TITLE: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
PLATFORM: Wii
DEVELOPER: Nintendo EAD
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
ESRB: E
RELEASED: November 20, 2011

By Justin Polak
Co-founder, Ambassador to the Mushroom Kingdom

After 25 years, there seems to be two main type of Zelda fans. Those who adore the series and salivate with each installment, and those who feel the series has grown stale but begrudgingly play them anyway. Personally, while I lean more towards the former, I fully understand why Zelda’s more cynical fans feel the way they do. In terms of console Zelda games, Nintendo tends to stick to the same the formula. For example, while I enjoyed Twilight Princess, the biggest problem I had with that game was that the series staples held back most of the fresh ideas. It also seemed that Nintendo gave into fan demand to make a “realistic” looking Zelda. While the game did have it’s colorful moments, I felt that the environments looked too brownish for a Zelda title.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword not only manages to bring about a lighthearted, colorful world the series is known for, but for the first time many years, Zelda has a fresh coat of paint.

The series finally breaks away from the idea of having events and traveling taking place on the overworld, only to save the meat of the game in the dungeons. If anything, most of Skyward Sword’s world feels like a giant dungeon (once you get beneath the clouds, that is). Sure, there are traditional dungeons in this game, and the most difficult challenges or puzzles lie within, but I found myself constantly observing the world. Instead of tilting the analog one one direction for awhile, hopping on a horse, boarding a boat, etc., I was required to fulfill various requirements before moving on. I’ll admit, some of these sequences annoyed me, but most of the time it dawned on me that I was having loads of fun in a Zelda game without relying on solving a dungeon every single time the plot moved forward or focusing on getting a new item.

To some, this may sound like a bum deal, and I have little doubt that some fans won’t take kindly to the new style of pacing in Skyward Sword. Having said that, the game’s design made the world feel more real to me. Nintendo even found a way to sneak in many secrets throughout the corners of the world, so when you do return to the same areas for different reasons, you are constantly on your toes seeing if there is something new to be discovered.

What really amazes me is the length of time it took me to complete Skyward Sword. I’m sure I found a good majority of secrets, items, etc., but at the same time I didn’t really devote a lot of my time attempting to go the extra mile. As with my impression on the world itself seeming to be like a giant dungeon, even the extra stuff felt like it naturally flowed into the rest of the game without fading into the background too much. The point is, this game — a Zelda game — took 46 hours of my time, and I loved nearly every second of it.

What also helped make Skyward Sword fresh was the emphasis on new items. Traditional items, like the bow and arrow, made a predictable return, but the game seemed to make sure to focus on newer items more. Not only that, but some items can be upgraded. In general, more attention to detail was put into this portion of Zelda, like how your shield has a meter for how many undefended hits it can take.

The menus used to access items are different as well. Instead of hitting a button and stopping the whole game to select an item or two, both weapon type items and accessory type items (bottles, medals, etc.) are accessed by cuing up a real time circular menu. While holding down a button, simply point the Wii remote to whatever you desire without a second thought. In fact, Skyward Sword seems to be designed to pause the action as little as possible. On the overworld, you can place beacons on places you want to check out instead of constantly looking at your map!

The only real notable aspect of Skyward Sword that I was impressed with was how challenging this game was. Now, I didn’t officially come across a game over, but there were times Link could have met a messy end. Of all the 3D Zelda titles, this one definitely made me earn a few victories. Series veterans and old school fans will still fold their arms and scoff at the idea that this game presents any real challenge, but a lot of enemies manage to take a whole heart off per hit, which is much more than most foes since Ocarina of Time. Plus, Hero Mode does present a good challenge for those who seek to take this game to the next level.

As far as the story goes, this incarnation of Zelda turns out to be an origin story of sorts. Some fans may wonder when Nintendo is going to settle on a true origin (or timeline for that matter), but Skyward Sword does explore a couple of…beginnings that have never been explained before. I don’t want to spoil too much for those who haven’t played or finished the game yet, so that’s why I am being vague here. Overall, how you felt about the quality of the story the past few Zelda games won’t change with this title.

The only bad thing I can say about this game is that while I liked the Wii motion plus controls, mainly for how Link actually swings his sword how you swing the Wii remote in real life, there were times where I felt it was a bit clunky. By no means did I feel the game was unplayable at ANY point, but I won’t deny that there were times I was thinking, “Couldn’t I just use traditional controls instead?” Again, this isn’t a deal breaker…I just wish some of my screw ups were because they were my fault, not because of an unresponsive controller. I’ll also admit that for as much as I love the new structure of not relying on dungeons as much, the game would have been perfect if it had just one more traditional one.

When all is said and done, I believe Skyward Sword is the best console Zelda title in years. It manages to put a much needed fresh spin on the series while maintaining a sense of familiarity. In that way, both optimistic and cynical fans can find their place in this adventure, and what an adventure it is! On top of everything else that works, Nintendo has managed to considerably extend the length of what one would expect from a Zelda tile without adding cheap padding. If you haven’t already done so, go out an explore another quality adventure!

RATING: 9/10

Front page images and screenshots from nintendoeverything.com.