Yes, it’s true. Perhaps you’ve been wondering why no one on PGC has written impressions on the Zelda GameCube game in the last few days. Well, the simple fact is that it’s the exact same thing that was at E3. I’ve heard claims of a few minor differences, but whatever differences that exist were undoubtedly changed just a little too late for the E3 showing. Heck, the thing even says “Thank you for playing the E3 demo" after you’re done! So, since there really isn’t anything new about the game factually, I’ll dive right into my personal impressions. Pull up someone else’s E3 impressions or the preview if you want details on the game itself.

First off, I love the cel-shaded presentation. It’s cute and fun and should be accessible to all ages. Of course, I’m also one of those guys who insist that animation is for everyone and video game music is “real" music, so I know not everyone shares my perspective ;-) Link’s expressions are amusing, and while one or two of the cut-scenes I’ve seen are more clichéd than humorous, I still enjoyed them overall. Despite what some say, the game does NOT look flat in motion, and no one should make a final judgment on the style until they see it in person. I’m not all goo-goo ga-ga over the graphics though. Nintendo seems crazy about this rising heat effect they discovered for distant objects in Super Mario Sunshine, and I feel the Zelda demo overuses the visual trick. But more importantly, I feel that Zelda’s textures are also lacking. Wall and floor textures are often blurry, something that looks very out of place when the game is supposed to have a crisp, hand-drawn look. Anime doesn’t have blurry lines, and neither should this game. Sure, sharper lines means Nintendo can’t fudge its way around detailed textures, but plain, sharp textures would probably still look better in this context. Maybe this will be addressed in the final version, but somehow I doubt it.

There’s not much to say about the gameplay and controls, really. Once I adjusted to the whole B-is-sometimes-A deal, Link handled like a dream, as to be expected. The gameplay is of similar fare, and Nintendo purposefully isn’t showing any new concepts in this E3—I mean Cube Club—wait…yeah—edition. Right now it just plays like any other Zelda, and until I experience the full game I can’t make any definitive statements on the matter.

What little music that is played during these short demos is highly enjoyable. Some songs are atmospheric while others are more playful, but all of them are great. Lately Mr. Kondo has let others contribute to the compositions in franchises he has historically done himself, but that hasn’t hurt Nintendo yet. I’ve enjoyed the songs I’ve heard so far, be the composer Kondo, Takada, Totake, or whomever Nintendo has working on the project. The sound effects are standard fare for the 3D Zelda series, which is good I guess. I still can’t decide on Link’s voice, though.

The game is good. How good is yet to be seen, but I’m positive I won’t feel cheated when I buy the game in February. And unless you’re one of the people who despised Majora’s Mask or are totally hung up with the “non-realistic" visual style, I don’t think you have anything to worry about either.