by MattB - June 29, 2004

"Quick! The wind sorcerer Vaati has escaped and the culprit is you! Or at least a shadow of you... Hurry Link, save Zelda and the six shrine Maidens and stop both Vaati and your evil double." As I was first getting into this game I thought I was just going to be playing a multiplayer SNES version of legend of Zelda for the Gamecube. Well, I hit the nail on the head, but I was surprised on how much fun I had with it. Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures came out on June 7th, 2004. Four Swords required Gameboy advances (regular or sp) and Gameboy/game cube connectors for multiplayer use and just one GCN controller for single players.

Ok theres a key... how do I pick it up!!!

Tried and true to the franchise Zelda is an adventure game with tricky puzzles. Since Four Swords is made for multiplayer they added many enemies to the areas. An example being a bridge where 70 solders charge at you. Control is very easy with both the Gamecube controller and the GBA. Nothing tricky either, your A button makes you use items you've picked up, B is for attacking with the sword, L is used for Link Formations (more on that in Plasma Factor), R is used to pick up objects and select/X was used to change between Links. The story is classic. The princess has been captured you need to save her. Wow we couldn't see that coming, huh? As you progress through the game you will go through many levels. There are three levels per world and eight worlds so that's a total of twenty-four levels. If you think the game is short you're mistaken since each level is about 15-40 minutes long (15 for the begging levels and 30+ for the later levels) one thing is for sure, you're not going to breeze through this one too quickly. You don't collect a massive array of items in this game either. Basically you start each level with 3 hearts. Your goal for each level is to reach the end with at least 2000 force gems (not hard) to up grade your sword, err I mean swords since you're four Links. You collect one item at a time and you'll have to drop it if get another, but a benefit to the multiplayer players is that individual players can hold individual items which is nifty to know because that way you don't have to back track so you can blow up that one secret wall that you want to see. You'll also be supplied the right item for the right situation so don't back track to far back to get an item you might get in a room ahead.

Will Link once again dazzle us with graphical might?

No he won't but he will delight us with some very clever things. But before that the graphical style is based of two other Zelda games; A Link to the Past and Four Swords (Gameboy advance version that came with the GBA version of Link to the Past). You will see many familiar sprites when playing the game. The cool thing about this is that the Gamecube can use it's next-gen power to generate some cool effects on screen such as mist, bombs blow up like they do in Wind Waker, or watching the ground pulse when you let down a blow with the magic hammer. Overall the graphics are not revolutionary and they just aren't using the full potential of the Gamecube's power.

*Zelda theme plays* here we go again.

Well there's not too much to Audio for this game that is revolutionary. Basically you have remixed A Link to the Past music with some new songs here and there for cut scenes. Nintendo Decided to Implement the Wind Waker Link's voice into Four swords which wasn't a bad choice but it gets a tad bit annoying hear 4 links yelling as they fall in a pit. Also Monsters make sounds , which is great because it doesn't feel like your killing sprites but actual monsters. Overall I was pleased.

Is killing a lot of soldiers charging over a brige fun... umm yeah it is.

Well I thought everything was pretty solid for Four Swords so I won't say I had a bad time with this one. It was rather enjoyable. Soloing seems a tad bit repetitive since you always start with nothing in the next level and it was not too challenging because you'll really stock up on fairies. We're at the point that you can't lose a level by death. Multiplayer was very good and more challenging since it becomes a competition rather then a quest to save Hyrule since whoever collects enough force gems gets the ultimate bragging rights. Another thing about Multiplayer that made it tough is that you'll end up dying more since you have separate health bar. Thus getting rid of more force fairies. Overall soloing just seems like another Zelda top down game (which isn't bad) but multiplayer becomes a fun little competition.

OK a giant block and Four Links... Maybe we push?

Zelda is known to be a fun adventure game thanks to the items you would acquire and the puzzles you had to solve. The twist to four swords is that you have 4 links to handle while you play. This is not a problem in Single player or Multiplayer mode. In multiplayer that consists of 2 or 3 people the players control the other Links. Using the links for puzzles was clever, but that's where the problem is! They need different kind of puzzles I got sick having four links step on four switches or moving a giant block all the time, but they do sneak in a couple of toughies in the village based levels. Overall that was the main twist in the game but they could have executed it better. But they have two neat little things in multiplayer. The shadow battle and Tingle mini games, but shadow battles will get kind of repetitive. Nintendo should have fine-tuned this one. I was really hoping some fun out of these.

Guess what? We are done.

Overall I had an okay time with this one. They could of done so much more with this idea. But if you're looking for a new Zelda game don't neglect this one. It has enjoyable moments and multiplayer is very fun when you have 2 or 3 friends with GBAs. Overall this is a solid game in all aspects but if you're not into this series then this one won't change your mind about it. Happy gem collecting!