Tuesday 22 January, 2008

GAMEPLAY
Well, on I go the shadow temple. After dealing with some side quests, I moved into the temple. With invisible swinging blades, undead skeletons, and, even worse, undead disemboweled hands, the shadow temple keeps you on your feet. The level happens to be my least favorite, despite being easier then the water temple. As a kid, it scared me to hell with its crazy, evil atmosphere. The dungeon promenantly features invisible enemies and obstacles, as well as puzzles that must be solved with the Hover Boots: footwear that allows you to walk temporarily on air. Finally, the boss of the shadow temple is, without a doubt, one of the weirdest in the game. You fight it on a giant bongo drum, and the boss itself is composed of two giant hands and a freakish body. Luckily, as soon as you "down" the boss (that is, put it in a mode where it can be damaged (typically with your sword)), you can destroy it quickly with the big-goron's sword, which deals double damage over your normal sword.

DESIGN
There are several notable mechanics in the shadow temple. The most annoying is the Floormaster, a disembodied hand. After killing it normally, it splits into a number of smaller hands. You must kill all of them within a certain time or have to kill the floormaster again. To complicate things, the developers decided to give the little floormaster the most powerful attack in the game (it saps all of your health). The addition of a instant death mechanic greatly annoys me, as there is no real reason for it to be present, especially in a game that stresses the acquisition of additional health by searching and progressing.
Second is the idea of invisible enemies. Although they can be seen with the lens of truth, just their existence is a constant struggle. Unlike the floormasters (who themselves can be invisible at times), I think the addition of these doppelgangers was a good design decision, as they add to the aura of the shadow temple. In addition, there is the miniboss of the dungeon, a weird construction of hands protruding from the ground. Although you have already fought the boss once as a child, the boss's incessant attacks impede your movement, and the general idea of the bizarre cadaver is both stylistically and mechanically astounding. In all, both times fighting the boss were fun, if not actually frightening.

Good work. I'd like to see a bit more analysis in your gameplay sections. You do touch on some important points, such as the atmosphere in the Shadow Temple, and the difference between dungeon crawling and puzzle solving. I remember liking the Water Temple, but for exactly the same reasons that you dislike it!

-Gillian (TA)