Control:  
The controls of Four Swords Adventures take some a while to learn. You have the standard one button for sword, one button for item set-up, but then the controls change depending on how many people are playing and also what controller you're using. If you're playing by yourself with a GameCube controller, you can use the C-stick, the Z button, and the X button- all three of which are absent from the GBA.

If you play with a GBA, you can use L, Select, and the Z button isn't needed since it's used to toggle on and off a GBA screen on the TV when you have no GBA. Still with me? Crap, I was hoping my poor explanation would scare you off and I could stop writing.

You definitely get used to the controls after playing, unless you can't store new memories, in which case you should buy the new Memory Card 1019.

Gameplay:  
The gameplay is what sets Four Swords apart from other Zelda games. This is a cooperative-competitive game. If you play with 2-4 people, you'll need to work together to advance through the (challenging) dungeons, but then when a 300-point force gem falls from the sky, pick up your friend and throw him off a ravine- it's all yours!

The GBA works as a private screen. Almost every room in the game has a secret hole in the ground or a wall you can bomb, where when you enter you use your GBA screen so no one else can see what you're doing (unless they follow you on their GBA).

If you're playing a one-player game, you can use the GameCube controller and a GBA window will pop up in these cases. It eliminates the competitive component of the game, but you still need all 4 Links to work together to advance, which creates some cool puzzles.

Another departure from other Zelda games is the episodic nature of Four Swords. There are 24 levels in the main game, 3 levels in each of 8 worlds. Although you can't freely roam from one area to the next, everyone complained about that in Wind Waker, so just think of the Four Swords overworld map as a warp screen where you can choose the area you want to go to, just like the warp screen in Wind Waker or playing the Ocarina to warp around Hyrule.

This cuts down on the exploration factor that, uh, factors into other Zeldas, but it increases the time you spend solving puzzles and fighting monsters.

One thing Four Swords continues from other Zelda games is the two world duality. Zelda 1 had a second quest, Zelda 2 had overhead and side-scrolling perspectives. Zelda 3 had a light and dark world. Zelda 4 was all a dream, so it was sort of another world. Zelda 5 had the past and the future, Zelda 6 took place in a parrallel universe. Zeldas 7 and 8 were separate games that acted as one. Zelda 9 had the surface and under the ocean. Now Zelda 10 has the GameCube world and the GBA world.

Yeah, some of those I was reaching on, but I'm glad I found something for each one.

Sound:
It's nice to have midi tracks in a 2D game, but then you hear the Koji Kondo music in the trailer for the next GameCube Zelda (not the music from Conan, the Zelda-y music in the other trailer) and you want to smack Nintendo upside the head and say "Hire an orchestra, dammit!!!!" The Legend of Zelda has so many good tunes that get wasted with the same midi instruments over and over. I'll excuse it this time, but that realistic Zelda should have realistic music.

Multiplayer:
No multiplayer in this game.

Oh wait, it's designed to be a multiplayer game- I just have no friends. In all honesty, I did get to try it in 2-player mode, and it was very different from going it alone. As Jim's Dad said in American Pie, "Son, playing The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures alone is like hitting a ball against a wall, which can be fun, but it's not a game. What you need is a partner."

Deep, and to think Nintendo saw the movie and then decided to make a Zelda game with that title so his words would ring true. If you're like me and playing this game with 4 people is a logistics nightmare, feel free to consider it a one-player game with multiplayer components. It absolutely works as a one-player game.

Oh yeah! There's a whole mutliplayer mode where you duke it out with other Links. This one cannot be played with only one player, but it is the most fun I had with a multiplayer game since Smash Bros. Melee- and that's saying a lot. Who knew Zelda would lend itself so well to chaotic fun?

OVERALL:
Wow, I wasted everyone's time with this review, that's because I felt like telling you to buy the latest Zelda game was a waste of time. It didn't do too well in the sales though, so maybe you do need to get your ass booted for not buying it right away. Go now and buy it thusly.

 

The Lowdown on  The Legend of Zelda: The Four Swords Aesthetics: Very Good Control: Above Average Gameplay: Awesome Multiplayer: Awesome Sound: Below Average Innovation: 5/6 Lasting Appeal: 5/6 Rating Explanation Overall: Very Good! "A Must-Buy"