Transforming into a wall drawing may not be the most awesome thing in the skill repertoire of the many “Link’s” that have resided in Hyrule over the ages, however that is what they are running with when The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds launches in Australia and New Zealand on the Nintendo 2DS / 3DS from the 23rd November 2013.
Similar to the role Majora’s Mask held for Ocarina of Time, this title serves as a follow-up game to the 1992 Super NES release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – with new dungeons, fresh puzzles and new gameplay mechanics at Link’s disposal as he explores Hyrule and the corrupted, parallel version of Hyrule creatively named Lorule.
The story begins in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds with an ominous threat looming over Hyrule. A mysterious, wizardly figure named Yuga has been appearing throughout the land, transforming the kingdom’s seven sages into paintings and spiriting them away into another world. With the future of Hyrule at stake, Link must therefore step into the unknown realm of Lorule and stop Yuga’s nefarious plans in order to restore peace and harmony to his home world.
During a journey of discovery in both Hyrule and Lorule, Link will meet characters familiar to fans of The Legend of Zelda series, such as Princess Zelda and the elder of Kakariko Village, Sahasrahla, as well as new figures central to the storyline such as the travelling merchant Ravio, and the mystical figure of Hilda, the Princess of Lorule. Appearing for the first time in the series, little is known about Ravio, the item vendor who sets up shop in Link’s house and provides our hero with a helpful bracelet… Via Ravio’s shop, players can now choose to buy or rent key items early on in the adventure, allowing greater freedom to explore dungeons in any order over the course of the game. Whether it’s freezing foes in their tracks with the Ice Rod, or floating upwards with the Tornado Rod, many items will be pivotal to progressing through the fiendishly designed dungeons players will encounter. Not a bad way of keeping the game less linear, but hopefully the challenge won’t be sacrificed to pull this off.
The bracelet you ask? Ravio’s mystery bracelet gives Link the power to transform into a drawing and walk along walls – controlling wind and becoming other beings with masks has nothing on Link’s wall walking. The game is also set to feature a number of new subquests and mini-games to obtain rupees or extra heart containers. These include the “Treacherous Tower” which has Link fighting through progressively harder floors of a dungeon while “Octoball Derby” serves as a sort of baseball-inspired mini-game.
