The Legend of Zelda series is one of the greatest video game franchises of all time, and arguably, it's *thee* greatest. With each release, Nintendo has showed us the magic of journeying through Hyrule's beautiful kingdom. Now, they have done it again, greatly injecting innovation into the tried-and-true formula of past titles. This is a Zelda game unlike any other, and feels all at once both an incredible nostalgic celebration of 25 years of history, and a wholly new adventure full of wild, awesome new directions. Get ready for a fairly long review, but please know that this is written from the heart of a young man who loves the series above most others in his favorite pastime.
The story and characters present in Skyward Sword are very different among the other Zelda titles, despite the obvious recurring ones. I don't just mean the amazing setting of Link's home, Skyloft, a fantastical city floating above the clouds where everone is bonded to their own guardian birdlike creature, a loftwing. No, from the start, Nintendo truly changes almost everything of what you'd come to expect from a Zelda game. This is the earliest tale in the series chronologically, acting as a prequel, making way for Ocarina of Time's tale to come. Zelda is not a princess here, just another common schoolgirl. She and Link have been best friends since childhood, and may even have feelings for each other (it's pretty obvious, and incredibly touching. My wife and I were both pretty moved by it). In Skyloft, the local school is essentially a knights academy, the uniform being a tunic that is easily recognizable to fans of the series. After completing a ceremony to become a senior in his class (the senior tunic is, you guessed it, dark green), Zelda and Link ride together through the sky to celebrate. Out of nowhere, a malevolent tornado knocks Zelda to "the surface," a vast, unexplored land below the cloud cover and once again, Link takes up the mantle of being a fated hero, destined to save the day. I'll stop here, because this is virtually spoiler free and if I say more it won't be. Just know that Nintendo has really changed up the formula of story and characters we've come to expect from the Zelda franchise, and as a result, Skyward Sword feels incredibly refreshing.
Another immediately noticeable change is in presentation. The story is much, much more cinematic than Zelda has ever been. Cinematic shot angles are much more dynamic than ever before, character expression is stunning, animation is smooth and realistic, and the writing is just fantastic. If anything, this feels like a very intimate entry in the Zelda series, not just epic or grand like past titles. It's a lovely direction for the Zelda series, if you ask me. The characters all come to life thanks to this presentation, of course, but the writing present certainly helps too. Each character has so much personality, and talking to each of them is a joy. Link is a somewhat distracted dreamer with his head in the clouds, loves to sleep, but has tons of courage and kindness, a true hero. Accompanying him in his journey is Fi, a new kind of companion to the series. Fi looks like a ceramic doll, her "speech" sounds like GLaDOS, and is purely logic driven. She is amazing. Zelda is a strong-willed, tough tomboy of sorts, and very lovable. Lord Ghirahim, the new villain, is *extremely* compelling and creepy (Ganandorf makes no direct appearance). All of these characters, as well as the plethora of side characters, are written and presented beautifully.
The art design and graphical implementation is awesome here. The game has married the art design of two past masterpiece Zelda title styles into one wholly unique direction. You have more realistic people and settings, like in the dark, mature Twilight Princess, but you also have the vibrant color and imagination of The Wind Waker, and it is a joy to behold. Nintendo EAD designed the game to look like a water color painting, and I must say, they did a fantastic job doing so. Draw distances are fairly short, and anything beyond is purposely blurred to look exactly like a water-color painting of the impressionist style, full of brushstrokes of beautiful color. I am deeply impressed here. The Wii is a painfully underpowered system in comparison to its two competitors, but it is genius art design like this that shows why the Wii has had some of the most beautiful titles of this generation (Metroid Prime 3, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Okami, now this game, the list goes on and on). To put it succinctly, Skyward Sword is one of the most beautiful games in recent memory, and that is totally thanks to the absolutely brilliant (and well implemented) art design.
Koji Kondo and Hajime Wakai; any fan of Nintendo will instantly recognize these names as two of the greatest musical composers of video gaming. They are almost unrivaled as composers, writing some of the most iconic music in the entire medium. Koji worked as musical supervisor in this title (as well as composed the main theme and some other songs). Hajime was in charge of music composition. This may be, and I *do not* say this lightly, some of their very best work yet. The music here ranges from the entire spectrum of musical emotion: epic, intimate, touching, sad, meditative, dark, joyous, achingly beautiful, uplifting, goofy/doofy (for a certain character), anything you can imagine. Each theme, whether for an event, a character, a place, whatever, is absolutely perfect for its place and can greatly change depending on the situation. It takes something special for music to not only define the experience for any gamer playing the game, but also convey the emotion and thought its supposed to, and the soundtrack here does so perfectly. Like most Zelda games, Link acquires a musical instrument that helps progress the story (Ocarina of time had... well... duh. Wind Waker had a baton), here it is a harp. You can play it at any time, and when you do, you can actually accompany the beautiful background music of wherever you happen to be on the harp. That's very, very cool. Great job Koji and Hajime! You're amazing.
The gameplay is what you're probably the most curious about. Does the Wii-Motion Plus work? Yes, it does very well, for the most part. You'll have to deal with calibration from time to time, sometimes actions won't register the way you hoped, but it's not too big a deal and doesn't happen nearly enough to mar the experience. The 1:1 swordplay works pretty flawlessly once you become acquainted with it. Link will seamlessly swing his sword however you do. Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, it all works quite well. Pretty much every enemy you will encounter will require a different strategy to defeat, and I have found that the swordplay grows more enthralling with each hour I play (Boss fights are outstanding). It took me quite a while to get used to it, but I must say that this is truly the game the Wii was made nearly six years ago for. It's about time. The quest items you'll find are also a blast to use. They give you some new ones right off the bat, and they're all awesome, feeling completely new yet appropriate for the franchise. Also, Link now has stamina that runs out as he climbs and dashes throughout the world (yes, Link can now sprint around if you'd like). Link's stamina actually adds a small layer of strategic depth to the game, and the concept comes into play in many scenarios throughout the game. This gameplay concept worried me at first, but it's actually really enjoyable, and implemented excellently.
So far, I have been through three temples in about 20 hours (I bought my copy at a midnight release "party" and have been playing ever since). Gone is the field-dungeon-field formula of past titles. Instead, here you have a hub world, the realm above the clouds, with Skyloft as your main town to visit. Here you can restock supplies, buy or upgrade your shield and other equipment using items you've scavenged in your questing rpg-style, and go on very personal side quests that feel very much like Majora's Mask did, making for a character-driven experience. A great change of formula, one I was *very* skeptical about beforehand.
You can ride your loftwing and drop to the surface world below at key rifts in the clouds. Here, you have more concentrated lands you can adventure through until you get to a dungeon/temple that will advance the story. The world below, and its temples, feel quite a lot like the Metroid series. The land is more condensed and concentrated, feeling like dungeon of sorts by themselves, but as you acquire newer items, more and more dimensions will open up in those places as you revisit them. It's a huge change-up to the Zelda formula, but one that feels surprisingly good. As I've said, I've played through three temples so far and I am amazed at the ingenuity of them. Yes, you'll be pushing blocks and shooting targets to open doors, but you'll also encounter brilliant new puzzles. I mean, the puzzles are challenging and downright laugh-inducing in their ingenuity, and feel very satisfying when you figure them out. Combine this with the totally awesome new items, stellar swordplay, and ease of use and you get the feeling that every area feels like an innovation, in much the same way playing through Super Mario Galaxy 2 felt like standing before a firing squad of brilliant new ideas. I am downright astonished. I did not think it could be done, honestly, but this game really has reinvigorated the series through great change to the formula rather than refining it further like Twilight Princess did, and trust me when I say no one is more surprised than me.
This is a brilliant game, even among the other entries in what has been for 25 years a brilliant series. It takes Zelda in a plethora of new directions, while miraculously feeling *exactly* like a true-to-form Zelda game. Color me surprised. If you're a fan of Zelda, then you don't need me to tell you to go get this right now. This series has some of the most diehard fans of any gaming franchise out there, but just for emphasis' sake, I proudly, and loudly proclaim that this game is incredible! Buy it, soar through the realms above, and dive to the vast, mysterious lands below and fulfill your destiny to save the world once again!
* I know this review is quite long, but honestly, this game has so much that merits attention, the review could be much, much longer and still be appropriate. I will edit my review as I play through the game more if I feel there is something worth mentioning that I come across. However, I feel that this is a pretty good summary that hopefully gives you a good picture of the game. Seriously, go get it, like, right now. You won't regret it.
Final Update, 11/27/11:
Ok, after playing the game for roughly 50 hours I have finally beaten Skyward Sword. In short, this game is an absolute masterpiece. Each and every hour spent in this game was filled to the brim with brilliance and excellence, and not one single minute felt like boring filler that artificially extended the game. This feels like the Super Mario Galaxy 2 of Zelda titles, where there seems to be an exciting new gameplay/puzzle element at every turn. The story is incredible, with a lot of twists that genuinely thrilled and surprised me. This game essentially acts as an origin story for the entire Zelda series. Pretty much every element that you're familiar with from Zelda games see their true origin here, and it is spectacular (I won't give any spoilers though, you'll be blown away when you experience it for yourself). I have to say that I have not been this entranced and enthralled by a Zelda game since Ocarina of Time or The Wind Waker, and I am a HUGE fan of pretty much every entry in the entire Zelda series, so I don't say that lightly. The music is among the series' very best, which by itself is a massive accomplishment. The visuals the art design are incredibly beautiful, some of the most gorgeous and brilliantly inspired of the past decade, despite the underpowered system it is on. Because of all of this, I was compelled to play this constantly until beating it, AND there's a new game plus mode that adds substantially to the game as well! For fans of the series, this game is an immediate must-own. I give it the highest recommendation possible. I absolutely love this game, and I'm fairly certain most of you out there will too.
*That's my final statement. This is meant to finalize the points I made from my original review, which I think will be as detailed and informative as anyone would want or need. Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Good day. :)
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This game is a prequel to all of the other Zelda games in which we find Link is a trainee knight of Skyloft, a town floating high above the clouds where Zelda is not yet a Princess. This is a unique and original adventure that intentionally tries to break apart from the franchise trend.
The sword is Motion-Plus genius in that what you do in real life is exactly mirrored on screen - in combat there is a perfect 1:1 balance I have not seen in any other wii game. You can wave your sword around while waiting for an opening to strike or just flail it around with perfect precision. Nearly every enemy requires a specific sword technique to defeat it although there aren't a ton of enemies in this game, each one offers a unique challenge.
Each item is quickly enabled with the remote so there is not much pausing to go through menu pages. Aiming with the slingshot or bow is much easier since you are using the wii motion-plus. Occasionally the controls will be slightly off, but a quick downward tap of the d-pad resets the pointer.
While there are only 3 unique worlds, you find yourself going back to these worlds repeatedly throughout the game as you gain new tools to unlock different areas. You are also able to freely go back to Skyloft to buy items, assist townspeople and do many other quests.
The dungeons are unique and flow naturally. In previous games, dungeons were basically designed for one item, but not this time -you must use many items in every quest, which makes for a nice challenge and improves upon the level design.
Music is always central in a Zelda game, and Skyward Sword doesn't disappoint -where Skyward Sword finally uses orchestral music for the first time. On a side note, the CD that comes with the game has songs covering the entire history of the series and is of high quality and production, but in all reality I likely won't play it more than once. Skyward Sword has been rendered using an art style that places it somewhere in between The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess and while that sounds weird, it is an improvement on the previous titles.
I have played for many hours already and knowing this is a 40+ hour game is all the more satisfying knowing that I got my money's worth. (I actually received the game Saturday 11/19 after pre-ordering from Wal-mart and have been playing non-stop).
Yes, there are minor quibbles to be had with motion control inconsistencies, small variety of enemies, and occasional camera issues, but this is a masterpiece of modern gaming. This IS the game the WII was made for! Must buy. (9.8 / 10)
**** UPDATE 11/23/11 *****
I have just hit the 35 hour mark and have yet to actually beat the main adventure. This has been one of the most exciting games I have played in years!
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I would like to begin my review by stating that I'm a gamer. I play PC games, console exclusive games, and portable games. I treat all platforms equally and only judge the content. In addition, I'm fortunate enough to have been alive and well pre, during, and post the golden age of gaming.
Visuals:
The new visual direction is amazing and it works. It's art! Everyone has their own option and some will disagree and that's OK. But it works for me and I was impressed. It's a blend between cel shading and the more realistic approach art direction of Twilight Princess with a touch of water paint.
Sound:
I really enjoyed the music scores and sound effects. Again, it's my opinion and some will really like it and some won't. Everyone has different tastes.
Gameplay:
Simply put, one of the greatest aspects of the game. The controls work and are implemented very well. This particular game can't be played with a regular controller because there are gameplay elements that make that impossible. Motion controls adds another level of satisfaction that a person can't get any other way.
This particular game has changed the "Zelda formula". If you've played other iterations of the game, you'll notice the difference early on. There is now a central hub from where you will branch off to complete various tasks including side quests. In addition, the dungeon designs are genius.
There is a crafting system in place that works very well. Though it's basic in comparison to other games, it works very well and adds another level of greatness to the game.
Presentation:
I would love to see a Zelda game with the full glory of voice acting (some will disagree with me) but this game sticks to the traditional text bubbles. And you know what? It still works. Especially because of one particular reason, elaborate facial expressions. It's done extremely well and it fits.
The game interface works well but can get very clunky. Thankfully, there is an option to make most of it invisible.
In conclusion, this new Zelda game simultaneously feels new and familiar. In my humble opinion, it's better than Ocarina of Time which makes it the greatest game ever created.
If you own a Wii, this game is a "must have". If you don't, this game should be the reason to purchase one.
Honest reviews on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword with Music CD
**Disclaimer: For some Zelda fans patrolling Amazon reviews in order to defend the franchise's name from negative experiences from other players, this review may be another outlet for your negative feedback**
I have played all the major console releases of Zelda, starting with Ocarina of Time. Words cannot fully encapsulate the range of emotion or the imaginative zeal that resulted from playing through Ocarina, and it definitely started a love for the Legend of Zelda games to follow. From Majora's Mask to Wind Waker to Twilight Princess, we finally arrive to Skyward Sword, the 25th Anniversary of the franchise. How does it stack up to its predecessors? Personally, I feel there are strengths and weaknesses in what I think makes a Legend of Zelda game, and these feelings are based directly on my past history and experiences with the previous titles.
Pros:
Controls. Personally, I don't think that WiiMotion+ has ever been better. Smaller titles like WiiSports Resort showcased the ability of Motion+ on a smaller scale-The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has Wii Motion+ fully grafted into the controls of the game to rather accurately manipulate items (primarily, Link's sword) on your quest. As opposed to Twilight Princess' Wii Remote integration into the game, Skyward Sword makes the user feel dramatically more in control.
Story. Every Legend of Zelda game seems to bring something new to the world in terms of background for the hero, the princess, and the evil which pits itself against them: Ocarina revolved around age; Majora's Mask revolved around time; Wind Waker revolved around water; Twilight Princess revolved around realm; and Skyward Sword appropriately revolves around a land in the sky. The makers of Zelda did not disappoint when it came to an innovative and novel story-while Legend of Zelda elements exist, the backdrop surrounding them are fresh enough to revitalize approaches to solving puzzles and to interact with the world on a general level.
Characters. Besides the key characters associated with every Zelda story, Skyward Sword provides certain individuals who are dynamic and progress as the story develops. Even more appreciating than their ability to change, these characters are a large part dependent on your interaction with them in order for their own growth, making you feel like a real agent of change with the sidequests you undergo for them. This feeling of "belonging" with the NPCs of the game models the experience of the characters in Wind Waker, and a departure from the lesser relationships in Twilight Princess. A part of this feeling stems from limited options of responding positively or negatively (and not just "yes" or "no") in certain dialogued conversations.
Land. As with story, the land is creative and new. The regions that you explore resemble the traditional types of areas found in all Zelda games, and yet the names and faces of what you think you ought to meet are different enough to further instigate the feeling of newness and discovery. Also as with other Zelda games, the different regions of Skyward Sword are not fully accessible at the beginning without later equipment, depending on your own search for rare items apart from the storyline-it's a sense of adventure.
Equipment. The past three major console installments of The Legend of Zelda incorporated innovative weapons and items (alongside traditional ones) into their gameplay, and skyward sword is no exception. These added weapons are well utilized throughout the game, whether it be for dungeon bosses and puzzles, traveling to new areas, or fighting the various grunt monsters. Furthermore, the addition of the WiiMotion+ promotes both integration and ease for these novel items, and that includes the elimination of the item-select pause screen in order to select your item in real-time, on the fly. That addition alone is a major benefit and separates this Zelda title from its previous siblings.
Replay Value. You can repeat the game after you have beaten it in Hero's Mode with enemies that deal twice amount of damage and do not drop hearts (additionally, the grass found in dungeons also do not drop hearts), challenging your skill and use of potions to survive. Your progress resets, allowing you to re-experience the game from the beginning (however, treasures you found in the previous saved game file do transfer).
And now my complaints. Although there are no plot spoilers, other elements of the game may be necessarily discussed.
Cons:
Controls. Having been the product of the previous game's button-mashing and combo-utilizing of traditional controllers, I was and still am a cautious gamer with the Wii's interactive controls. Like I stated on the positive side, WiiMotion+ has never been better; it's true: I swing horizontally and so does my sword, I swing vertically and so does my sword, and so on. HOWEVER, a problem arises considering the pace of the game and this control scheme. For solving puzzles where time is no issue or wandering through the various environments, the small flaws of Motion+ are really no issue. Yet, when you are in a more intense situation fighting an enemy and are supposed to swing a certain way, I find that it is really hard to be consciously aware of how your nunchuck is placed, or even if your directional swing with the Wii remote is correctly balanced; too often has my thrusting motion with the remote been misinterpreted as a circular swing because my nunchuck wasn't positioned in a certain way-it is in these fast-paced fighting situations like these where skirmishes are unnecessarily prolonged because you are not hitting the enemy the proper way/direction. Slowly attacking your target while trying to make sure the controls are in the right places takes away a considerable amount of the feeling of a real battle situation.
Story. Perhaps I had higher expectations since this is indeed the 25th anniversary of the franchise, but I only found the storyline decent at best. Similar to Twilight Princess, the buildup surrounding the antagonist was just not as personal or emotionally-stirring as it was with Ocarina of Time (for reasons you will understand when you play the game). The result of such (which I would argue as a critical component) only gives the sense of getting the job done or completing a task rather than abolishing an evil you can really relate to. Although it has been stated that this game precedes Ocarina of Time, I don't find that fact enough excuse to neglect the relationship between the small hope of good versus the imminent dominance of evil.
Characters. My problem with the relationship between good and evil has already been stated above. [Non-plot spoiler] Being the traditional Zelda gamer and fan, I took real issue to the eradication of the Goron and Zora species. True, there are about three Gorons in the game, but as a species, both the Gorons and Zoras were strangely absent (unless you want to count the Floria Lake fish as Zoras). This can again be explained by the fact that this game precedes Ocarina of Time, or is in a different land area, however this game goes against its constituents (you could also put Wind Waker in the same camp, as interaction between Gorons and Zoras were also severely limited) by not having either staple species play a prominent role in the game. I have no problem with the species they introduced in this game, and I know this will be a small quibbling point to some-but Gorons and Zoras have been a recurring part of the Legend as Link himself. The dungeon bosses also need to be mentioned. I have never been less intimidated by the bosses of the Legend of Zelda than I have in this game. They just do not look the part of hideousness or scare that has been reproduced with every Zelda game. I found myself fighting a large purple Tellytubby with Jamaican dreads for one of the bosses-the bosses failed to do their part to add to blood-rush or intensity and looked like a misguided band of creatures on Sesame Street.
Land. Contrary to games like Twilight Princess or Wind Waker, the land of Skyward Sword felt restricted. That's not to neglect all the extended areas made possible by certain parts of the game/equipment; however, as was made known before its release, the non-dungeon areas of skyward sword were largely created to blur the field-dungeon distinction and make even the field-areas more like dungeons. As a result of this, the large-world feel of adventure that one received through Twilight Princess is limited to more puzzle-based interaction with Skyward Sword. This dried the wonder aspect given through "adventure-awe" and hyped up more critical thinking in these areas of exploration.
Equipment. The only real weakness to the equipment in this game pertains to shields. Unlike the other major console games, shields are breakable (and I'm not talking about a burnable deku shield). After so many hits the shield begins to break, indicated by a status bar on the screen. This poses quite the problem considering that shields can be upgraded through finding various treasures; if your shield breaks, that's it. You have to go and buy the initial shield you upgraded from and redo all of your upgrading. It can be a real hassle.
Replay Value. This is more of a personal point but for every Zelda game, I look for replay value similar to Wind Waker in which you keep certain items, have a modified look, and are able to accomplish additional content upon your first beat of the game; it adds to interaction and the feel of the game. I have not played through all of Hero's mode yet, but I do not think it will amount to the replay scope of Wind Waker.
Concluding Thoughts:
If you have read all the above wordage, then maybe you have deduced the underlying problem I had with this game: psychology. All other Zelda games I have played had intensity and scariness from bosses, a feeling of hopelessness against a larger evil, wonder and amazement at new-land discovery, as well as other meaningful emotional ties with NPCs. If Skyward Sword did these things, they were either severely under-played out or were just for the wrong reasons. It is because of the psychological distance this Zelda game has from the others that I would go so far as to say that it didn't really feel like a Legend of Zelda game-and certainly not one of 25th anniversary caliber.
Would I recommend you buy this game? Yes. For the experience. Because underneath all of these flaws, it is still a Legend of Zelda game and worth at least your initial investment. But do not expect this game to be all of what you have come to know the franchise to be, for the reasons already stated. While the creators focused on championing WiiMotion+ for the Zelda experience, they neglected needed attention on the key aspects that makes a Legend of Zelda game a Legend of Zelda game. If Nintendo continues along this same vein with Zelda in the years to come, perhaps we won't make it to another 25th anniversary down the road.
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So I recently finished Zelda: Skyward Sword. I originally got it for Christmas but didn't really pick it up until recently, what with the Mass Effect 3 face glitch (simply will not play until I can play as my Shepard!) All in all, it's a good game. It's even a good Zelda game. But still far from perfect.
Graphics I'm not going to get in depth with graphics because as we all know, the Wii uses last gen hardware, and so graphics aren't going to be all that great. They're pretty comparable to Twilight Princess despite the game being 5 years newer than its predecessor. That's all that needs to be said on that. It gets an 8 (average) because it's average in terms of what we expect from a Wii title.
8/10
Sound Sound is very good. I enjoyed most of the music the game had to offer. I didn't think the song playing between the water dragon's cave and the entrance to the second forest temple fit too well in a Zelda game, but hardly brings it down all that much. The song for the end credits was a good homage to the original entries in the Zelda series. For some reason Nintendo still has sounds it delegates to that monotone speaker in the Wiimote controller, though.
9/10
Controls And speaking of controls, this is where the game takes a big black eye. I was hoping that after Twilight Princess, Nintendo would've seen fit to focus less on motion controls. Instead, they made an even heavier emphasis on said motion control. The motion control scheme sounds good on paper swing your Wiimote to swing your sword, aim your Wiimote at the screen to aim your bow, etc. but it doesn't prove so good in execution. It proves to be cumbersome, unwieldy, imprecise and in some cases, maddening. At least in TP, you had a fairly small set of moves, each distinguishable from each other. In this game, just with the sword alone, you have horizontal strikes, vertical strikes and diagonal strikes, two of each, in fact, and many enemies where only one set will work, the others fail, and the controller is so hairline sensitive that it's far too easy to do a vertical slash when I needed a diagonal, or a horizontal slash turns into a ham fisted shaking of my sword, or a forward jab results in the enemy laughing at Link's inability to produce the same result. If I'm fighting a boss, I want to do that fight the boss. I don't want to be fighting both the boss and my controller because it thinks I want to do something completely ineffective. This is especially true when having to manage that awful whip weapon, especially seeing as how both it and the sword rely on the same controls, so using the one when you need the other is far too easy, especially when fighting the boss found in the dungeon where you get the whip. The boss himself isn't hard it's the fact that you have to fumble around with the controls almost as much as you do fight it. But the most damning of all is the tilt controls. The tilt functions (yes, plural) are found everywhere in the game. You need tilt to free fall, you need tilt to swim, you need tilt to control your free-flight Beetle, you need tilt when flying on your mount (and the tutorial for flying the mount is misleading tilting up on your Wiimote does not I repeat DOES NOT cause your mount to fly up. You need to "flap" the controller to do that, yet this is never mentioned in the tutorial,) so suffice it to say, you're going to be tilting a lot. There's a reason why Sony's Sixaxis was a colossal failure. It's a simple enough question why use tilt when you have the thumbstick a much easier, more reliable, more easily reproducable, more fine tuned control system than tilt could ever be? Somebody might respond that Nintendo wanted to take full advantage of the WiiMotion Plus. It's understandable if they want to showcase its capability, but not to the point where that's the one and only consideration at ANY AND ALL COST. That desire has to be tempered and balanced with a consideration towards how well the game will play if the controls are cumbersome, it's time to make some changes. I've yet to read an unbiased review for this game anywhere that didn't have at least one mention of the control scheme giving issues. Having no option to change the sensitivity hurt this score as well.
3.5/10
Gameplay and Presentation As controls directly affect gameplay, it is impossible to give a perfect score in this category. But despite that, the game is still fun. Nintendo promised that they were moving away from the Zelda games of old, and... to some extent they succeed. Many of the conventions we expect to see in Zelda games are still intact, but they did throw us a few new curve balls. The second trip to the desert was probably my favorite dungeon, despite having to find an invisible and actively moving target, and what sold me on it was what happened immediately before the actual boss fight begins, as it's not something that a Zelda game's done before. (At least, that I'm aware of.) A common enough convention in other games, sure, but I wasn't expecting what they did with that particular dungeon so I will give them kudos. A certain other boss you have to stop from reaching its destination was another good twist.
On a sidenote with the gameplay, I almost wish I could give Link the t-shirt that says "Let me just drop everything and work on YOUR PROBLEM", as the townsfolk, like always, are needing his help with everything. It's probably a good thing that we can't interject our own personality into the main character, because I'd probably tell them, "Okay, I'm in the middle of trying to find my childhood friend, someone dear to me, who's gone missing and whose life is in serious danger. I'm also trying to stop an evil entity from breaking out of its prison and destroying the entire planet. There's also a magic-wielding sociopath who wants find my childhood friend for his own nefarious schemes and kill me in the process. But SURE, I'll be glad to dust your house/find your (Fill in prized possession here)/go fetch something you could easily get yourself for you, since you don't want to do it! Not like I've got anything important going on, right?"
I do feel the need to bring this up as well the dialogue feels like it's straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon. A lot of us have been playing Zelda games since the first one when we were kids, and so I do not know why there's yet to be a Zelda game with dialogue that is on the level. This is especially evident with the first dialogue with Link, Zelda and her father. And I'm not saying there should be the kind of dialogue we have in Dragon Age, Skyrim or Game of Thrones, but is it so much to ask to have a script that isn't cheesier than the state of Wisconsin? Ghirahim is far too much of a clown to be taken seriously. If Nintendo was trying to make a nuanced, sinister, disturbing villain out of him, then they failed at it miserably.
I do like Fi, however.... well, okay, SOMETIMES I like Fi her emotionally neutral, overly analytical, almost computer-like speech is humorous, especially with how oblivious she remains to just how she sounds. Now if she'd just stop reminding me that my batteries or health are low.... or if she'd stop saying something that's either blatantly obvious, or give away the solution to the puzzle 30 seconds after I've encountered it.... she could at times be more annoying than Navi, and that's saying something.
Nintendo did get both the intro and ending right. Considering those are the two most important elements of the story (especially the later) I will give them credit where credit is due.
And I really hope Skyward Sword is the first and last Zelda game where our mount is a flying bird. This is Zelda, not StarFox.
Upgrading makes its debut, and it's a good addition. Get some supplies from the enemies, upgrade your shield or other item(s.) I do not know why the Slingshot is still a weapon in this series, however. It was obsolete the moment the Beetle was found (longer range and no ammo to collect) and twice obsolete when the bow is collected (why use a sling when you have a bow and arrow?) I didn't bother investing into it, as I had more important things to put my materials into than seed satchels. Arrow quivers, on the other hand, received the full upgrading experience. One related gripe regarding the process whenever a bug or upgrade treasure is found for the first time in each and every playthrough, the game deems it necessary to pause the game, just stop it dead, and repost the information we've seen thousands of times before before letting us continue. Even if you collect a given bug, go save your game, quit, enter back in five minutes later and collect another of that same bug type, the game will once again pause the game and give its full description of what that bug is. And it does that with each and every type of bug, and each and every type of upgrade treasure you find. I think I've got a good handle on what items do what when the last dungeon in the game is looming on the horizon.
And why, oh why are we limited to selling only 4 types of treasure or bugs at a time? Randomly selected, at that?
Also, why are we over a decade past the turn of the 21st century and there's STILL no voice acting in a Zelda game? Before any ultra-hardcore Zelda purists (read: Raving psychopaths) start breaking their keyboards pounding away their righteous fury at how voice acting would somehow break the "holy sanctity" of the game, or start talking about how that'd turn Zelda into another mass-marketed series that only wants to turn a buck, let me stop you right there. First of all, every video game, regardless of when it was made or the genre it was built for, is a mass-marketed game, intended for a business to make a profit. Second of all, again, note the year we're in. It's time for voice acting, already. Should it be good? Absolutely. But for the last time, start giving voices to the characters. Reading text is boring. Boring is bad. And considering the sheer amount of written dialogue... the sheer amount of BAD dialogue.......
One last thing on the subject I'm not sure why Nintendo would think we'd need tutorials if we're playing on Hard Mode, given that we have to go through the entire game once to access said mode. I wanted to say "I think I've got a good handle on this, thanks!" more times than I would care to admit.
And that stamina bar? That has to go.
8.0/10
Replayability There's a Hard Mode after the game's completed once, but like every other Zelda game, Skyward Sword is completely linear in fashion no branching story lines, no moral choices with long-term consequences that dynamically change the story, nothing like that. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, as it shows evidence that Nintendo has listened to its fans decrying the easy difficulty of its previous Zelda games.
5/10
All in all a good experience. I'm not going to say if it's better or worse than Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess, because nostalgia can cloud an otherwise objective point of view. So, it's a good game in and of itself. Hopefully when the next Nintendo console comes out, they'll have given something more responsive and dependable than the motion controls we have to put up with now. While control and general presentation issues do prevent the game from being perfect, or even as close to perfect as games are capable of becoming, it's a solid entry in the Zelda series and one of the best games the Wii has to offer.
Overall: 8/10 (NOT an average of the other scores.)
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Controls: 3.5/10
Gameplay/Presentation: 8.5/10
Replay Value: 5/10
Overall score: 8/10
