Legend of Zelda Games: Skyward Sword (Nintendo Wii)
The Legend of Zelda games are one of my favourite series of games; mater of fact the very first game I played on a Nintendo was Zelda 2 way back in the late 80’s. I have pretty much loved all of Link’s adventures (except those god awful CDI games) and since I got my Super Nintendo and realised that Zelda was indeed going to be a series I always looked forward to rescuing princess Zelda on each Nintendo console that was released. With it being such a baron year for the Nintendo Wii I like many gamers was looking forward to the latest Legend of Zelda game, Skyward Sword having spent the better part of a month with this game I thought I would give my views on what is pretty much the Wii’s swansong. Don’t think of this as a review more of just one gamer’s thoughts on one of his all time favourite series.
Legend of Zelda games are epic and this one certainly is no exception while not the first Legend of Zelda game for the Wii Twilight Princess while it did have motion controls they were really kind of just added on from GameCube port. Skyward Sword however was made with Wii Motion Plus in mind to let you control Link like never before. I don’t want to sound negative because I really enjoyed this game it was a very good game but if I am being honest I feel many of these 10/10 perfect scores this game has been getting are really not deserving don’t worry I will give my reasons for this but first of all lets look at the stuff this game got right
Many people commented on how this Legend of Zelda game got off to a slow start, which in a way it did but I personally loved it. It was great seeing Link and Zelda act like somewhat normal kids you really got a sense of there friendship from the opening moments of the game. This was the first time I personally had seen Princess Zelda like this and I thought it was great and worked really well. I found it really cool when you first get the sword and you realise that the sword in Link’s hand is moving exactly the same as yours, no more of just waggling the Wii remote to hit enemies you can work out a strategy and hit them in certain spots. While you control the sword with your Wii remote you control the shield with the nunchuck which is also a pleasure to use. While the world may not be as huge as in other Zelda games I felt like each area had a very unique feel to it and they all looked pretty good also. Flying was one of this games big new features and the controls here I felt were pretty solid I never really had a single issue while flying.
As far as the story goes its nothing ground breaking but it draws you in and will make you want to play just that little bit more. Because of the fantastic start to the game I in all the Zelda games I have played have wanted to rescue princess Zelda more. Most of the support cast are really if I am honest just like your typical Zelda support cast, but the connection you get between Link and Zelda is so strong that most of the secondary characters seem of little importance. There is some padding that has been well reported to the story but the drive that you may actually see Zelda again after each part of the game is so strong it makes it feel like less of a chore. Some of Links weapons are great and use the Wii remote really well. His beetle and whip in particular were my favourites to use, the whip just felt so natural using the Wii remote to control it.
I like this game I really do but there are many frustrating points in this game that if I were to score it would make me drop it from a 10/10 game to a 8/10 game. Like I said I like this game and while at certain points the controls are great and make you feel like you are wielding a sword in your hand others will put you over the edge completely. Swimming oh my god words can not express how much I hated the swimming controls in this game. Instead of using the analogue stick you have to tile the Wii remote in the direction you wish to go. In theory this is great but it just feel so clunky and a real chore to get anywhere. Lanayru Desert was a section of this game that really felt like a chore to play through. It was actually a pretty interesting level with some good design but the constant running through sand (there is a map to help you to be fair) was such a huge pain it really got aggravating, a new gamer who has never played a Legend of Zelda game before may very well get extremely frustrated here. Another thing that really bugged me was the auto jumping, this has been a feature of Zelda games since Ocarina of Time but here it can get very annoying very fast. The amount of time I died because the game thought I was trying to jump of a wall, cliff or whatever was unreal. Not having free control of the camera also can be a issue especially during an intense battle you can put it behind you with the Z button but it still can be very awkward at times. These may seem like minor complaints and really they are but over the course of a long game when you encounter these time and time again then it can really start to get aggravating. I think because the rest of the game is so good is one of the reasons you notice it so much. When you encounter a new treasure Links companion will inform you of what it is, this is useful however each time you boot the game up it will tell you all the same info again. Even if you have 50 monster claws in your inventory first one you find after you boot the game up again it will tell you about it again.
Another point I want to add and I think the Legend of Zelda community is split on this one and that is voice acting. I personally feel its time to give this world a voice you wouldn’t even need to give Link a voice just let the story fold out through the other characters although I personally would love to hear Link speak as well. Text in this game is very very slow and made me constantly wish for voice acting. I know that many people are worried it would be terrible like the CDI games I would say also like the cartoon series but I loved that as a kid. One reason I have heard people not wanting voice acting in a Legend of Zelda game is because of how poor it was in Metroid other M that game was not really Nintendo’s baby and team ninja did most of the work. I feel that Nintendo would only allow voice acting of the highest quality in there franchise that really is an epic tale.
I liked the Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword I had a great time playing it I just could not get over the clear faults that this game had. Would I recommend this game? In a heartbeat I would as far as story goes I feel that this is one of the best in the whole Legend of Zelda series. The story is so strong that it helps in putting up with the games flaws. I could just turn a blind eye to the flaws and if I did then yes I would say this game without doubt is perfect, but I just can’t do it even with its flaws you will have one epic adventure and want more than anything to rescue Princess Zelda.
