The Legend of Zelda:
Skyward Sword strikes a near perfect balance between tradition and new
ideas; it adheres to its roots without feeling old fashioned and though
I would stop short at calling it original, it presents enough new ideas and mechanics to make
it feel distinct from its predecessors.
Skyward Sword takes place in Skyloft, an airborne kingdom high above a thick cloud cover that
obscures the dangerous world below. There are legends of the land below the
clouds, but no one has ventured below the clouds in generations. Content with a
life above the clouds, Link is in training to become a knight and protector of
the kingdom, however, when a sinister storm causes the disappearance of the
lovely Zelda, he is forced to find a way to the world below on a quest to
find, protect and save her.
Some will gag at the standard The Legend of Zelda plot wherein Link needs to find and rescue Zelda, but this time the adventure feels a lot more epic and deserves more than a passing glance from veterans of the series. While there are familiar Zelda trapping and tropes, this is an adventure that feels unique and all its own. Skyward Sword dares to be different, not just in its use of different weapons (no boomerang this time around), but in real story beats that elevate the tale beyond what the series has tried to do before. There are some real gasp-worthy and lean-forward moments in this game that will demand your attention and keep you wanting to see more.
That's not to say that Eiji Aonuma and his team of developers
at Nintendo EAD threw the baby out with the bathwater; Skyward Sword is very much in vein with the series. There's a DNA
to this series that cannot be ignored. The game pays tribute to the series,
with nods, references and adherences to tradition, but it brings a lot of new
ideas and mechanics to the series.
Nintendo has put incredible emphasis on the new 1:1 sword
controls offered by the Wii Motion Plus, and all the hype and attention have
certainly been worth it. Fighting in Skyward
Sword is more than mashing buttons and looking to jump-strafe your enemy
until you can attack them from behind. Being able to direct the specific
direction of your sword slash grants Skyward
Sword a diverse fighting system; enemies dynamically change up their
tactics and maneuver in a way that they can defend your slashes effectively. A
skeleton warrior for example might hold their shield on their left side,
exposing their right side for a slash, but quickly flip the shield to their
weak side in anticipation of your slash. I'd hesitate to call it a type of
puzzle combat, but that's sort of what it is - you angle with your enemy
looking for weakness. It's by far the most
exciting combat in the series, far more dynamic and a real blast to play.
My only complaint with combat is how the camera operates.
The Wii Motion Plus seemed to lose its calibration often during play, and the
camera would sometimes swing to an unfortunate angle during heated combat. The same
thing happened when I would attempt to use gadgets and gear during exploration
phases. Nintendo at the very least provided a quick way to re-center the camera
(a simple press of the down D-pad swings the camera to a center focus), but the
frequent issues with it made it more than a passing annoyance.
Skyward Sword exchanges the oceans of Wind Waker and the expansive plains of Twilight
Princess for the open sky and free-flying on the back of a winged beast
called Loftwings. Early on, flying through the sky felt great and provided a
nice diversion from the game's main story, but after spending more and more
time on solid ground, flying in the air felt superfluous and the exploration of
sky islands became uninteresting. If anything, the flying aspect of the game was
filler; still filler in navigation beats filler dungeons and filler fetch
quests any day.
Outside of the flying complaints, I truly enjoyed the game's
content. Just when the game started to feel the slightest bit repetitive, or
that I was backtracking, Skyward Sword threw a new activity, area or enemy to keep my
attention and mind in the game. Skyward
Sword is possibly the best paced Zelda game in years. Whereas Twilight Princess had you feeling like
you were languishing for a few hours here and there just trying to complete an
area, or backtrack for an item, Skyward
Sword kept moving and didn't provide the slightest bit of boredom.
Skyward Sword's visuals are stunning; there's nothing HD or sharp here, but you've got
beautiful, watercolor-inspired settings and characters. There's an ethereal,
inexact look to the graphics that make it feel unlike any other game on
consoles today. There's a bit of hyperbole in that statement, but the graphics need to be experienced by players, if
for nothing else than to show people that you don't need harsh lines and robust
texturing to bring a world to life.
If you've ignored Skyward
Sword up to this point because of Zelda fatigue, stop and really give this game a chance. It's a joy to play and has a fun
and engaging storyline and combat system. Rarely does a game feel familiar and
yet different, but Nintendo has struck a balance between Zelda's history and
its future and has given players a real gem with Skyward Sword.
