It's great for family gaming and the competitive edge offered makes it attractive to core gamers. If only Nintendo had bothered to include global ranked high-score leaderboards.
It's a short, but nevertheless fun demo that reunites Zelda fans with one of Nintendo's greatest icons while simultaneously providing a new way to see the lands and enemies that Link explores and fights respectively. The shooting mechanics are well done and the visual presentation looks like something right out of Twilight Princess – which, obviously, it is.
Link's Crossbow Training isn't going to change your life, but combined with the Wii Zapper, it's extremely good value. For less than $50, you could do much, much worse.
Pretty cool arcade fun, although it's pretty short lived, the Zapper controller works and feels like a crossbow, and as for the presentation, it's pretty much on par with the basic parts of Twilight Princess.
THE WII ZAPPER & LINK'S CROSSBOW TRAINING BUNDLE
Ah, "Link's Crossbow Training" and the Wii Zapper, Nintendo's first-party gun "shell" accessory. Ok, so this bundle has been available since this time in 2007, which means I've had it just as long. Why review it, you ask? Because I feel it's long overdue.
At first glance, this isn't a bad idea at all. $20 gets you the Zapper and the game "Link's Crossbow Training." If you're buying this, you already own a Wii, which means you have a Wii Remote and Nunchuck. You're all set. Just snap the Remote and Nunchuck into the Zapper, load up "Link's Crossbow Training," and get ready to get familiarized with the Wii Zapper.
This is about where the fun ends. For starters, anyone who has ever fired a gun would want the trigger at the rear end of the firearm, not the fore. So naturally you'll grab the Nunchuck-end in your firing hand, and if you do this then you're wrong. "Link's Crossbow Training" uses the B button as the trigger, which is up on the front of the Wii Zapper (because it's on the Remote, not Nunchuck), and does not allow you to customize the control scheme. Even still, "Link's Crossbow Training" isn't unplayable using the packed-in accessory, it's just more difficult than it needs to be.
I admit, I haven't played EVERY game that supports the peripheral, but I can only imagine the frustration. Many games, some are WiiWare, some are disc-based, have been made that support the Wii Zapper. Games like "Call of Duty," "Sin and Punishment," and so on. Recently, I tried to use the Wii Zapper with a FPS game that was not listed as supporting the Wii Zapper, "The Conduit." You are given the option to customize the controller layout, so I set it up in a fashion that I felt would make best use of the Zapper. Unfortunately, some actions cannot be mapped to motions, but I saved my setup and plunged into the **** quickly realized that there is a reason that "The Conduit" doesn't support the Zapper--it makes the game too damn hard!
So my overall review of "Link's Crossbow Training" is...I dunno, I haven't thought of a scale. 2 out of 5 coins? The game is worth a rental if you're a Zelda fan or a shooting gallery fan, and should be skipped if you're not.
This game is a bit of fun, but the controls aren't the greatest and it is way too short to ever amount to anything. It may have been a nice mini-game in Twilight Princess, but it just never amounts to anything truly worthwhile. Anyone looking at this title should just stick to Twilight Princess, but get that game on the Gamecube instead of the Wii - the controls are better.
SummaryLink returns from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to pick up the Wii Zapper and take aim at a host of targets in this shooting-gallery-style game. Anyone can pick up the Wii Zapper and become a master marksman in the quick-play shooting galleries of Link's Crossbow Training. Dozens of fast-paced stages offer a wide variety of game...