Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Nintendo Wii

The Legend of Zelda series celebrated its 25th anniversary with free games and celebrations. The crown jewel was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, a great entry in the series that pays homage while offering the future of this legendary series.

Skyward Sword starts off as most Zelda games do: Link’s peaceful life on the floating island of Skyloft is interrupted when the titular Zelda is blown below the clouds by a mysterious tornado. With the help of the Goddess Sword and the fairy, Fi, he must fly below the sky to find out what happened to her.

Of course, this starts off the usual hero’s journey, dungeon crawling and exploring. The story is usual, but with some nice additions.

Zelda is a lot more appealing and well-developed that in the past, though the ending undermines this a bit. The long time Zelda fan in me loves the references to things that are to happen in the timeline. This game is held as the first chronologically, and explains elements such as the forging of the Master Sword, the creation of Hyrule and why Zelda is so important, even before she’s a princess.

The game looks great, though as with most Wii games, it’s with the modifier “good for a Wii game”; we clearly aren’t looking at an HD game here. The game implements a pointillism look to make farther away locations look better. The art style exists somewhere between the cell shading of Wind Waker and the more realistic style of Twilight Princess.

While it definitely has the best graphics the series has seen, the style is not nearly as satisfying as the other two games I mentioned.

Nintendo continues to provide some of gaming’s greatest music. The overworld, bird riding theme, “The Sky,” is truly majestic, reminding me of the similarly brilliant music of Super Mario Galaxy. I could fly that bird for hours, grooving on the theme music.

“Fi’s Theme” has a haunting quality, and the truly epic “Ballad of the Goddess,” which amazingly is the classic Zelda song, “Zelda’s Lullaby” backwards. A disappointment are the in-game songs played on the harp alongside Fi; they sound terribly arranged and at odds with the rest of the game’s music.

While I can understand some people’s cynicism towards the often misused Wii controls, not wanting to play this game because of it is a huge mistake. Skyward Sword is easily the best use of motion controls out there.

Combat is incredibly dynamic and intuitive, swing the Wiimote in the direction where an enemy is not blocking. Simple. In fact, it might be too accurate: some people whom I demoed the game for were too used to minor movements, they didn’t immediately think to use the broader movements the game requires. Aiming controls are as easy as any point and click experience, making sniping enemies so easy and satisfying.

Throughout each of the signature Zelda dungeons, there would at least be one moment where I would say out loud, “Nintendo, that was an incredibly clever idea!” The dungeons are expertly designed and a real joy to play. New mechanics and items, like the wonderful Beetle, add some new life to the series. Bosses are the most difficult and most fun they’ve been in years. Based solely on the dungeons, Skyward Sword is worth playing.

The game suffers from holding your hand.

Long time fans know of the annoying Navi from Ocarina of Time, but I’d argue Fi might border on being just as bad. Every five minutes, she’ll pop up telling you something obvious, often letting you know something that was self-evident from a cutscene or flat our repeating something an NPC just said.

The various ground areas, while well-designed, are reused several times. I understand Nintendo’s design mentality of giving areas multiple visits, but it begins to feel like filler even to a patient guy like me.

Finally, while the ability to upgrade items is fun, the game misses the fun of acquiring these items through quests or challenges, though the game has plenty of mini-games.

Skyward Sword exists in the same framework that most Zelda games have. For some, this may be  a detraction, but the fans fell in love with this series for the elements Nintendo has repeated again and again. This game makes some changes, the enhanced combat and fantastic dungeons should provide some incentive for those on the fence. Skyward Sword is definitely a must play in the series.