Have you played a Zelda game that made you feel like Brendan Fraser?
Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a legitimate question if you stop to think about it. Well okay, maybe not, but for whatever reason, it was the first thing I thought of when I entered Arbiter’s Grounds in Twilight Princess. It really is a fantastic temple straight out of an adventure movie.
Arbiter’s Ground made me feel like an epic explorer, like Indiana Jones or Rick O’Connell from The Mummy. Entering a temple filled with ghosts, quicksand, and creatures that prowl at night really felt dangerous and mysterious, and it made the experience all the more thrilling. At one point, I had to pull a lever to make sure a giant chandelier-like thing didn’t crush me as I tried to race to the other side. And just when I thought I had it figured it out, I had to repeat the process a second time, but this time I needed it to land perfectly on top of me so I could climb onto it and progress further. When I finally did it, a smile as wide as the Gerudo Desert stretched across my face.
The Poe hunt was also a great time. Having Link chase them down while switching back and forth between human and wolf form was surprisingly fun. Normally I’m not one who likes switching characters frequently, but trying to hunt them down was such a thrill that I didn’t really mind. And this may sound disturbing, but ripping their small soul balls out from their chests and hearing them scream as they vanished was so dark and creepy, I absolutely loved it.
Once I got the Spinner, things got even more interesting. At first, I wasn’t much of a fan, especially when it slid along the walls. I never thought I’d experience motion sickness watching Link spin around the temple, but that proved quite the dilemma as I moved from room to room. Then I got to the boss battle, and wow, was that fun! That fight alone is what made the Spinner worthwhile. Bouncing around like a pinball in order to attack his spine, then jumping back and forth between walls to smack into his floating skull-like head — it was such an amazing experience.
There is so much about this dungeon that I have not even brought up — the ReDead knights, the Twilight rats, the bugs that crawl on you unless you light your lantern — that if I were to write about it all, I would not be able to finish. My time in this wonderful dungeon was such a thrill ride, exactly the kind of experience that every Zelda game needs.
Though it could have used a little more Brendan Fraser.
