First Impression: A Link Between Worlds

I finally got myself a 3ds XL a few days ago, and the first two games I bought were Animal Crossing: New Leaf and A Link Between Worlds. I've had about two days to play both of these, and I thought I'd give you all my first impression of the newest addition to the Legend of Zelda.

Oh wow. I am disappointed. Well, not exactly disappointed, more like frustrated. I don't know if I've lost my gaming touch or something, but this game is so, so frustrating. I've been playing for two days and I think I've already died at least fifteen times. I've beaten three dungeons, and I just died three times trying to beat the boss of the fourth. I don't know what it is, but I am sucking majorly at this game.

I can attribute a lot of deaths to the fact that the game does not seem to want to give me hearts. I've literally run around whole dungeon floors on one half of a heart, desperately smashing pots and skulls in attempts to find more hearts. And all I get are rupees. So while I continue on through the dungeon I'm now also trying to avoid certain death as I fight enemies until I eventually slip up, die, and am transported back to the beginning of the dungeon (or my house). Killing even the most basic ChuChus is a struggle sometimes. Maybe it's because the last Zelda game that I owned and played all the way through was Spirit Tracks (which I adore, ST is a seriously underrated LoZ game), and I'm still too used to the stylus controls.

I'm also not sure how to feel about the open world layout. While it is interesting and fun to be able to roam wherever you want and complete the dungeons in whatever order you want, I find that this layout causes the game to lack some of the exploring factor of old Zelda games. I loved slowly discovering new areas for the first time, and piece by piece completing the map of Hyrule. In ALBW, I ran through the whole map in a day, no more mysteries waiting beyond what's in the dungeons.

I like the gimmick of this game, the fact that Link can turn into a painting, however I will say that some of the puzzles in this game are not very intuitive. Or maybe again, I'm just dumb...

The graphics and overall look of the game are fine. I've never been a graphics snob, so how a game looks generally doesn't affect my overall opinion of it. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the top-down perspective, but it works for Pokemon, so I won't complain.

The story is alright. Ravio is a fun addition to the Zelda cast of quirky salesman characters, and Yuga is an interesting villain, but the way the game is laid out, the story is progressing so slowly. Do I really have to beat all eight dungeons before any progression happens? That's ridiculous. I want story, I want substance! This game is supposedly a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, which I never played, so maybe that's why the story and world isn't drawing me in like I feel like it should.

It's only been two days and honestly, I feel bored with this game. I feel really bad saying that since Zelda is one of my favorite game franchises, but this game just isn't doing it for me. I blasted through Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks in a matter of days, and I loved Twilight Princess. There's nothing in A Link Between Worlds that is really gripping me and making me want to continue playing. If anything, my high death rate is preventing me from wanting to play more. I want to love this game. I'll probably stick it out and play the game through to see if anything gets better but honestly, right now I'm regretting the fact that I bought it.