The Legend of Zelda is a classical franchise, 25 years old. I mean, how many media franchises can say that? Now, at the end of 2011, we got Skyward Sword for the Wii, perhaps its swang-song. How does it fare, not only compared to the franchise but to other games in the media? Read on.
Story
Well, Zelda games dont usually have the most amazing stories you can see, but the debate about the timeline is eternal. Thankfully that has been cleared up! Skyward Sword is the first game in chronological order of the Zelda series. Many gamers experienced Ocarina of Time as their first Zelda game, or perhaps A Link to the Past, and this game is basically telling us how many of those things started happening. How was the Master Sword created? Check. The Legend of Zelda? Check. How the hero came to be? Check. Its all in here. In the sense of the Zelda franchise, the story is fantastic. Everything is just magical and nostalgic. The truth is, that to not-fans of the series or people who will be playing Zelda for the first time (if they exist) the story isnt at all that great. Yes, the first moments are just perfect. Afterward it devolves into the standard Zelda fare of do this, that, this, and some cool cutscene where you are told you this this, that, and this again. Thats ok though, most of us just play the series to enjoy the gameplay and see how the story drives awesome things to happen and you know what? It does that. Perfectly. Its a driver to the gameplay like it should be and best of all it works.
Character development is a mixed bag. Zelda is a fantastic character that mostly goes underused which is a true shame. Link is
well
Link. At least he has some emotions this time around. Groose is probably the best new character and is fantastic. Take note Nintendo, we need more of these. Grirahim as a villain does work. Hes annoyed by you at every turn, you can feel his rage and is just outright weird. The revelations at the end make his character even better. Fi, well
Fi
. Fi is a strange case. ASide from annoying you with constant obvious tips, the character per-se is not well developed and comes out awkward. This, I believe, is the idea for her character but something was lost in translation. She had potential but its never shown until the very end of the game. A Midna she is not.
Gameplay
What can I say? Its Zelda! An Action Adventure game that truly hasnt changed much in the last years. Though Skyward Sword tries to hide it well its basically the same mold from OoT. Get somewhere, get to the dungeon, get item, beat boss, get story item. Theres no actual overworld this time except for the Sky itself (and thats weak) and the overworld is mostly limited to a few areas in the ground which are small dungeons themselves. They usually are good, especially Lanayru, but the game insists in repeating every area for the whole freaking 40+ hour plus game. Yes, there will be differences, but for such a long development time its weak. Faron Woods is definitely the weakest area of the game. It also insists in sending you to fetch things constantly and even revisiting a beat dungeon. Its weak but the game still holds its magic.
After you get through the initial slow as molasses intro, you will delve into a game often immitated but never beaten. Yes, its extremely similar to past games, but thats not bad at all in this game. Motion Controls work excellent. The game tracks your movement well and is built around it. All items work as intended and the sword fighting can get really good thanks to the M+ peripheral. You dont waggle like a mad man, here you gotta think. The only broken motion is the stabbing once which has problems many times and the shield bash fails to come out a bit too many times.
The game as an adenture game is strong. Side Questing is weak this time, but getting all the chest, the multiple areas you visit (and Lanayru.. oh Lanayru) and the dungeons are great. The initial dungeons are a bit on the weak side but afterwards the game hits its stride with some of the best in the whole series. Doesnt hurt the bosses are up there with some of the best (wait until you get to the 4th boss) in the series and the difficulty has been ramped up a bit.
Presentation
The style used for Skyward Sword is suited perfectly to the Wiis overall lack of power. Excellent enviroments, generally solid textures, some truly amazing animations and a solid frame-rate that I only saw drop at the very end of the game in one really, really demanding area. The game is between The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess in terms of style and its not a bad thing. The world really comes alive and I had absolutely no problems with them running in a 42″ LCD set at 480p. The music is fantastic. Finally we get orchestrated music and songs like Ballad of the Goddess, Fis Theme and the final ending boss them are top notch stuff. Generally the grandeur of the orchestra is not heard, and the MIDI music does its work fine, but I must say
unlike previous iterations I didnt find truly memorable scores. Nothing like Gerudo Valley or Roost Island here. It works well, and the Wiis limitation to Pro Logic 2 doesnt seem to have big of an effect. As for voice acting
I sometimes desired for it but I can also live without it.
Conclusion
Zelda Skyward Sword is a top notch game and possibly the last true great game for the Wii. Its a solid experience with some issues. The game is lenghty and it just works. Repeated environments and the fetch quests affect the game, but at the end its truly a game that MUST be played. 8/10
