THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD
An epic adventure that wasnt
I was eager to try the new mainline Zelda title, as many of you are. Im a huge fan of the series, have been since the very first title released on the Nintendo NES. Recently I was surprised to find a UPS package waiting for me at the door. I had completely forgotten a review copy of Zelda: Skyward Sword was headed my way. The timing was perfect : Id introduce this new website with a review of what is considered to be an AAA videogame title. So Ive dedicated the past few days delving into this new quest imagined by Eiji Aonuma.
One of the first things you will notice is that the game doesnt feel right. I struggled with the Wii controls more than you could imagine. It becomes appalling especially when you control one of the fat dodos; just wait until you move the controller up and down like a fool trying to follow your friends mounted on dumb birds. From a design point of view you could argue its original but it really isnt. To me it was clear Nintendo watched Harry Potter recently and decided Quidditch would be great in Skyward Sword, except without the thrill of hunting or competiting.
As all the 3D titles, this new Zelda fails to deliver a real challenge. Right off the bat you start the game with six hearts thats twice what you had in Ocarina of Time! And you thought the new generation of gaming wasnt made of pussies and whiners. Well guess what Skyward Sword is actually THE EASIEST title in the whole series! Contrary to popular belief I was able to waggle my way through most fights, and the A.I. is seriously bad. Monsters are predictable, bosses are a walk in the park and dont even get me started on the dungeons. You have fond memories of the Water Temple? Well cherish them because you are never going to get another dungeon with an equal level of complexity. Everything is barebones, big rooms with few puzzles and obvious paths. Its like the level designers didnt feel like being involved in this project.
I was also pretty disappointed by the story. I like to describe it as a poor attempt at romance. But how can you infuse love, friendship and courage into a lifeless marionnette? Link is far from an interesting character in Skyward Sword. This voiceless puppet just cares about his own good; the game fails at creating a bond between you and the princess Zelda. It killed a lot of the interest I had with this game, as the trailers implied pretty much the contrary. In the end its just like before; unoriginal plot unfolds and you must slay monsters in dungeons. Nintendo knew the game would be disappointing so the developers added stuff like upgradable weapons and shields to give a sense of accomplishment to the player. When you realize the best items in the game can be obtained quite easily with minimal farming of various materials, you start losing all hope for future Zelda titles.
Zelda: Skyward Sword suffers from being on a console that cant do HD. Its colorful design is only there to have to forget how bad it looks under its skin. Low polygon counts, ackward animations, the list goes on. Im not too much of a graphics whore but come on, you cant have a mainline Zelda looking that bad. I guess we will have to wait for the Wii U version just like we had to wait for the Wii version of Twilight Princess to get a decent game. Im not done yet. I feel like theres so much to talk about, but one thing I absolutely need to cover are the new items. Before you had elemental arrows, lens of truth, pictograph box and other great stuff. Now you are stuck with a flying beetle or a vacuum to name the worst offenders. Is this bizarro world or Zelda? I guess Aonuma is getting too old for this and even Miyamoto couldnt save this game.
In a nutshell what you get with Skyward Sword is a huge disappointment. I was very happy to get a review copy but after three hours I had lost all hope already. Just wait for the very stupid plot twist too, if you thought Aeris dying in Final Fantasy VII was impactful the same cant be said about Zelda. Though she doesnt really die in the same way you can imagine, it just looked awfully cheesy and copy-pasted from other more successful games. Also when you realize the world beneath the Skyloft is just Hyrule from OOT (in the past of course) you start wondering if any creativity is left at Nintendo. To me where the shit hits the fans happens halfway through the game; your stupid, robot-like sidekick a la Navi actually transforms into a real character and she sacrifices herself in order to stop Ganondorf. Yes, hes back, hes young and he is the last boss, AGAIN. If you are a Zelda fan, you will rent this game. Otherwise, just move along and let you Wii collect dust.
6/10