Spoiler Alert: This article contains a small amount of spoilers. Mostly focused on the story surrounding the first hour or two of gameplay. You have been warned!
It has been five years since a Zelda game has appeared on a video game console. Does Link’s new adventure live up to games of the series’ past?
You better believe it.
STORY
From the outset, Skyward Sword pulls you in. Link is a youth in an academy in Skyloft training to become a knight so that he can serve and protect the islands in the sky. Among the amazingly animated residents of Skyloft are Link’s teachers, classmates, his rival Groose, and Zelda. Of course, through a series of events, Zelda falls to the world below and it is up to Link to save her. But this game makes the mainstream Zelda story much more interesting.
Zelda is not a princess. In fact, she’s a lifelong friend of Link’s, and the two have a semi-love connection to each other, an element that other Zelda games have never really outright shown. This is a refreshing addition to the series because it makes the story more entertaining and gives Link more of a reason to go after Zelda rather than the sole reason being that he’s some “chosen one” or something of that nature.
Ganon is not in the game. Although he is clearly Link’s antagonist in all of his adventures (with a few exceptions), he has no appearance in this game. Instead, you fight Ghirahim, a demon lord who is trying to revive an ancient evil once sealed away.
This game also marks the beginning of the Zelda series. There has always been some sort of ambiguity as to which game came first, but this one clearly does. This makes Skyward Sword particularly meaningful to fans of the series because the game casually makes references to the other games. It also gives everything in the game an “origin of” vibe, which is fun.
In my opinion, the game has the best story any Zelda title has seen.
GRAPHICS
Beautiful. Everyone knows, the Wii is not capable of producing life-like HD graphics, but that didn’t stop Nintendo from making a beautiful game. They decided to build a world using artwork born out of a fusion of the graphical style Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, which works perfectly. This style works excellently to the franchise’s benefit because Wind Waker’s cartoon look makes the world timeless, no matter how old the game becomes. The same goes with Skyward Sword. There are bright colors, animated characters and cutscenes, and beautiful environments that make the game shine. It is a perfect fit for Zelda. The game runs at a very steady framerate. I never once experienced any lag or framerate drops. Never pop-in of the scenery or environments either.
SOUND/MUSIC
There is no voice acting. Although it could be seen as a welcome addition to the series, the lack of it doesn’t affect the game negatively. The characters still have the quick sound bursts/noises that they have made for the past four games, though. The music in the game is great, as well. Although there are not as many memorable tunes as some of the others in the series, the ones that do stick are epic and wonderful. The Ballad of the Goddess is still stuck in my head.
GAMEPLAY
Nintendo decided to take the game into a different direction of gameplay: the use of Wii MotionPlus to directly control how Link swings his sword. The Twilight Princess did use the Wii Remote’s ability to swing Link’s sword as well, but it was not direct one-to-one recognition. Instead, a simple swing in any direction let Link just take a random swing. While it was fun, it is not close to the experience that Skyward Sword creates with the addition of MotionPlus. It does take some getting used to in the beginning (especially if you played the Wii version of Twilight Princess), but eventually, fighting as Link with a controller/sword in hand is one of the greatest feelings and experiences I have had with a video game. The fighting is much more like a chess game. Rather than just madly swinging Link’s sword at his foes, you have to watch how they fight, hit them in a vulnerable place, and even time your blocks precisely.
Which leads to another new addition. Link’s shields have stamina/health, and can break. Each shield loses stamina on every block, with one exception. If you time Link’s block perfectly with the swing, the shield stays undamaged, and the enemy becomes staggered. This is just another element of strategy that ultimately makes the game harder, yet much more enjoyable and less monotonous.
There is also a shield and item upgrade system. There are tons of materials and bugs to collect, which can be utilized/used/provided to the games merchants to create better shields, items, or potions. This is a refreshing addition to the series because it gives a desire to search the world to find as many collectibles as possible to make Link’s arsenal more effective.
In the world below the clouds, there are three main regions. While that does not seem like much to explore, the game does a good job at opening up new areas in these regions that become available upon return. This does, however, lead to one complaint I had with the game. There are only six dungeons in the game. While all of the dungeons are large, innovative, and require a great deal of thought and patience (even the first one), it gets to a point where there is more to be desired. Dungeon gripes aside, it will take even the experienced sword-wielding adventurer around 40 hours to complete Skyward Sword. On top of that, after the first go-round, you unlock Hero Mode. While some consider it “hard” mode, there is more to it. Hero Mode not only makes the game more difficult, but also causes Link to take twice as much damage, and hearts no longer appear in the game world. The only way to recover that damage is through potions. Not for the feint of heart (see what I did there?)
Enemies, as I said before, actually become fun to fight, and you’re engaging in just mindless swordplay. Skyward Sword does a great job, too, at changing up the pace and making enemies harder as the game goes on. Just as I got comfortable fighting the normal goblin enemies, they started wielding electric swords, causing me to be more cautious when taking my swings. The boss fights are fun, too, although I found that a few of the later bosses were easier than some of the earlier ones.
Perhaps my biggest complaint with the game is the final boss fight. While the fight is epic and gorgeous, I found it surprisingly easy. Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask, and Ocarina of Time all had more difficult boss fights that gave much more satisfaction when Link delivers that final blow.
VERDICT
This was a tough one. I enjoyed the whole game and spent many times playing late at night and putting off sleep. Having played every other console Zelda game, I couldn’t keep myself from comparing them all. The MotionPlus really makes Skyward Sword stand out as the best gameplay among the others. Even with so many things going for Skyward Sword, the fact that some of the bosses toward the end of the game seemed to get easier, including the boss of the game, was disappointing. Also, It would have been nice to see more dungeons (10 in “A Link to the Past”). Is this the greatest Zelda game ever made? In my opinion, no (“A Link to the Past” is). But, it is easily somewhere in the top three, depending on what your take on Ocarina of Time is (and if you’ve played “A Link to the Past”). All things considered, I loved this game. Whether you’re a fan or new to the series, Skyward Sword is well worth the $50.
