The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past.

I'll always look at LoZ: A Link To The Past through rose tinted glasses. I was just seven years old when it was released and the Sega/Nintendo war had been neither lost nor won. I wasn't lucky enough to acquire the game at release. It was the following year this iconic title found its way into my hands. If I had known then what I know now... I would still have picked up the control pad and embarked on what will turn out to be a life long love affair (perhaps addiction would be more accurate). Not a year has gone by when I haven't played the game at least once. Sometimes on the original hardware, sometimes on an emulator or
perhaps the game boy edition and more recently on the Wii.

My mother came to my house for a cup of tea near the end of last year (don't stop reading I am going somewhere with this). I had A Link To The Past on and she instantly remembered it. We had a good laugh over it, almost 20 years on and I'm still playing the same game! So what has kept me, and countless other die hard fans hooked for just less than 2 decades? Well, lets find out.

To start with the game could charm the pants off a nun. It oozes with niceness that 90% of today's games lack. You all know the games, those that have that miserable gray tint to them, games that take themselves way too serious. The graphics on this instalment from the Legend Of Zelda sires are still outstanding and don't seem to have aged at all. Against some psp titles Zelda still has the upper hand. OK, at the side of the tower of power that is the Ps3 and Microsoft's Xbox it can't compete but- think if a remake of it was made for Ps3 or Xbox in the same style- how much crisper could the cartoon-y graphics get?

It also has a fun and interesting story line that makes sense and resembles Lord Of The Rings (like all Zelda titles). You instantly find yourself caring about the characters and the fate of Hyrule. After defeating a boss, sometimes I've been known to shout out loud: "I'm the hero of legend, idiot!", that's how good the story line is. The story starts one rainy night in the house you share with your uncle. You are awoken by a telepathic message from the Princess Zelda. She says she is locked in the dungeon of Hyrule Castle. Your uncle is dressed for battle and tells you to remain in bed. This is where your epic journey begins. You are left to roam the huge worlds that stretch before you.

The game play is outstanding, there's no other word for it. The controls are simple but very affective and the whole experience is really first class. The way the game has been set out leaves you wanting more and more. You can't explore one area without a specific item, then when you have it something else is blocking your way which means negotiating more dungeons, retrieving another item and beating more bosses. Marks out of 10 for this game... has to be a wholesome 10. I, like many other fans consider this the best in the series. It has stood the test of time and then some.