paralyse the country if the opposition should get in. It's short term politics with regards with what should be treated as a long term issue. I'm all for reform in England, in fact I feel it's necessary, but I'd very much like the issue dealt with with a degree of seriousness and thought. Regardless, last weeks referendum was the start of something, not the end. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll get a better idea of what that something is.

Love and Fishes

Dave Denton

*Though if asked what my opinion was at the time I'd probably just go with 'It's cool, I guess,' and then jump around making explosion noises.