The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

"Four times the fun"

Connectivity was Nintendo's answer to online gaming. Nintendo has received plenty o' criticism for this move, too. Online gaming does have its problems -- cost, hackers, lag, etc. -- and I think Nintendo has been too worried about these shortcomings to fully invest in the matter (even if the good outweighs the bad). The Gamecube/GBA connectivity actually lends to some pretty interesting gameplay ideas, but few people gave it much regard-- including developers. Aside from a slew of pointless mini-games, only three titles have really exploited the connectivity. Four Swords Adventure is perhaps the best example.

Graphics:
The graphics of Four Swords recreate those of A Link to the Past on the SNES. It's a sprite-based, overhead presentation with some Wind Waker effects thrown in to take advantage of the Gamecube hardware. It is certainly not a visual treat, and many of the objects/characters look quite pixilated when viewed up close. The game still looks smooth, has no clear load times, and offers an almost flawless framerate capable of showing hundreds of enemies on screen at once. But while it's cool to see a 2D Zelda on a home console again, I wish a little more time had been spent cleaning up the presentation so it didn't just look like a GBA game that had been blown up to fit on a TV screen.

Sound:
The graphics I can forgive for capturing the feel of the classic Zelda. The sound department, however, has some serious troubles. Plenty of the music is ripped directly from A Link to the Past and doesn't sound like it has changed at all in the process. Those songs that seem new were probably taken from the SNES game, too, but the fact that they're distinctly annoying makes me forget their origins. The sound effects in-game are okay, but the developers loaded the menu, story, and status screens with all sorts of ridiculous noises. The circus horn alone makes it all seem way overdone. Yes, I said circus horn!

Gameplay:
I think too many people jumped into this game expecting to meet another great Legend of Zelda adventure, and those are the people who walked away disappointed. The Four Swords Adventure is a test in multiplayer connectivity, and I will cover Gameplay with that in mind. The game can still be played with any number of people, but there will always be four Links on the screen. The Links not directly controlled by a player become "followers" of the last player who picked them up.

Four Swords does not follow the traditional dungeon/town/overworld formula. Four Swords is really just a series of dungeons. Players progress from screen to screen, clearing out baddies, solving puzzles, and collecting items. These items consist of force gems, heart containers, and special weapons. Regular Zelda fans will instantly recognize these weapons since they range from the boomerang to the mega hammer. Each player can only hold one weapon at a time, however, so players must pool their resources. Force gems are merely collectable and are the equivalent to rupees (and why they aren't just rupees to begin with, I'll never know). Force gems play a big part in who "wins" for that level, so there is an ever present desire to have more than everyone else. In fact, killing your friends makes them drop all their gems, thus igniting a constant rivalry between all players. The competition can be quite fierce, and it is always tempting to give your friends the shaft when the opportunity is present. However, you do have to work together if you ever plan to beat the dungeon. Some puzzles and bosses are color-coded, requiring the participation of every Link. Other areas may need the four Links to push a boulder, throw teammates across a chasm, or stand on different switches.

At the end of every dungeon, different markings go towards who wins, such as force gems collected, enemies beaten, and lives lost. With three or four players, there is even the option to vote for who was helpful and who wasn't. When the next dungeon comes around, all stats are reset. Hearts and weapons obtained from earlier dungeons must be found again. Many top-dog reviewers argued that this was the crowning downside of the game, but I have to disagree. It's a fresh start, forcing everyone back onto neutral ground. If the carry-over did exist, then there would always be that one player who is way ahead of everyone else. When it comes time to finally work together, that person would be the only one of any use. Sound familiar to anyone who played Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles?

Controls:
Four Swords can be played solo with a Gamecube controller, but to play the game alone is a serious mistake. If you want to tackle the multiplayer mode, however, you will need a Game Boy Advance for every player. Unlike Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, the GBA really adds a necessary touch to the game. While most of the action takes place on the TV screen, if a player deviates and enters a house or falls into a hole, they are transferred to their own GBA screen. This is a sweet idea that lets you do some mischievous spelunking without everyone else knowing what you're up to. Granted, this could be done much easier online, but forcing everyone to sit together at the same TV gives Four Swords a better cooperative feel-- and makes the rivalry that much more entertaining.

Because the control setup is limited to the four buttons of the GBA, there isn't much you can do. Swinging your sword and using a special item basically cover the extent of the controls. The R button actually has two functions, however, and this can be a little irritating. The usual use is to roll, but if you press R while standing next to someone, you pick them up. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but many times you pick someone up when all you wanted to do was roll past them.

Frustration:
The fewer actual players present, the more problems the game has. Having to deal with two, three, or even four Links at once can be a real hassle. It isn't natural to continually need to set the group in a formation. Also, your team as a whole is limited in its supply of weapons, so you constantly find yourself lacking the necessary item and having to backtrack to go get it. With three players, these problems are only marginally present as there is only one extra Link. With four people, obsolete. Most of what can make Four Swords frustrating depends on who you play with. For example, the slightest "practical joke" against my brother would send him into a never-ending vendetta against me, and the rest of the adventure turned into an aggravating battle over force gems. This is in no way the fault of the game, but it is something to take into consideration.

Four Swords does present a few problems no matter how you approach the game, however. Many puzzles just have ridiculously vague solutions. How are you supposed to know that shooting an arrow through a doorway makes a bridge appear, or to figure out that you have to talk to an NPC twice before the team can proceed? The dungeons in Zelda games have always been challenging, but Four Sword's stock of puzzles becomes very annoying. Four Swords also includes a lot of text to further the non-impressive story and explain the items you pick up (even force gems). This text gets really redundant, however, and it's kind of annoying having to cycle through conversations and explanations when you're in a hurry to progress.

Lasting Appeal:
Each of the 20 dungeons takes anywhere from a half hour to an hour, depending on how much you explore and how much you fight with your teammates. Trust me, the latter really is an issue, albeit a very amusing one. Four Swords' mix of cooperation and competition really defines it as a great multiplayer game. However, a rivalry between two players can only go so far. You seriously need to get three our four people together in order to play this game to its fullest. The Shadow Battle mode, which accompanies the Adventure as one of the main attractions, isn't that novel. The 2D Zelda doesn't really give way for heated, intricate fights. Yet there are eight mini-games on the side to make up for it. These are only fun with more than two players, but the addition is mildly enjoyable.

Overall:
I love playing a good co-op, and Four Swords manages to blend cooperation and competition. The end result is something truly unique and entertaining. If you can meet the maximum requirements, Four Swords becomes one of the best multiplayer games ever created. Getting four people and four Game Boys together, though, can be a difficult task. The game still retains an insane amount of fun with only three people, but for every missing person, Four Swords loses so much more. That said, it would be wise not to even think about the one-player mode, otherwise you will go away not liking the Legend of Zelda series anymore, and that is a crime.

Points:
+ It's 2D Zelda!
+ With a multiplayer edge
+ Cooperative / competitive
-- Vague puzzles
-- Too much text
-- Less people, more problems

Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04, Updated 01/18/05