The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess -- Monkeying Around with the Controls.

While I've only managed to progress through two proper dungeons in Twilight Princess I feel confident in my assessment of the control. Most importantly is that they definitely work. I've had no problems adjusting to the control scheme beyond the initial learning of the button layout of a new controller I've never used before. There haven't been any negative control issues. No glitches. I haven't seen any non-responsiveness. The controls actually become very intuitive rather fast in playing the game. I have no issues controlling Link's movement. No issues in looking around. No issues in combat with the camera that wouldn't be there on the Gamecube controller. Defending myself and attacking are as easy as they've ever been. I've had no issues in aiming the boomerang, arrows, or slingshot. No issues in the combat while riding Epona. Everything works perfectly. Twilight Princess is a complex game and the performance of the controls eases any fears I might of had for real games on the system. Of course it will depend on the genre and the developer's skill, but Twilight Princess at least shows it will not be the Wii's fault for bad controls. Twilight Princess controls pretty much just like all of the 3D Zelda before it. If you've played Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or Wind Waker then you have the basic idea. The player controls Link with the nunchuck controller's analog stick. Link's sword is controlled by the Wii Remote's motion sensing. You wiggle the Wii Remote to pull out your sword and for each sword motion. It only takes a little wiggle so you're not flailing around like an idiot. The controller isn't tied to Link's sword in a one-to-one ratio. So you don't have any sort of exacting control over the sword. In fact it's just as if it were being controlled by a single button push. One wiggle movement is as one button push. The nunchuck attachment has a Z button and it works just as it did in previous versions. The Z button accesses the Z targeting system which allows you to lock on to specific enemies. Being locked on to a target with sword drawn allows for Link's leaping sword strike when you press the A button on the Wii Remote. The Z targeting system also allows for defensive maneuvers in combat. Just holding Z uses Link's shield. Holding Z and pushing left, right, or back in combination with the A button allows for Link to sidestep to either side or to back flip away from enemies. Link's spin attack has been placed on the nunchuck attachment. While the sword is out you wiggle the Nunchuck attachment to cause Link to perform the spin attack. Link is as capable as he ever was. In fact, everything is pretty much the same. He still auto jumps as he did in previous versions. Just get near an edge and run off and Link jumps for you. To look around the world in Link's perspective you just hit the C button on the nunchuck attachment. You can then use the analog stick to look around or just use the pointer on the Wii Remote. They both are equally functional and easy to use. As always you'll find new items and weapons like a slingshot, bombs, a lantern, potions, a bow and arrows, and more which need to be assigned to buttons for use. Pressing the 1 button brings up the menu that allows you to assign the items to three of the Wii Remote's D-pad directions and the B button. All of these items are used with the Wii Remote's B button. Using the D-pad to switch between items is very easy and responsive. The 2 Button brings up the game's map system. The Wii's controls don't hinder anything about Zelda. The most complex actions like moving Link while aiming the bow independently are simple and intuitive for me. Looking at the trees so to speak, everything is great as far as Nintendo's Wii and current style gaming is concerned. But if you take a step back and take a look at the forest so to speak, did Zelda on the Wii need this? It's Zelda on the Wii. There isn't anything technically new. All that changes is in how you're doing the same things. The basic functionality of the game remains unchanged. It could be debated that there isn't really any change here. Nintendo hasn't reinvented the wheel.  So far they've proven they can do the same thing without any control issues. For some people that's sort of a great thing. But if Nintendo is going to be praised for innovation, shouldn't there sort of be some? As of right now I'm not sure there is any. But also as of right now, I'm just glad Zelda works perfectly, even if it is technically more of the same functionality...