My favorite Zelda game, i.e., the one I’ve most recently played.
Platform game; Mode 7 showcase; mythological rainbow. Worth playing for the fantastic bosses. If the rest of the game is uneven, well, here, have some extra lives.
Platform game that plays like a silent film. I could talk about the controls (e.g., the increasingly necessary yet constantly awkward double jump) but I find it easier to like the game the more I treat it like a movie. (2 and a half stars.)
Violence in games: brilliant commentary on, excuse for, egregious example of. But play the arcade version instead.
HAL, I love you — you know that — and had I known you were planning to release a casino crawl where shuffling and dealing a poker hand takes twenty seconds, I would have stopped you.
A few redeeming qualities — the inspired use of headgear in character portraits, the vintage SPC sounds — but possibly the worst RPG I’ve ever played. HAL, I think we should start seeing other people.
I’d love to work my way through the championship circuit — putting my winnings back into my vehicle, endlessly customizing in a soundscape of synthesized bass — I just wish there were some way to do it without actually racing. Because the moment you get into your car, the strategic pretension and smooth soundtrack fall away to reveal a version of Pole Position where the only sound is the noise of your ice-crushing gearbox.
I’m so glad I don’t have fond memories of the original that would compel me to play through this wretched conversion.