Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

One might think from my recent posts that I’m less than satisfied with my experience with Nintendo’s Zelda launch title for the Wii, and just to make it absolutely clear, I want to say that the game is fantastic. It deserves every high score it’s getting despite its engine being effectively Gamecube shovelware. That last part being an issue would kind of require one having some kind of a problem with the Gamecube, and I’ve always had nothing but love for its capabilities, even now when hoping for so much more from Wii.

I’m just gonna gush about Zelda for a bit here, and try to keep spoilers out for you.

What may be my favorite part of Twilight Princess so far is a segment when you’re collecting “tears of light” to restore power to certain powerful entities in the game who have been kind of bitchslapped by the game’s apparent big antagonist. I haven’t beaten the game yet, so I can’t say if he really is the big bad guy, especially with some recent events having taken place.

Now that I’m back on track in the game, I find myself in an underwhelming dungeon and wishing I was back running around the countryside on all fours chasing semi-invisible electric spiders. And the game is full of these experiences, really. Sections… quests, really, that show up part-way through the game and then simply end, leaving you looking forward to doing it again… but they’ve cooked up something different and often just as (or in this case, nearly as) cool.

For example, now I’m collecting pieces of a broken mirror, and I’ve been doing so for so long that I barely recall why, but that’s OK, because I just picked up a new tool in the dungeon I’m in that completely threw me for a loop. That’s another great thing about this game, is the weapons, even the ones that are similar to ones in earlier games, are so inventively unique that you never know what to expect next. For the longest time it was like, OK, I’ve got the boomerang and the hookshot, so what’s next… probably the bow. But two of these three are significantly changed from before, and many of the other items are completely new. And just when you think you know one of them, it will completely surprise you by the way it interacts with other items you can combine it with. Crazy stuff.

So before you go thinking Twilight Princess is any less worthwhile for its various issues… well, just don’t. This game just bleeds quality from all points, and I’ve decided to stop whining about software delays. Just sayin’.