Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Two things initially got me very excited for the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. First, it was released only for the Wii and required a Wii MotionPlus controller, which meant maximum flailing about the living room on my part. Second, I read that in the official timeline released by Nintendo (it's about time, no pun intended) Skyward Sword is the first, and will represent the origin story for all other Zelda titles to date. To me that meant the story was likely way epic, and given the series' history of mixing a great story with lighthearted fun, I was extremely optimistic. Besides, it's hard to screw up a Zelda game. They stick to a formula that works, and they do their best to nail it.

Tell me you're not just a little bit cised right now.

Being one of the bigger nerds of all time, I asked my fiancée to get me Skyward Sword for Christmas. I figured it was a good gift idea, being that I would buy it anyway, and I was struggling for anything else I needed at the time. It was the perfect plan, but for the fact that we had Christmas with her extended family and I had to explain to them why I asked for a video game. I should have just said, "I'm a man-child," gotten in my car and driven home, never to return. Sometime shortly after New Year's (after I finished up Final Fantasy XIII) I dove right in to Skyward Sword.

More after the jump...

Right off the bat, there were huge positives and negatives. The prologue and early story were encouraging, and I felt the setting and relationships were believable. The game begins in Skyloft, a town floating above the clouds, where Link and Zelda are students in the Knight Academy. Skyloft is a bright and cheerful place to begin a game, and while the day-to-day problems of the supporting characters are pretty minor, it offers some entertaining early dialogue. However, I immediately noticed that while the feel of Skyloft was a positive, the raw graphics of the game engine and the background art seemed to have taken a step backward since the last Zelda release on the Wii, Twilight Princess. Even though it is the weakest of the seventh generation consoles, the Wii is still capable of smooth, realistic graphics. Skyward Sword favors style over realism, a change I did not care for. I also did not like the cartoonish character design for some of the Skyloft residents. While Link, Zelda, and the majority of others around town are rendered with a sense of basic human proportion and facial expressions, some of them are just downright absurd, and it's distracting.

People do not look like this.

After a rudimentary run-through of the controls and a bit of exploration, Zelda is knocked to the world below the clouds by malicious forces, and it is up to Link to rescue her. Much of the early and middle portions of the game involve simply tailing Zelda through various zones and dungeons, a tried and true staple of the "other" marquee Nintendo franchise, Super Mario. In truth, it doesn't really matter what the MacGuffin is that drives the player through a dungeon, or a game writ large. But it was sort of refreshing to see Link battle against all odds just to get to see his girl again. It's also nice to catch glimpses of Zelda doing her own adventuring, and being a knight-in-training, one gets the feeling that she could do Link's job for him were their roles reversed. And while this isn't the first time Zelda has grown outside of the "damsel in distress" archetype, it gives her character and the story in general some much-needed depth. Also, Link's singular goal helps maintain the continuity of the story, an area in which other Zelda titles haven't always excelled. While there are a handful of mini-games and other things to do, you never get too sidetracked to forget what Link's current focus is, and it helps the story tremendously.

Insert your favorite Top Gun one-liner here.

One of the ways in which the Zelda series is unique is the protagonist, Link, is a compelling hero not for the ways in which he grows and changes as a character, but for his steadfast adherence to his ideals. Most stories want their main characters to undergo some transformation, emotional catharsis, or philosophical change. Link never changes -- he begins and ends with one goal in mind, and remains pure in heart and spirit, through and through. He is the embodiment of the three main traits of the Triforce and a host of other Zelda artifacts; courage, widsom, and power. He never changes, and we never want him to change. The fact that this works so well, time and again, gives credit to Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Zelda series, and the countless people who have worked on the sixteen canonized Zelda titles to date.

We should all be so good.

Aside from the two main characters, the next most visible entity is Link's companion, Fi. She is the spirit of the Goddess Sword, who summons Link and assists him in fulfilling his destiny as the Chosen Hero. Aside from living inside Link's weapon of choice, she pops up routinely to give advice on the next objective, but mostly she just blinks when you're low on hearts. Her voice is the same gibberish that Midna used in Twilight Princess, only her tone is more impersonal and robotic, making it worse in my opinion. In other words, she's just as bossy, without the redeeming quality of seeming to interact with Link on any emotional level. To make matters worse, she never plays an active role in adventuring. Sure, you're swinging your sword around all the time, slicing up bad guys and random flora and fauna, and she's inside that sword of course. But you only see and hear her spirit form when Link is standing around, waiting for exposition. Now, ever since the halcyon days of Navi the fairy, companions are a divisive subject in Zelda games. Opinions vary greatly on the usefulness and likeability of them in general. And I can understand where some might like her concept, as Link's most useful item is always his sword, and making it into a character is a bold move. But the execution falls flat, and you rarely see Link react in any meaningful way to anything she says or does.

"Oh yeah? Well I have calculated a 100% chance that you are annoying as fuck."

As the foil to Fi, and the game's most visible antagonist, we have Ghirahim. (I had to check and make sure his name isn't an anagram for Agahnim from A Link to the Past. Spoiler alert: it isn't.) He is a wizard, or a demon lord, or a spirit himself... yeah, one of those I guess. You don't know much about his true form until the end of the game, which is kind of cool. What you do know is that he falls into the cliché of being the effeminate, overpowered villain, who delights in toying with the good guys for too long before jetting off to do something else more important than winning a battle. Predictably, you fight him three times (why always three?) before you get to the real bad guy, which I won't spoil for you here. Needless to say, they saved a real sense of dread and some killer graphics for the last boss.

Ghirahim stole all of Link's rupees to get some skinny jeans.

The bulk of the story was about what I expected. The creation of the world and the Triforce by the three ancient Golden Goddesses, followed by the saving of humanity by Hylia, both were very cool elements laced throughout the story. The fact that these events lead directly to the choosing of Link and Zelda as the people to finally bring peace to the world adds some gravity (once again, no pun intended) and urgency to your quest. To lighten the mood, Link will often need to interact with the other residents of Skyloft, as well as members of the five sentient races left on the earth below. More often than not, they are entertaining and helpful. One important example of helpful supporting characters is Groose. He begins the game as Link's chief rival in the Knight Academy. As soon as he was introduced, I had an awful feeling that he would become a sideshow, popping up way too often, doing nothing with his scenes, and generally being terrible.

Can't. Unsee.

However, as the story progresses, Groose proves himself to be more and more competent, and even a little endearing. It's a credit to to director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and his team that they are still able to surprise an audience with dynamic characters new to the series.

Now, the meat and potatoes of any Zelda game is threefold; the gameplay, the gadgets, and the dungeons. There's a reason Skyward Sword is only for the Wii and requires an advanced controller. The gameplay is highly reliant on the manner in which you swing, tilt, or rock the controller. Basic movement is pretty easy, but flying, swimming, and mastering obstacles takes some getting used to. Battle mechanics are also a little tricky. Trash monsters can be hacked through with any flick of the wrist, but more sizable foes, bosses, and puzzles require a mastery of how to properly swing your sword. In fact, I am man enough to admit that it took some discipline and patience for me to learn some of the moves. In particular, the forward sword thrust was a problem for me, as I would not only move the Wiimote sharply forward, but the Nunchuk attachment as well, which resulted in Link not doing anything with his sword but standing around with his shield up, letting the opportunity to attack pass him by. This was more than a little frustrating, but I learned to channel my rage into actually doing the move correctly. I was hoping the Hidden Skill mechanic from Twilight Princess would return, but I suppose the designers felt like it was unnecessary due to the improved response of Wii MotionPlus and the ability to better control your sword. There are essentially four moves because of it; slice vertically, slice horizontally, slice diagonally, and thrust. The Fatal Blow once an enemy is on the ground is essentially the Ending Blow from Twilight Princess, but it is available from the beginning of the game, and only requires you to shake both the Wiimote and Nunchuk forward. So the player is left with only their skill at directing their controller, which is both good and bad. It can be frustrating to mess up slashing a certain direction time and time again, but it does require the player's control. By the games later dungeons, I was wasting enemies with ease, so much so that I felt like the Inigo Montoya of Skyloft. There is also a mini-game which allows you to repeat every boss battle, and most of them retain their fun, especially considering you have a more powerful sword and more heart containers this time around. The only boss I dreaded fighting again was The Imprisoned, a gargantuan black beast with surprising speed until you cut off his squishy toes. To fight him, you have to constantly be around his feet, but with every step he takes, he sends a shock wave towards Link. Unlike most of Skyward Sword's difficulty, which derives from mastering the controls, this was just an exercise in having the patience to attack him without getting hit with the shock wave, juxtaposed with the time it takes for The Imprisoned to flatten an old woman and her temple. It can be maddening at times, but it's a nice change of pace, and certainly doesn't hurt overall gameplay.

Six-fingered man or eight-legged mob, they all fall to expert swordsmen.

There are a handful of weapons and gadgets from every era of Zelda games that fans want to see. Luckily, most of them find their way into Skyward Sword. Bow and arrows, bombs, keys, and medicine bottles have been present in almost every title, and thankfully they're all here as well. I have a fondness for the boomerang, as it was the first dungeon treasure I received all those years ago in The Legend of Zelda, but sadly it does not appear here. It's functionality is replaced with the Beetle, a half-magic, half-steampunk flying metal bug that Link can pilot remotely to pick up items and hit switches out of reach. Even though I miss the boomerang, I must admit the Beetle was fun, inventive, and fit well with some of the other elements in the game. The Hookshot seems to be on notice while the Clawshot is the grab-and-pull weapon of choice now, which is a shame because the Hookshot was my favorite item from A Link to the Past and I miss it dearly. The slingshot does make a return appearance, which I don't fully understand. It worked well in Ocarina of Time, as the young Link's answer to the older Link's bow. Here, as with Twilight Princess, an adult link has both the bow and the slingshot at his disposal. But Skyward Sword saves the bow and arrows for late in the game, leaving Link using a slingshot to fire projectiles well past its practical usefulness. The variety of shields, and the ability to damage and repair them, was a nice touch. But I also would have liked to see a variety in armor or visible accessories (like Iron Boots) present. In the last bit of gadgetry, we have a musical instrument, the Goddess's Harp. It is, without a doubt, the weakest of all of the franchise's instruments. Even though Link learns multiple songs along his journey, they do not require different input methods. All songs are played by simply waiving the Wiimote back and forth in the same rhythm. It's cumbersome, and hearing the songs played is not particularly fun or memorable.

Five bucks says Link requests "Free Bird."

Additionally, there are two drastic changes to your inventory, both of which I thought worked quite well. First, Link may carry his eight main gadgets with him at all times. But bonus items, like ammunition expansions and bottled potions, must be managed in your Adventure Pouch. This restricts you to bringing only four to eight extra items with you, and you must manage your supply with an item check NPC in Skyloft. Having to choose what to bring to a particular dungeon adds just a bit more strategy and difficulty, which is more than welcome. Second, you may upgrade items and potions using the Scrap Shop and Potion Infusion counters, respectfully. To do so, you must pay the NPCs a modest amount of rupees, and also acquire the necessary raw materials for the upgrade. This adds a bit of an RPG feel to a series that almost exclusively consists of adventure gameplay, and I thought it was executed wonderfully.

Gondo at the Scrap Shop reinvests all of his profits into ridiculous forehead coverings.

There are only seven dungeons total in Skyward Sword, and they present only a fair degree of difficulty. The rooms and layouts can be massive, and thanks to the 3D environment, you get a real sense of scale and scope when battling monsters and solving puzzles. And while there is not a challenge equivalent to the Water Temple, or multi-floored tower to travel up and down levels, each one is fun without being a cakewalk. In fact, there are several dungeons which require you to revisit them and uncover new secrets, adding tougher monsters along the way. That said, I wouldn't describe any one of them as especially noteworthy; they each have two or three tricks to them, and once you figure them out, it's onward and upward. This wouldn't be so bad on its own, but the fact that there are so few dungeon zones makes Link's quest seem relatively short and simple, even though it's not.

Not exactly rocket science.

As I said earlier, the overall graphics for Skyward Sword were, in my opinion, disappointing. I have read several sources that cite the influence of impressionist art on the game designers as a basis for the style of graphics chosen. While that may be revisionist history, the end result is an enjoyable style and feel to the setting, but at the expense of sharpness and realism. However, I respect the intentions. Like many of the design decisions of Skyward Sword, they chose a direction to go and they went for it, which is more than I can say for most developers. This is the cause of the game's greatest assets, as well as its weak points. Whether or not something is an asset or a weakness is purely a matter of preference on the part of the player, but the development team leaves no doubt that everything they did had a purpose. I didn't like the graphics, especially when compared to Twilight Princess, but you may feel differently. I respect those who praise Skyward Sword's graphics as "timeless and stunning." I just prefer something else.

Late Cézanne? Or early Monet?

The score also takes on a bold initiative, only seldom relying on the familiar themes of Zelda games past. There are memorable tracks, the principle one being "Ballad of the Goddess." As people far more astute than I have pointed out, the melody is the result of playing "Zelda's Lullaby" backwards. A clever trick, to be sure, but "Ballad of the Goddess" stands on its own as a fantastic song without the need for historical context or trickery. Unfortunately, most of the story music only plays briefly in one or two cutscenes, but tracks like "Romance in the Air" really help set the tone for the story. This, along with other Skyloft songs like "Knight Academy" make the setting especially enjoyable. Songs for most areas are not only good, but fit well with the vibe of the surroundings. Two of my favorites are "Skyview Temple," which creates a sense of danger in the game's first real dungeon, and "Lanayru Sand Sea," which mixes ancient technology with the desolation of the present. But Skyward Sword's soundtrack really shines in the battle music, particularly with boss tracks like "Battle Ghirahim" and "Koloktos / Moldarach." Of course, when they need to go to the well of Zelda familiarity, they reel you in with snippets like "Inside a House" and, naturally, "Song of the Hero." And what Zelda game would be complete without the "Great Fairy's Fountain Theme" as your "File Select." Finally, providing some levity and laughs, is "Scrapper." Thanks to him (and his theme song) we now know Link can add "Master Shortpants" to his impressive collection of titles.

He's more gentle than he looks.

The sound effects are also on point, and listening for subtle cues from the immediate environment can help in your adventuring. But the biggest problem with the sound is the lack of voice acting. As noted above, Shannon Sharpe the Midna gibberish returns, as Fi is the only character given more than just non-lingual noises. But whatever language she is speaking, it gets annoying after two or three lines. Everyone else, including Link and Zelda, are once again reduced to gasps, grunts, and giggles, a disturbing non-trend from two generations of consoles ago that somehow survives in 2012. Change comes slowly, if at all, to the Zelda series. Most of the time it's for the better -- no need to reinvent the wheel when there is a recipe for success. One marked change in Skyward Sword is the outstanding full orchestral (rather than synthesized) music, as noted above. But the addition of voice acting is one obvious way for the series to make a dramatic improvement. To make matters worse, the oddly designed residents of Skyloft are accompanied by equally odd vocal responses. To an outside observer, visiting Beedle's Air Shop might sound like a teenage boy who is way too excited to be meeting Selena Gomez.

You assume that's what he's saying, but all you hear is, "AAAIIIIOOOOOOOUUUUHHHH!"

Over the course of Zelda's history, the developers of games for consoles that have two or more titles often greatly differentiate between them. No one would confuse The Legend of Zelda with The Adventure of Link, Ocarina of Time with Majora's Mask, or The Wind Waker with Four Swords Adventures. The same can be said of the two Wii titles, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. Each one has its own strengths. For Skyward Sword, the game excels at story and continuity, fully utilizing the Wii's controllers, the hometown setting of Skyloft, and a bold new item upgrading system. However, it takes a small step backward in the complexity and number of dungeons, and in my opinion, graphics. It's an incredibly fun and unique game -- everyone who has a Wii should play it, and everyone who likes Zelda should get a Wii. While it probably won't go down in history as one of the greatest games, or even greatest Zelda games, it's not far behind. And it should not be missed.

The Basics		The Rest
Gameplay	9/10	Origin Legend	10/10
Characters	9/10	Dungeonosity	6/10
Story	10/10	Last Boss	9/10
Sound	8/10	RPG Sensibilities	10/10
Graphics	6/10	A Harp? Really?	4/10
Score	42/50	Score	39/50
Final Score: 81/100