That's what she said...

...Well, that was short. I finished The Minish Cap in about two days of solid play. It was fantastic and is possibly my new favourite of the series, but I want more. Sure, you can go back after finishing the game and find all sorts of new items and secrets, but without a grand purpose behind it all anymore, it's just not the same. The problem lies with the dungeons, and there are two possible fixes: Either have more of them (there are really only five), or make them longer. I found myself spending more time unlocking new dungeons than I did conquering them. Still, this is a great game that is definitely worth everyone's time. The new play mechanics (The Minish, kinstones, sword skills, etc...) were well-executed, and exploration was very organic. Perhaps I've just become accustomed to the grid-based play of Zelda, Link's Awakening, and the Oracle games, but exploration was never tedious and always fluid; it really helped to immerse me in the adventure. The game was also a touch on the easy side, but aside from that and the length, everything was done right. If you're a Zelda fan of any measure, you should definitely be picking this one up.

I've now gone back to finish The Adventure Of Link, and I'm still having a hell of a time getting settled-in. Perhaps it's just the first boss, who I find infuriatingly frustrating to beat, but I'm quickly getting a very bad taste in my mouth. That's a real shame after being so impressed the last three titles that I played in the series. Also, as you may have noticed from my XBOX Live gamer card on the right there, I picked-up Tony Hawk's Project 8 and King Kong for the 360. I stumbled upon both of them new and cheap at a usually over-priced and relatively sketchy shop on Yonge Street today. I already own the latter for Windows, but the StarForce copy protection irks me to no end, so I'm hesitant to install it; besides, the 360 version has much better graphics. Project 8 is just amazing. It's classic Tony Hawk (like, the first two in the series) with awesome graphics and some new gameplay innovations; "nail the trick" mode breathes a whole new life into the experience.