Reviewed: September 12, 2004
Reviewed by: Roger Cox
Publisher
Nintendo
Developer
Nintendo
Released: June 7, 2004
Genre: Action / Adventure
Players: 4
ESRB: Everyone
8
7
8
8
8.1
Supported Features:
Once again in Hyrule, an evil villain, known as Vaati (the wind sorcerer) started kidnapping beautiful young maidens. No one could top this creature, until one glorious day when a courageous wonderer arrived armed with a sword. When he took out his sword he split into four people (Links). The legend says that these four links work together to beat the evil Vaati. The Links defeated and imprisoned Vaati. A long time passed, but Vaati managed to escape and capture Princess Zelda. Link who possessed the power of the four swords fought to free Zelda and vanquish Vaati again. He was successful and peace was restored to the land once again. Or so they thought…
To sum it up, go kill the evil villain and save Hyrule once again. This ought to be fun right? You betcha!! Welcome to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure
Four Swords offers gamers a new and different kind of gameplay that they haven’t experienced before depending on how you choose to play the game. Cooperatively with 2-4 players, or single player, when you play Four Swords there are always four links on the screen. When you play single player you control all four links and you fight enemies and solve puzzled by putting them into different formations. For example, all four links will stand in a square formation or a vertical straight line. When you play Cooperatively with two players you each control two links each. You still put them into formations to fight/solve puzzles, but they are limited now because you only control two of the four. Finally, when you play with four players you each control a single link.
Cooperative play is the main draw and it isn’t nearly as enjoyable as it could have been. Nintendo really flubbed up when they chose to specifically make this part of the game competitive for the two or more players who need to work together. The end result when completing each level is a score tally based on the amount of money each individual player has, who killed the most enemies, and how many times you died (which is deducted from your total score). The score really doesn’t reflect who the best player in the game was. Instead it represents who got lucky and obtained the most money. This game would have been much better off with a cumulative tally of money gathered for a reward such as extra mini games or power-ups.
I played this game with several different people. My enjoyment level varied greatly depending on who I played with.
- Individual #1: He likes to play cooperatively and hates it when you both compete. Easily frustrated when accidentally killed, and who doesn’t like joking around in the game.
My experience was not enjoyable. I found myself getting frustrated, irritated, and overall annoyed with the person. I liked the game, but the interaction between us was causing the game to become very un-enjoyable and lengthy. Levels that should have taken us 25-40mins to complete ended up taking us over an hour. We consistently stopped playing after each area that we completed.
- Individual #2: He likes to play cooperatively, but likes to be competitive at the same time. Not easily frustrated, doesn’t mind joking around, and is good at solving puzzles.
I had a great time playing with this guy. We worked as a team, but we were still competitive. It was a blast and if I could have played with four people like Individual #2 it would have been a party. I didn’t want to stop playing after we beat our first and second level.
Frustrations
As far as saving the game is concerned, you can’t until you complete each section. Which ranges anywhere from 20mins to 1hr 30mins to complete. This is frustrating, but I guess beneficial because it forces you to complete each area, even if you come to a frustrating puzzle.
I managed to find one annoying bug with this game. In level 2 stage 3 the book magically disappeared on me!! It only happened once, but I spent over 45min trying to figure it out. I had to restart the whole level in order to complete it. Be careful not to drop the book because it's possible that this glitch will affect you too!!
Some of the puzzles that Nintendo put into Four Swords are ridiculous. Please note that you can shoot through black doorways to areas on the other side that aren’t visible. Is that supposed to be a puzzle? I had to read a guide to figure that out and as I talked to other people I found out that most of them did it accidentally!!
A final note about the co-op mode. Make sure to have fun with your friends by pounding them with items, beating them over the head with a link, shooting an arrow at their head, slashing them with your sword, creaming them with the hammer, doing a “GET OVER HERE” (Mortal Kombat style) move with the boomerang, slinging deku nuts at them with your sling shot, doing a down-thrust attack with a roc’s feather, or simply lighting their ass on fire with a fire rod/lamp.
Single player
For those of you who enjoy the whole Zelda series, then you will definitely enjoy this latest rendition. The puzzle difficulty seems to increase as you progress through the game thus making it ever more important to master the odd control scheme. You can get used to it over time, but it never feels natural. When I recently went to play this game with a friend who had beaten it over a month ago, he had forgotten the controls and had to adjust quickly.
Versus Mode
If you are familiar with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the GBA, then you will feel right at home playing Four Swords.
There are many mini games which you open up from time to time over the course of the game. The games include TAG (like the kind you played as a kid except you use a hammer instead of your hand), and Horse racing plus many more.
On top of the mini games there is a 1v1 head to head mode in which the last player standing wins. There are various levels to choose from and more that you can unlock. These levels are small and littered with dangers and traps. Items appear spontaneously and in random areas during the battle. I thought the levels where small, dull, and lacked creativity. It felt like Nintendo added it in the game because it lacked 1 on 1 direct competition.
Another opinion: my friend said this after playing Four Swords for one hour. “It was entertaining for a little bit, kind of enjoyed the multiplayer, not very original except for the use of GBA.” He told me this wasn’t his type of game, but then again he prefers action games and is not a big Zelda buff.
The graphics are basic and simple, but effective. This game is played from an overhead perspective, which is reminiscent of the older Zelda games. . This game is strictly 2D and that’s ok, because the game is best suited for it. Nintendo is the master of 2D games and it’s clear they still are in Four Swords. This game supports progressive scan mode, which can’t improve these simple visuals that much, but if you have it why not? The animation is smooth and pretty while the frame rate is always fast with no slowdown.
If you are familiar with the Zelda series then you know the standard sound effects: bombs exploding, the cutting of grass, boomerangs swirling. It seems like they cut and pasted them in from the pervious Zelda games while adding very few new ones. That’s not as bad as it sounds (no pun intended), but some original ones would have been a nice addition. The sound effects are crisp, clean, and solid. Overall, the sound package is very good and fits the visual style of the game perfectly.
Nintendo is asking that you shell out $50 bucks for this game. Sure that’s all you have to give if you want to play by yourself and not truly enjoy the game for what it is. But if you really want to play this game to its fullest extent then you have shelled out $60+ for a GBA. Then you need to find one or more friends who own a GBA and a GCN link cable. So what is the total cost if you bought everything for everyone? Game $50 + (4 GBA * $60) + (4 GCN to GBA cables * $9) – 1 GCN to GBA cable that came with the game = $317 (help me, I can’t breath).
Four Swords is a very enjoyable game overall. Playing this with a friend or single player can be a blast, but remember to play with the right kind of gamers. If you love a good co-op multiplayer game then buy it. If you love a great single player action/adventure, buy it. And finally, if you love the Zelda series like I do then you’ll feel right at home owning Four Swords. “One Destiny, Four Links, and Four GBA’s”.