Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures Review

Imagine yourself walking into your favorite videogame store and seeing a new Zelda game has been released. Imagine that the year is 2004 (shouldn’t be too hard) and that, even though most game companies are trying to have the best graphics possible, the game is in 2D. Depending on what kind of gamer you are, you’ll either think the game sucks because it’s in 2D, or you’ll think it’s the best thing ever and buy it immediately. Unfortunately, I think most gamers these days are the ones who buy games only for graphics, or for violence, and that many people will miss what could be one of the GameCube’s best games and the one that fully uses the potential of the GBA to GC connectivity.

The story is quite simple, and old time Zelda fans won’t be too surprised, but this game is more about gameplay anyway. But since you probably want to know what’s going on: An evil character called Shadow Link makes the good Link remove the legendary Four Sword from its seal and, by doing so, releases a great evil. Yes, the evil sorcerer Vaati is back (once again) and he has captured 7 young and beautiful maidens (including, of course, Zelda) and he wants to bring darkness all over Hyrule, so it is Link’s job to get rid of him and bring light back to the wonderful land of Hyrule. To do so, he uses the power of the Four Sword and splits himself into 4 Links. That means you’ll be controlling four Links at the same time. I don’t want to reveal too much of what happens during the game, but if you’ve played Zelda in the past, you will probably have a good idea of what is really going on. Vaati isn’t acting alone, unfortunately, and there is someone even more evil behind all of this. I won’t tell you who he is [cough]Ganon[/cough], but there are clues during the story that will make you find out that he is back at it again.

Since I was only able to play this game in single player, this will be a single player review. I’ll try to mention some of the multiplayer aspects of it, even though I haven’t tried them just to give you a good idea of what to expect from this game if you are playing with friends. So first of all, the game takes place in Hyrule, with some elements from both A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. There are places from the SNES game that you’ll recognize, and characters from the N64 game that have been placed there. The map isn’t exactly like the ALTTP map though, but it does look a little like it. We could also say that it is linked a little to Wind Waker since it uses some special effects from that game, and it also has lots of elements from the GBA version of Four Swords. You’ll be visiting Hyrule castle, Death Mountain, the desert, Kakariko Village, and some other places from around Hyrule. There are even stages set in the sky and in a tower. And for the hardcore fans, the one who played the NES version to death, you’ll recognize some bosses and enemies from that game in FSA and it’s just awesome! Even that owl that got on people’s nerves in OOT is back to give you some advice.

One thing that makes this Zelda game so different from the others is that you don’t go anywhere you want on the map. Instead, you go from region to region, and in each of those regions there are 3 stages. So you’ll be going through small stages, and each is linked to the others, but each of them is kind of like its own little adventure. What I mean by that is that each time you start a new stage, you start with nothing. No items, 3 hearts, nothing else. You also don’t have an inventory screen with all your items like in previous Zelda games. You only have a status screen with all of the maidens you’ve saved and gems you collected. Items are handled differently in this game. You can only have 1 at a time. That means that when you need another one, you have to leave it and pick the other one, then come back if you need it again and then trade it again. When playing multiplayer though, each one can have his own item so everyone can pick one and do specific things to help the others. It might seem like an advantage, but some of the puzzles are a little different from the single player and multi player so that they are all possible. When you are playing alone you control all 4 Links and you can have them move in different formations to help you battle and solve puzzles. In multiplayer, everyone will have to cooperate to be able to advance.

Since I mentioned the items, maybe we should go into more details about them. First of all, there is a lot of stuff you’ll be using: from bracelets that reduce damage or give you more power, to hammers and boots, shovels, feathers, lamps, boomerangs, fire rods, bows, bombs… there are a lot to use and all of them are upgradeable. In some levels there are fairy fountains where you can throw in your item, just like in ALTTP, and your items will level up to level 2. When they are level 2, they will have more features. For example, you’ll be able to run in the air with the boots, or throw lager bombs, or make blocks with the fire rod. The shovel will make a sound when close to secret stuff. These are the basic items you’ll use, but there are others. Force fairies, for example, will bring you back to life when you die, heart containers will add one heart to your current health. And for those that liked horseback riding, the carrots are back in one of the stages. You’ll be on your horse and have to run through guards and pick more carrots in order to stay on your horse and get to the end. Another very important item is the moon stone. They are used to create portals in certain places to go to the dark world and they are extremely useful in a lot of stages in the game. Finally, the most known item in Zelda, you’ll be using lots of keys and a few boss keys to open chests or doors.

Something else that is very special with this game is the necessity to have a GBA to play mutli-player, the same as if you were playing Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. Using the GBA is incredibly fun, and you’ll want to use it even when you’ll be playing alone. The way it works is that every time you go in caves, houses, fall in holes, or go into the dark world, your character will appear on your GBA screen and that’s where you’ll be playing until you go back outside and reappear on your TV screen. You can also, at some points, shoot arrows from the GBA and they’ll appear on the TV screen, so you might have to shoot switches that way. It might seem simple, but it is necessary in order for the game to work when playing multiplayer. Some people might be outside fighting enemies while you’re inside a house stealing gems on your GBA screen and nobody can see you! This might be a cooperative game, but there is also a lot of competition since at the end of each level they say who has the most gems and all of the players can vote for who was the best player, who was the worst and it makes the game extremely fun. It’s a great game when alone, but it really shines when played with friends.