Overall Score: 4.5/5 Stars
This review will have minimal spoilers.
In November of 2011, Nintendo released the latest chapter of its hallowed Legend Of Zelda video game franchise for the Wii console: Skyward Sword. This title promised to provide an epic adventure, robust utilization of MotionPlus, further delving into the canon, and perhaps put some truth to the whispers of this being Link’s effort to properly mark the coming end of first-party support for the machine in light of the oncoming next generation of systems. Would it deliver on such promises or leave even long-time fans with disappointment?
Gameplay
Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an over-the-shoulder action adventure game in the style of previous three-dimensional selections from the franchise. Gameplay revolves around sword-fighting, gaining new items while also upgrading them, discovering new locations, and questing through dungeons to defeat bosses and advance the plot.
The plot itself is notable: Not only does it take place at an intriguing point in the timeline, in which Link is enrolled at the Knight Academy and begins the game not having yet earned his iconic green garb, but there are several winks and nods and homages to previous Zelda games throughout Skyward Sword. Even on its own merits, the storyline is strong, has deep significance on the series, and will be a special treat to fans of the mythology.
Many of Link’s old tricks are back, from enemy targeting, use of a companion, autojumps, and rolling into trees to collecting thousands of rupees, engaging in side quests, playing minigames, and other fond forays. Fanboys and fangirls will be satiated by the movement mechanics, the charming non-player characters in the hub village of Skyloft, the Clawshot, the first temple in the forest followed by the second in fire, and important references to the Triforce, Master Sword, and other familiar elements.
Skyward Sword does take efforts to differentiate itself, though. A stamina meter provides a real-time meter of how long Link can run or otherwise exert himself. When underwater, it serves as a measure of breath. Also, a major component of Link’s travel is, rather than transformation or horseback, flying; that is, riding on the back of his crimson Loftwing bird steed, providing one of the more potentially breath-taking aspects of the game. Another major addition is a mechanic involving collecting groups of different items in order to upgrade others in the inventory; while this does provide a hint of gamification and add a little more item-finding to the Zelda recipe, it is ultimately not executed as greatly or crucially as it could have been, which may be a mercy.
Full disclosure: This reviewer is a long-time big fan of the Zelda series. This, admittedly, is a double-edged sword: While certain in-jokes and vague mentions are appreciated due to canonical familiarity, other wrinkles are looked upon with a bit more disdain. One honest opinion on Skyward Sword’s three main strengths:
1) Control – Many Wii games have utterly abused its motion controls, either not converting them very well or over-utilizing them to pointless extent, such as the oft-derided “waggle” features on the console’s New Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country Returns games. Skyward Sword, however, with its MotionPlus-exclusive and no shaking whatsoever, may actually get Wii controlling right, arguably the best implementation since Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. Being able to watch Link’s on-screen sword slowly sway back and forth along with the player’s real-life motion is neat enough, but to actually see sword-swipe direction extensively used in combat is a nice touch indeed. Another worthy mention are the flight controls, which are intuitive and smooth.
2) Puzzles – Well, Zelda games have always placed an emphasis on puzzling, tending to integrate them right alongside the combat, especially in the dungeon environments. But, refreshingly, gone are the relentless box-pushing riddles and other one-off oddities that have cropped up on previous ventures. Aside from perhaps too many explicit clues given as to how to progress, the puzzles in Skyward Sword are enjoyable, sometimes challenging, and at moments remarkably creative, especially when incorporating time-affecting artifacts, wind-blowing effects, and some other intriguing ingredients.
3) Fandom – At one point during the opening cutscene, the screen goes black, then cinematically unveils an icon representing the 25th-year anniversary of the Legend Of Zelda franchise, marked by the original release of Legend of Zelda on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. This is a rather blatant cue that the whole game really is intended for the fan base, to the extent that one has to wonder if non-fans would really enjoy it nearly as much. If the player already has an attachment to Link, Zelda, the Triforce, and other elements in mind, like knowing who Tingle is and recognizing a Spirit Tracks visual, the whole involvement becomes much more richly rewarding.
But, of course, this is not a perfect game. Although it arrived with much hype, and some will laud it as among the best ever in the series, and maybe even among the best of all video games, Skyward Sword definitely has some flaws.
1) Control – Sharp readers may have suddenly realized that control was also mentioned as a strength. While everything listed under Control as a strength is true, this is also correct: The most frustrating moments in Skyward Sword come not from the in-game obstacles, but from control obstacles. Three examples: First, there is a move called the Skyward Strike that involves holding the sword straight up until it “charges” fully, then unleashing a projectile attack. Despite this being a crucial technique at some intervals, it seems like the game sometimes decides to be extraordinarily picky about starting the charge. Secondly, this reviewer had a very specific experience, near the beginning of the game, when there is a training sequence for the flight mechanics. Now, this may be due to the reviewer honestly missing a detail, but I did not realize that briefly moving the controller up and down akin to flapping the bird’s wings resulted in ascension. In other words, even though maintaining and fluctuating altitude is key to flight, without knowing the wing-flap, I was stuck trying to dive and swoop back up, growing frustrated as I was unable to figure out how to gain height, which is obviously essential. If that instruction was truly left out, that is a critical error on Nintendo’s part. Third and finally, maybe not every gamer cares about this, but listen: Hitting the B button uses whatever item is assigned to it, the choices available when the button is held. For many of them, like the Clawshot, Scattershot, or Bow, the view switches to first-person, enabling first-person shooting view for the item’s use. However, and this bothered me: The first-person view would switch to looking at the background of the current over-the-shoulder view, not the way Link was facing. Not only does this necessitate the extra step of centering the view on Link’s perspective with the C button, but this effect of using the on-screen view, rather than Link’s eyes, serves to yank the player out of the experience and discourage a more complete immersion, which is unfortunate.
2) Linearity – That last explanation is rather lengthy, but this one is simple: Rather than give players a more sandbox-like, wide-open world, Skyward Sword is startlingly linear. Granted, yes, there are side quests, there are items to collect, there are dozens upon dozens of hours worth of gameplay in a single playthrough, and there is lots to do; but, at its core, the plotline and the universe layout are stunningly step-by-step, to a disappointing extent. Nintendo had a chance to really blow some minds, even mainstream players, by crafting an enormous, explorable realm with hundreds of tiny hidden secret alcoves and rooms and things; but, instead, the exploration is minor.
3) Ambition – Again, Skyward Sword has a lot to offer, and in the midst of listing its weaknesses, one must remember that these are specifically to point out its flaws, but overall it is a thrilling, wonderful, imaginative game. Yet, on top of its lack of exploration, its fan-base appeal, etc., are some other little things that add up to suggest that this was meant as a formulated, schemed, part-of-the-greater-story game, and not a truly ground-breaking, awe-inspiring take. One example of what is meant is in the ending. Without spoiling much, suffice to say, even my wife, who had watched much of the experience and was not familiar with the Zelda canon, had a sort of “That’s it?” reaction. This is not good news for Nintendo. Take Majora’s Mask, for example – not only was the extent of its ending dependent on what masks the player was able to collect and what townspeople Link was able to help, but it was grand, lengthy, meaty, and triumphant. Not that Skyward Sword does not have some grandiosity in its final chapter, but it is very focused and unattached, a little cold. Perhaps that is just two cents’ worth of one opinion, but the effect raises an eyebrow. Then again, maybe I am too much of a Zelda fan who is also too much of a writer and too strongly thinking throughout “Well I certainly would have added this, and this…”
Graphics
In this aspect, Skyward Sword is brilliant, in a couple ways. Now, the Wii console has often been insulted for having graphics that are not high-definition, which is in stark opposition to its generational competition in the PS3 and Xbox 360, and even potentially helped slowly kill Nintendo as a hardware maker by crippling third-party abilities to cross-produce their games.
Nintendo obviously knows all of this, but manages to still make a gorgeous game here, some of it due to clever tricks and patently whimsical visuals. The Wii does not have the greatest draw distance? That is okay, the background can be cast in colorful watercolor, even adding a bit of artistic flair and giving Skyward its own graphical identity. Unable to provide photo-realistic character textures? That is not an issue, we will just give the characterizations a cartoon-style shading and offer a few different looks, like Link’s subtle-yet-provocative turn in the Silent Realms.
The enemy designs are sweet, the locations are fairly lush, the flight simulator is satisfying, and some of the action sequences are exquisite. Skyward Sword may not be the most graphically overpowering game ever, but it manages a distinctive, pleasing appearance.
Sound
This is where a critique of Skyward Sword gets interesting. Arguably, there is nothing inherently wrong or bad about the score; in fact, the orchestral arrangements of background music and moody tunes manage to a notable level of variety while maintaining an utmost quality, and the effects are snappy, satisfying, and serve well where needed.
One critical thought deserves mention, though: Compared to previous Zelda games, where music plays a very prominent, in-game role, Skyward Sword actually takes a step backward. One simple example is the fact that, while in previous games the player manually controlled the notes and could play particular songs, the tune-playing in Skyward Sword is done by swishing back and forth across a harp, without input as to particular melodies are songs desired, focusing instead on maintaining a steady rhythm, over playing the right notes or song. This is an intriguing set-up, likely to harbor differing opinions from Zelda game fans.
Originality
Skyward Sword had a tall order of expectation ahead of it, to faithfully stick to the loyal Zelda machination while firmly establishing its own creative strokes. It does strike a nice balance in this effort. A couple of the new items are creative, which may be an increasingly difficult task as the series progresses, and the script choices made in the plot and characterizations may be among the most admirable of Skyward’s innovations.
While there is a lot of history to work off of (had this been the first Zelda game ever, would it be explosively lauded for its vision?), there is enough “new stuff” to tide over even the every-Zelda-game-ever fans. Oddly enough, this still leaves some quirky scenes, like the choice to, once again, have the first temple be in the forest and the second amidst flames. Concerned gamers need only progress further, though, to find rewarding refreshment in the desert, and the bold return to prior environments, a happening not often seen in Zelda titles.
This may sound like a critic cop-out, but this is one of those games (like many, perhaps) where endlessly critiquing every detail may miss the point of diving head-long into the literary experience it has to offer. Does the water dragon note-fetching scene seem rather contrived and ultimately pointless? Sure. Does even the MotionPlus control system seem to go off-center awfully often and, at times, moodily decide not to cooperate with the harp sequences when accurate back-and-forth rhythm is needed? Maybe.
But, in the end, drawing signs on mystic walls to gain items, being fired out of a cannon for a skydiving game, seeing how many times you can slice a tall piece of bamboo before it hits the ground, cleaning a house and watching that act emotionally affect NPCs, watching this title tie into Ocarina Of Time, learning more about Zelda, intimately seeing the Triforce, interacting with the token Goron, and using the Beetle, among many other things and events, is really cool. This is not the best game of all time, and probably, as much as it pains to say it, not the best of the Zelda series either. But this should not woefully detract from its fun to offer, no; rather, Zelda fans should giddily indulge in its feast of furious fun, and even outside observers should give it a shot. This may be the defining, near-peak Wii experience, good for four and a half stars out of five.
And, for the record, I love the Silent Realm sequences.