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This week I thought I’d tell you all what I got for christmas.  Yes I am a bit old for santa to come a knocking but I do occasionally have someone I have not alienated completely stop by with a gift.  Trust my I tried, but you can’t chase away everyone…  Someone always gets in!

Anyhow, my gift this year was the Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess game for the wii.  Yes there was a bit of hint dropping there as thats a pretty specific request.  I bought my wii just a few months after the console release.  I’m not one who would wait in line through the coldest nights or the dork who calls every store in town every day trying to get one.  Instead one of those “dorks” managed to get his hands on a couple of them, and was hoping to turn around and resell them for tons of green.  I’m also not one to pay tons of green if it can be had for less.  So I waited patiently until this fellow discovered that supply was closer to demand than he thought and when he was strapped for cash having spent all his dough on wii’s I bought one from him at the price I would have payed at the store.  (patience is a virtue)

After I got my wii, the whole family played wii sports for a couple of days then it set unused for months.  Finally I broke down and bought Mario Galaxy.  Every mario game I’ve ever bought has always been worth the money.  They’ve all had enough replay value that I don’t feel bad having spent the cash, so when mario galaxy was released I didn’t feel bad about buying sight unseen.  I’d say its exactly what I expected.  I didn’t get way more than my money’s worth, but I also didn’t get ripped off. An all around OK game with plenty of replay value.  I burned through a couple packs of AA batteries with that one and then bought a rechargeable batteries.  After that the wii set unused for a few more months. 

Next came Boom Blox.  This game had incredible reviews and looked really fun on tv.  I should have known better than to trust that the reviews of a steven spielberg game were unbiased.  Quite frankly had I rented it I never would have purchased it.  In fact the entire game can be played through in one night, it has NO REPLAY VALUE, and though it was touted as a party game, nobody wants to play it.  Everyone who I convinced to play it got sick of it within a half hour. (not much of a party)  I had the same experience with lego starwars.  It was just plain stupid…  (here comes the hate mail)  I don’t think I’ll ever buy a steven spielberg game again regardless of what kind of reviews it gets.  They’re all terrible!

So the wii has been mostly unused up until christmas and then I dropped a few hints and finally got the zelda game.  I’ve been eye’ing it since I got the wii but I never put down the $50 because If I’m going to spend that kind of cash I like to get games the whole family will play.  Zelda is a game that only I will ever play, at least in my family.  I watched and watched to see if it would eventually go to a bargain bin price 19.99 or so, but a full two years later the game is still at the premium game price.  Honestly its worth the fifty bucks, but I just didn’t want to spend that much.  I tried to get it when my store started liquidation, but apparently I ain’t the only one who didn’t want to pay fifty bucks for zelda.  The only copy we had sold the very first day we started liquidation.  In fact ALL of the wii games sold before the price ever dropped below 10% off.  Its funny to see HOT titles like rock band and guitar hero sitting on the shelves after xmas for the ps3 and xbox, but even the most low budget crap titles for the wii sold out almost immediately.

Well anyways, for anyone else out there who’s been eye’ing zelda for a couple of years now I say give it up and pay the fifty bucks already.  I’ve been playing the game every day for more than a week including all day long on my days off, and there’s still no end in sight.  You will definately get your moneys worth.  Very few games can churn out a solid 50+ hours of original gameplay without becoming outright boring.  The legend of Zelda Twilight princess is one of them.  I’m still deciding if I like it better than the old Zelda ocarina of time though.  So far the bosses haven’t been as hard as they were on the old N64 game, and the puzzles not quite as difficult.  I’d say they’re close. 

If you haven’t played ocarina of time, and you’re debating on spending the $50 for twilight princess, spend the five bucks to download it from the wii online services.  Its worth the $50 so get it for five and when you’re done you’ll know just how good twilight princess is.  Then maybe you can justify forking over a full days pay for this great game.