Mambo's song teleports you to Mambo's pond, yes, but it also brings you to the entrance of the dungeon you're currently in. Quite useful, I've found.
Mr Khan's plight is interesting in light of the current backslash against "handholding." It is clear that the older titles are quite unforgiving if you do miss out on something. I personally never had any problems with this... but I am used to the older school of 2D Zelda design.
Of course, I don't mind the the way Twilight Princess handles the player - it is quite subtle, actually - though the game is ultimately very linear. Would it even be a good thing to find a balance? It depends on what you want from the game, I suppose, though I personally wouldn't mind a return to the Ocarina of Time model. Skyward Sword probably won't be the game to do that, though.







