The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo)
It has been a while since I plonked my Wii Mote into it's charger unit, but recently I aquired Skyward Sword, and decided it was time to juice up the remote, and get my game on.
To give you some background into my experience with the Zelda series, I have played each one since Zelda II, loving every adventure Link embarks upon throughout the lands of Hyrule, Termina and beyond, collecting my Heart Pieces, Hookshots, Ocarina songs and every other item the games taunt me with. The games have been around as I grew up, and every few years offered a few weeks of escape from the mundane drudgery of real life, with deep and rich storytelling, exciting boss fights, ear tauntingly rich orchestral music and of course, adventure! From the Dark World in Link to the Past, through the Kokiri Forest found in Ocarina of Time, and across the deep oceans of a long lost land in Wind Waker, Link (or a boy that looks remarkably like him, depending on which game) has been one of my most played avatars in the world of videogames, and easily stands out as one of the most recognisable. To this day I have not played a Zelda game that I have not loved, so Skyward Sword had a lot to stand up for.
To give you some background into my experience with the Zelda series, I have played each one since Zelda II, loving every adventure Link embarks upon throughout the lands of Hyrule, Termina and beyond, collecting my Heart Pieces, Hookshots, Ocarina songs and every other item the games taunt me with. The games have been around as I grew up, and every few years offered a few weeks of escape from the mundane drudgery of real life, with deep and rich storytelling, exciting boss fights, ear tauntingly rich orchestral music and of course, adventure! From the Dark World in Link to the Past, through the Kokiri Forest found in Ocarina of Time, and across the deep oceans of a long lost land in Wind Waker, Link (or a boy that looks remarkably like him, depending on which game) has been one of my most played avatars in the world of videogames, and easily stands out as one of the most recognisable. To this day I have not played a Zelda game that I have not loved, so Skyward Sword had a lot to stand up for.
First Impressions
As the console loaded the game up (I had forgotten how noisy this system was sometimes), I held my Wii Mote in my right hand, and the Nunchuck in the left, ready for another unforgettable gaming experience. The short ditty on the Wii's menu screen tickled my ear holes with a lovely few notes trickling out of a harp, a quick config of the Wii Mote itself, the white eye melting health and safety screen, and then... ...windy noises. Ok not a big issue, it's all about the sky so i'll go with it. Pressing A launches the save creation screen and the instantly recognisable fairy theme begins to play, and I think to myself "Man I hope this isn't a let down".So, the intro plays and it's no far step from what Zelda games usually cover, something evil bla bla bla, now is the time yadda yadda, all well and good, I wanna play! I learn that today is the day for some kind of competition, but something has gone wrong (shocking) and my bird has gone missing! You see, in this incarnation of Hyrule, we are waaaay in the past, at the very first moments of the Link and Zelda relationship, back before the events of Ocarina of Time, and all the people live up in the clouds on small floating islands above a dangerous and unexplored land. The people use large birds called Loftwings to get between each island, and are the central focus of daily life in "Flyrule" (Like that? Came up with that one all by myself).I get to control Link as im to go and find out where my Loftwing has gone off to, and meet my comic relief bungling enemy team, consisting of the generic archetypes (doofus, short silly one and overly handsome cocky jerky guy) as well as meeting the love interest, Zelda. She has been chosen to present a special gift to the winner of the Loftwing sky race on behalf of the goddess, and while you want it, overly handsome cocky jerky guy wants it too, and also, Zeldas affections, but as always, she only has eyes for green and tunicy heroes. Unsurprisingly you find out that OHCJ has stolen your Loftwing, (as you are well known for being one of the best riders in Skyloft and he fears your competition) and the tutorial section of the game focuses on a short cave adventure where you learn the basics of combat, see how the item system works, and how to interact with various NPC's, eventually leading up to slashing through some wooden planks to free your stolen bird. Now, up to this point, im not expecting anything massive, just a brief hand holding through the mechanics, and a sample of the games visuals, and it does deliver. The tutorials are simple and offer enough guidance to get you where you need to be, and get a grip on the tools at your disposal (Sword, Shield, Targetting etc), and as with Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, come in the same order and are doled out as you meet various new obstacles, with one distinct advantage, being that every time a tutorial pops up, you don't get an annoying little sidekick going HEY!!! LISTEN!!!! (but don't worry, there is one coming up!).Tutorials aside, the graphics also stood out as impressive, offering a storybook feel with beautfully drawn visuals all around, however, when distance is involved, or mid range detail, the Wii simply cannot display them in HD, and as such, gives the game a feeling of being washed out. It wasn't far in that I ended up with a headache from the out of focus lines caused by a now archaic display system, but I will go into that later.The music to this point was what I would expect from a Zelda game. Orchestral, but with a focus on wind and wooden instruments to give that "People of the Land" feel to it, and the Skyloft themes were nicely performed.
All in all, my first impressions of the game world and it's various layers was good, and I was feeling pretty happy with the adventure I was taking part in, but sadly, it kind of all went downhill from there, which will be explained in each section below.
All in all, my first impressions of the game world and it's various layers was good, and I was feeling pretty happy with the adventure I was taking part in, but sadly, it kind of all went downhill from there, which will be explained in each section below.
Gameplay
There isn't really much to say. It's as generic as a Zelda game can get. Go collect some of these, go find some of those, go find out whats going on here, or put our basic daily lives in order with a little cleaning up. The game doesn't try to step outside the lines, sticking solidly to the model that has been tried and tested in countless games before, but sadly in Skyward Sword, leaves it feeling bland and boring. The quest rewards were usually just Rupees or items I have rarely used in previous versions of the games worlds, such as upgraded potions or, well, that was about it. Yes there was the treasure hunting aspect that comes from item upgrades, but if ever there was an example of an unsuited grind in a single player offline, non-MMO game, it was this. I killed no less than 55 Jellies to get 1 glob of Goo to upgrade my basic shield to a more durable version. Killing 6 Jellies with each lap of the cave on the island, this took close to an hour, for the BASE LINE SHIELD UPGRADE! It was mind numbingly boring and even with the medal you get later on that increases drop rates, it was still a horrible grind, just to get a minor upgrade on an item I only use for a tiny amount of monster encounters.
As you meet more people though you unlock the Gratification Crystal Quests (think Gold Skulltulas in Ocarina of Time and you are on the right lines) and the Goddess Cubes (pretty much the sea charts from Wind Waker). The crystals are excreted from people that you make extremely happy, and are traded to a questionably friendly and polite demon who lives under the island and plays with the children (?), with the goal of turning human. The problem though is that other than a few mildly amusing moments, they are all effectively courier quests that have you either going from one NPC to another and back again, or inexplicably locating random single crystals around the islands at night. It's no Biggoron's Sword quest by any means, but a mildly entertaining distraction none the less.
The Goddess Cubes are what feels like an afterthought after the game was finished, as they have no real relation to the game itself, other than being placed there by the Goddess years ago, and that's all you are told about them. Located on the ground under the cloud line are large blue cubes that require you to raise your Wii Mote high in the air, and then slash down to make a sonic boom effect, which breaks the block, marking your sky map for the location of a chest. I first thought these chests would have trinkets and treasures, but alas, other than a few medals that increase drop rates/combat/bug catching, it's again just Rupees, and by the point of going out to find them, you are already maxed out on your wallet.
Along with those side quests is Wii Sports Resort. This is the signature title for the Wii, and has been integrated into Skyward Sword with very little effort, as each minigame is just a direct copy with a Zelda skin over the top. There is a bamboo chopping game, which has you slicing a pole of bamboo as it falls, skydiving, which is exactly that, and bomb bowling, which again, is the same as the bowling in Wii Sports Resort. There are also flying sections, akin to sailing and horse riding to travel across the world in previous incarnations, which is very similar to the bird flights in Super Mario Galaxy, having you whip the controller up and down to simulate the beating of wings to increase altitude, and tilting it forwards to perform nose dives.
These mild distractions aside, there is of course the main quest, which has you journeying through the world under the cloud line to rescue Zelda after she is whisked down through a hole in the sky by a huge tornado. You land, as always, in a forest area to begin with, and find out that she is always just a few steps ahead of you and is heading through the temples in an attempt to stop the evil that chases her. It turns out that a servant of Ganon is trying to resurrect his master in an attempt to begin domination of Hyrule, and needs Zelda to help break his seal. Eventually you end up in a volcanic region and then a desert which is as far as I could bear the game, as never have I come across a more boring section in a Zelda world. The desert itself has some interesting mechanics to be played with (little pockets of time where you can interact with the past and the beetle weapon being one of my favorite toys from the entire series) but due to how bland, boring and overly sized it is, just leaves you feeling, well, like you are alone in the middle of a desert, only with nothing to do. This was about 15 hours in for me, and where I put it down, after sampling all the side quests and events the game had to offer (double checked with the guide and it really was all there was to it) I found myself feeling no want to play it again.
As you meet more people though you unlock the Gratification Crystal Quests (think Gold Skulltulas in Ocarina of Time and you are on the right lines) and the Goddess Cubes (pretty much the sea charts from Wind Waker). The crystals are excreted from people that you make extremely happy, and are traded to a questionably friendly and polite demon who lives under the island and plays with the children (?), with the goal of turning human. The problem though is that other than a few mildly amusing moments, they are all effectively courier quests that have you either going from one NPC to another and back again, or inexplicably locating random single crystals around the islands at night. It's no Biggoron's Sword quest by any means, but a mildly entertaining distraction none the less.
The Goddess Cubes are what feels like an afterthought after the game was finished, as they have no real relation to the game itself, other than being placed there by the Goddess years ago, and that's all you are told about them. Located on the ground under the cloud line are large blue cubes that require you to raise your Wii Mote high in the air, and then slash down to make a sonic boom effect, which breaks the block, marking your sky map for the location of a chest. I first thought these chests would have trinkets and treasures, but alas, other than a few medals that increase drop rates/combat/bug catching, it's again just Rupees, and by the point of going out to find them, you are already maxed out on your wallet.
Along with those side quests is Wii Sports Resort. This is the signature title for the Wii, and has been integrated into Skyward Sword with very little effort, as each minigame is just a direct copy with a Zelda skin over the top. There is a bamboo chopping game, which has you slicing a pole of bamboo as it falls, skydiving, which is exactly that, and bomb bowling, which again, is the same as the bowling in Wii Sports Resort. There are also flying sections, akin to sailing and horse riding to travel across the world in previous incarnations, which is very similar to the bird flights in Super Mario Galaxy, having you whip the controller up and down to simulate the beating of wings to increase altitude, and tilting it forwards to perform nose dives.
These mild distractions aside, there is of course the main quest, which has you journeying through the world under the cloud line to rescue Zelda after she is whisked down through a hole in the sky by a huge tornado. You land, as always, in a forest area to begin with, and find out that she is always just a few steps ahead of you and is heading through the temples in an attempt to stop the evil that chases her. It turns out that a servant of Ganon is trying to resurrect his master in an attempt to begin domination of Hyrule, and needs Zelda to help break his seal. Eventually you end up in a volcanic region and then a desert which is as far as I could bear the game, as never have I come across a more boring section in a Zelda world. The desert itself has some interesting mechanics to be played with (little pockets of time where you can interact with the past and the beetle weapon being one of my favorite toys from the entire series) but due to how bland, boring and overly sized it is, just leaves you feeling, well, like you are alone in the middle of a desert, only with nothing to do. This was about 15 hours in for me, and where I put it down, after sampling all the side quests and events the game had to offer (double checked with the guide and it really was all there was to it) I found myself feeling no want to play it again.
Characters
All of the series regulars are there. Zelda, Link and Ganon, in a world that is usually made rich by the people in it, but in this game, I found none of the characters to have any interest, or likability, they might as well have just stood there with large !'s over their head and pointed me in the direction they would eventually send me, as there was little to no backstory or thought behind any of them. It does feel at point that the characters have no connection to each other, as they don't seem to know anyone else is around them, outside of their own little quest targets.
Accompanying Link on his quest is the sword dwelling fairy like entity, "Fi". Fi appears to be the result of a late night board room meeting in which it was decided that the game was too hard, and needed constant narration, but with varying levels of useless information at the players choice. She basically pops out of your sword, and in a very Navi-esque way tells you tid bits of information about your current target, situation or quest, only in Skyward Sword, the developers have managed to make one of the most overly useless guides ever seen in gaming, as her "help" is really really pointless. To give an example, I worked out, after about 15 minutes of failing, how to kill the hanging Skulltula Spiders, at which point, she then told me how to kill them, by repeating exactly what I had done already, while standing over the dead corpse of the spider. This didn't get any better as the game went on, but very rarely she did offer an insight into the situation that I had not thought of, and allowed me to continue.
Accompanying Link on his quest is the sword dwelling fairy like entity, "Fi". Fi appears to be the result of a late night board room meeting in which it was decided that the game was too hard, and needed constant narration, but with varying levels of useless information at the players choice. She basically pops out of your sword, and in a very Navi-esque way tells you tid bits of information about your current target, situation or quest, only in Skyward Sword, the developers have managed to make one of the most overly useless guides ever seen in gaming, as her "help" is really really pointless. To give an example, I worked out, after about 15 minutes of failing, how to kill the hanging Skulltula Spiders, at which point, she then told me how to kill them, by repeating exactly what I had done already, while standing over the dead corpse of the spider. This didn't get any better as the game went on, but very rarely she did offer an insight into the situation that I had not thought of, and allowed me to continue.
Design
The game world is quite solid, and slots together well, but lacks the feel of explorative open lands that was popular with previous games in the series, having more of a direct and linear approach to exploration, but thats not to say it's a bad thing, as it always lets you see where you are heading. The dungeons are devious sometimes, with intricate and complicated puzzles, but let down a little by the "unlocks" being visible on your map, showing you where you need to focus on for your next door to open. An option to disable this in some way would have been great, but a small bother with an otherwise not bad system. One thing that did stand out as an annoyance though was the cluttered up UI. For the first few hours of gameplay, there is a large Wii Mote outline on the right hand side of the screen, which shows you which buttons do what, but thankfully you can disable that and return to the more traditional display, which was a relief as it pulls you out of the immersion, being constantly reminded that you are playing a game.
On that note, the controls... oh the motion plus, why do you taunt me so?
The games premise is strongly centred on the Wii Motion Plus controller being your sword, slingshot and anything else you wield in your right hand, and the nunchuck being your left, but it just took too long to get to grips with this infuriatingly reliant system, to the point where on the first major boss encounter, I found myself getting gamer rage, something I haven't had in years, as the controller simply did not do what I was telling it to do. The boss has you copying the slashes on screen, either diagnally, horizontally or vertically, but most of the time, Link would just flip out and his sword would spin around and jump left and right, causing countless deaths, and aggravation. Eventually I took it down, but for a game that relies on finding the pattern and weak spots, such a fundamental setback was enough to put me well off trying again.
But I do like the controls... to a point, as I strongly feel that motion controls are not the way to go in adventure games, and hope we don't see them in the future, as to me, I like to slomp down into my sofa, feet up, controller in hands, and relax, but with motion controls, I often have to sit uncomfortably, holding my arms up to my chest which led to me getting sore and at points, experiencing discomfort enough to switch the game off. The controls were responsive enough through normal play though to merit their use, and to Nintendo's credit, for the first time in any Zelda game, I actually liked the bomb tossing mechanics, having you either wave the Wii Mote over arm to toss a bomb forwards, or bowl it underarm to roll a bomb across the floor, and this felt very natural, helped by the onscreen guiding arc showing where the bomb will land.
The graphics stand out as hitting the Wii's top end limitations, as they are faultless from the games point of view, but the terrible shame is that the Wii cannot display them as well as the game would like, giving a constant washy and blurry feel. After I ran the game through my PC though, I found that these limitations were indeed only due to the console, as the game showed up in beautiful HD, and looked eye meltingly beautiful. I cannot fault the games visual style, and also give kudos to Nintendo for trying to compensate by adding a blending filter to minimize the Wii's horrible graphical processing limitations. Also I appreciate them moving away from the Wind Wakers cell shading style, as while it was a nice change, didn't feel it was right for the Zelda series.
On that note, the controls... oh the motion plus, why do you taunt me so?
The games premise is strongly centred on the Wii Motion Plus controller being your sword, slingshot and anything else you wield in your right hand, and the nunchuck being your left, but it just took too long to get to grips with this infuriatingly reliant system, to the point where on the first major boss encounter, I found myself getting gamer rage, something I haven't had in years, as the controller simply did not do what I was telling it to do. The boss has you copying the slashes on screen, either diagnally, horizontally or vertically, but most of the time, Link would just flip out and his sword would spin around and jump left and right, causing countless deaths, and aggravation. Eventually I took it down, but for a game that relies on finding the pattern and weak spots, such a fundamental setback was enough to put me well off trying again.
But I do like the controls... to a point, as I strongly feel that motion controls are not the way to go in adventure games, and hope we don't see them in the future, as to me, I like to slomp down into my sofa, feet up, controller in hands, and relax, but with motion controls, I often have to sit uncomfortably, holding my arms up to my chest which led to me getting sore and at points, experiencing discomfort enough to switch the game off. The controls were responsive enough through normal play though to merit their use, and to Nintendo's credit, for the first time in any Zelda game, I actually liked the bomb tossing mechanics, having you either wave the Wii Mote over arm to toss a bomb forwards, or bowl it underarm to roll a bomb across the floor, and this felt very natural, helped by the onscreen guiding arc showing where the bomb will land.
The graphics stand out as hitting the Wii's top end limitations, as they are faultless from the games point of view, but the terrible shame is that the Wii cannot display them as well as the game would like, giving a constant washy and blurry feel. After I ran the game through my PC though, I found that these limitations were indeed only due to the console, as the game showed up in beautiful HD, and looked eye meltingly beautiful. I cannot fault the games visual style, and also give kudos to Nintendo for trying to compensate by adding a blending filter to minimize the Wii's horrible graphical processing limitations. Also I appreciate them moving away from the Wind Wakers cell shading style, as while it was a nice change, didn't feel it was right for the Zelda series.
Sound
Audio has always been a very important factor in building the tapestry that is the Legend of Zelda, and Skyward Sword does not disappoint, with beautifully orchestrated music, and situation appropriate sounds all working together to keep up with the immersion. The first main song you hear is the theme to Skyloft and it is a wonderfully light and airy piece that fits the mood of the situation and zone perfectly, eventually sweeping down into Hyrule proper, where the music takes a more sinister and lonely turn, mirroring the mood of the world to perfection. There is little I can criticise with the sound the game has to offer, other than the tracks being less memorable than the ones from previous games, but they are unique enough to stand out for each zone.
Rating
Compared to previous Zelda games: 6/10
Standalone score: 8/10
Standalone score: 8/10