The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

"Though pricey to get absolutely everything, an asbolute must own."

Introduction
A few years ago Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Four Swords for the Gameboy Advance. Four Swords was an excellent multiplayer-exclusive sidestory tacked on to the game. Because of the hefty playing costs (You need link cables, GBAs, and game cartridges for everyone), not that many actually got the chance to play it.

Realising that people weren't getting the chance to play this, Nintendo did us a favor and remade this game for the Gamecube, now with much more length, better graphics, better multiplayer, better level design, better everything.

Story: 6/10

Your generic Zelda plot. Mentions something about a warrior of darkness/prince of darkness/being of darkness, Zelda is kidnapped, you don't say a word and kick dark being's ass, and somewhere something about some lost artifacts, a golden power, and the words "Power, courage, and wisdom" are fit into the whole scheme of things as well. There's also a sudden surprise character in it as usual that everyone was half-expecting, as usual. Absolutely nothing special, as usual. *sighs* Nintendo, god dammit, I want an original plot, not a Zelda trademark plot. You tried to do it in LA and it was perfection. You tried to do it in Majora's Mask and it was near perfection. You somewhat did it in the Oracle games and Wind Waker and it was pretty good I must admit.

Gameplay: 9/10

Surprisingly addicting and fun. I had loads of fun slicing up my enemies. As you can only carry around one additional weapon at a time, it helped contribute to some interesting puzzles. The whole level style Zelda games is much, much better than the other Zelda games to date. Extremely fascinating, and innovative as well. No longer does it take me ten minutes to get from one place to another, and no longer do I have to replay the game if I want to redo a puzzle or refight a boss. The whole idea of while searching for the end of the level and fighting enemies, everyone is on a free-for-all scavenger hunt for Force Gems is great as well. The only thing that's really holding this back from a perfect score is that there's barely any depth to the commands you can issue to the other Links. Sure you can take control of them one a time and keep them wherever you want until you enter the next part of the level or hit the "regroup" button. What about planning detailed strategies, having the Links head towards a specific point, etc? That would have been awesome.

Level Design: 10/10

Flawless. Incredibly innovative, and the levels are some of the most ones I've ever played in Zelda. The dungeons were excellent, and inspired you to think incredibly hard for some of the puzzles. I haven't been challenged by a Zelda game the way FSA challenges me since the Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time's Water Temple (Gasp! Its difficulty is rivaled!). Some of the boss design was brilliant, with some of the classics as well as cameo appearance from the new Zelda games and brand new bosses as well. There were times in FSA when there were no less than 50 enemies on-screen simultaneously. The incorporation of the four Link system, as I like to call it, really changed the way you played the game, and really forced you to think creatively for both some fights and puzzles, even if you're playing by yourself. Extremely fun, and includes many nostalgic themes to it as well. From riding your horse while shooting bows across fields to sneaking into castles to exploring caves to scaling mountains to some of the most creative dungeons (Though admittedly short) ever seen in a Zelda game, I simply marveled at the innovation introduced in FSA. I could go on and on about the different things you do in FSA. I've barely scratched it. Find out for yourself, you'll definitely be "OMG this kicks so much ass"ing the whole time.

Graphics: 8/10

A large step up from the Four Swords game added on to the GBA version of Lttp. Simply beautiful everything as you explore the main sections of the level, but then, when you walk into a building, the game either switches to the GBA screen and you get annoyed at the graphics, or if you're playing by yourself the game has a little "pop-up window" that uses GBA graphics, and you get annoyed. I mean it's one thing to have bad graphics, but it's another thing to have great graphics then out of the blue sucky ones. I personally found it incredibly annoying. However in the long run a beautiful art style that feels like a 2d version of Wind Waker's art style combined with the art design of Link to the Past will captivate you and draw you into the Hyrule like never before.

Music: 7/10

Meh, it's good but nothing really memorable. Most of the soundtrack consists of remixes from Link to the Past. Nothing really much to say here. If they had a full-blown orchestra performing the music, it would have been a lot better. Though nostalgic at points (Especially the Dungeon theme), a game can not fall back on simply old elements. Every bit of the game, including gameplay, story graphics, sound, etc. must introduce something new. These are the elements that make up a great sequel/remake.

Difficulty/Length/Glitches/Replay Value: 8/10

Length I'd say maybe around 9-12 hours. The excellent replay value that comes from multiplayer and sheer fun factor can make you play this for a lot longer, however. I've yet to encounter any glitches, though that doesn't mean there aren't any. I may just be unaware of them. The difficulty of the enemies is slightly above average for a Zelda game, but it's still pretty easy. The puzzles are incredibly hard, challenging, and fun, as well as the level design. Some of the game's fun factor comes from this.

Multiplayer: 7/10

Multiplayer is incredibly fun, featuring both a versus mode in which you're out to kill the other Links playing, one where it's a scavenger hunt to find as many "Force Gems" as you can, and an astonishingly fun co-op mode that has an extra layer of depth as the game still gets you to collect more Force Gems than everybody else. Normally, I'd give the multiplayer a 9/10. Why is it 7? The cost. The incredibly bastardly cost.

Nintendo's a greedy bastard that likes to milk as much money as they possibly can out of us. You want to do multiplayer, do you? Buy a Gameboy Advance and a GCN/GBA Link Cable for each player participating. No need to reread that. You read it correctly. *sighs and shakes fist at Nintendo*

One final note, don't be misled by the last paragraph. You can still do whatever you want in Single Player with a GCN controller. Just expect to burn a hole in your wallet if you want to do multiplayer. The game comes with a GCN/GBA link cable, but you still have to buy the GBA, and another of each of the aforementioned items if you don't want to do multiplayer by yourself >_<

Rent, Buy, or Ignore?

Buy it, unless you're the sort of gamer that really likes multiplayer over single player (*is guilty*), then only buy it if you have the necessary equipment for multiplayer. I've had more fun with this game than I have with any other Zelda game. I know many of you fanboys are like "WTF" are the tagline, however it is true. This is coming from someone who's played all of them save LA: DX(Though I own the original) and Oracle of Ages. I know exactly what I'm talking about.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/07