Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Amazing"

As we all should know by now, this year marks the 25th anniversary of one of Nintendo's biggest franchises, The Legend of Zelda. Over the years, we've seen fifteen (not including the newest) main games added to the series. This year bring us a new one, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, bring the grand total to sixteen games. Now, the question becomes how does this new game hold up to the last twenty-five years of the series history? How does it stand up to the last fifteen main games? The answer many, including myself, have found is one word. Beautifully.

The plot boils down to Link rising up as the hero to stop the big bad guy from trying to take over, as in nearly all the other games. This time around, Link is the chosen hero of the Goddess Hylia, who sent a group of Hylians in the sky, to protect the Triforce from evil, a while ago. Most of the people now don't even think there anything below the clouds. It's up to Link to help protect Zelda and stop Demon Lord Ghirahim's plans of reviving his master, the one who was imprisoned by Hylia. It's really a fitting plot and we see some character development with some of the main characters over time. It also tells the story of how the Master Sword was created and sets up future games, in the Zelda time line, very nicely.

At it's core, Skyward Sword is a lot like other Zelda games. There's Link, Zelda, and some big bad guy trying to do evil things. You go through dungeons, get new items, and fight bosses. But it has a different feel to it as well. Potions and certain items can be upgraded. For example. There are three standard shields that you can buy, eventually. They are nice for the start of the game, but they are not strong enough later on. So, you can upgrade them so that they are stronger, and you're going to want to since most of the shields will take damage if you don't use the right. Over all, I loved being able to upgrade my items and not have to play mini-games in order to get a bigger bomb bag or something like that.

Where the game really separates itself from the rest of the games is the combat. Enemies are actually smart, for the most part. You have to watch how you attack because enemies will block you, meaning you can't just waggle or button smash your way through the game. Another big thing about combat that I hinted to earlier has to do with shields. Because of that "life bar" shields have on them, most can break. To make sure that they don't take damage, you have to thrust the shield out before they strike. The game wants you to do this, it's really bagging you to since you will otherwise have a hard time fighting.

But combat doesn't matter if the controls are not good, since the game is using motion control. And let me tell you, the controls are not good, they are great. Having that 1:1 motion control for swinging the sword feels great, and a lot of it has to do with enemies being smart about blocking attacks meaning you have to swing the right way to land a hit. But it's not just swordplay that uses motion control, a large amount of things do. Thrusting/bring your shield out, swimming, flying on your Loftwing, swinging on ropes and vines, picking your items and using them, all of that and some more uses motion control. For the most part, it's all done well. Swimming and playing the harp were the less then stellar things. Swimming has it's faults when it comes to using the spin attack and turning. With playing the harp, you can sit there for a very long time trying to strum in time to how the game wants it done, even though it feels like you are. The biggest plague with some of controls, the ones that require you to point like using some items and the menus, becomes the need to realign your cursor every few minutes. It's easy for it to get off set. Once you get in the habit of it, it becomes almost second nature to realign things in the game.

You have four main areas to travel from, the sky and three areas on the surface. The sky acts a bit like a hub since it has most of the shops on it and you use it to travel between Faron Woods, Eldin Volcano, and Lanayru Desert. While in the sky, your main mode of transportation is your Loftwing. As I mentioned before, flying is well done. It's fairly fast to get from place to place, so if you're not a huge fan of sailing in Wind Waker, don't worry. As for the surface areas, these places are visited numerous times, unlike in previous games where you'd only have to go through areas once or twice (though you could go through them more if you wanted). These areas always have some kind of challenge to offer you, besides just the dungeons.

The dungeons themselves serve as a nice challenge to the player. They have their own nice set of puzzles for you to figure out, much like other Zelda games. But the big player in each dungeon becomes the boss fight. Boss fights are not just about using the item you just picked up any more, though some fights still work like that a bit. For the most part, they demand your sword skills over anything. And almost every single fight is great, including the final boss fight. There was only one fight I didn't care for, but it was namely because it's someone you take on a number of times (well, there's two that you do, but the other guy is a welcomed challenge) and by the last time you fight it, it feels really cheap.

Adding to the changes, Link has a new stamina meter. This watches over some of the things that Link does, like dash, climb, use spin attacks, and move things. Adding it makes sense because you're not going to be able to dash around forever. It adds another layer of strategy to the game, since you have to think about how you're going to climb some things or how many spin attacks you are going to use. There are also some new items, as well as old favorites. The Beetle is a really fun items that you use to fly around, servery what's in the room, as well as bomb enemies and solve puzzles.

And if you need more to do, don't worry. There is plenty of side quests, mini-games, and collectibles to do and find. Of course there is your Pieces of Hearts to find, but that's not it. There are things called Goddess Cubes that, when hit by your new move, the Skyward Strike, you unlock chests in the sky that hold a number of things in them, including Pieces of Heart. Side quests help with upgrading your wallet in the end, though it's not really needed. Some of the quests have multiple endings which is a nice change. There are a number of mini-games that, most of the time, will give you a Piece of Heart. They include you standard shooting game to riding mine carts as fast as you can. The game also offers a Boss Rush Mode, in which you can relive some of those amazing boss fights over again. The more fights you win, the better the prize. Also to collect are bugs, to upgrade your positions, and treasures, you upgrade your equipment.

There is also a second quest of sorts. Titled Hero Mode, it simply the game again, but much, much harder. Healing your hearts becomes very limited since you can't find Recovery Hearts unless you have a special medal. It's a great challenge for true Zelda fans who think they have what it takes, and it's the only way you're going to be able to fight the final boss in the Boss Rush Mode.

The graphics of the game are top notch. Some of the finest graphics on the Wii so far, only being rivaled by a few other games that come to mind. The artistic direction is kind of like a mix of previous games, Twilight Princess with it's realistic look, and Wind Waker with it's cartoony look. When you mix the two, you get Skyward Sword, kind of like a fantasy story come to life. The environments looks well done and are very distinct for each area. Character models are also top notch as well. The game has some really good looking characters if I do say so myself, and I do. While some of them can be off putting at first, in terms of what gender they are (seriously, I thought the fortune teller was a girl at first glance), for the most part they are well done.

The direction they went with the sound track for the game is also great. Fully orchestrated pieces really fit the series well. While the pieces are not too memorable as other in the series, they are all well done. They really add to the mood of the game, especially the final boss fight. The song for it really says, in the second half of the fight, "yeah, this going to be a challenge". Now, if you're expecting voice acting, let me reminded you that this is Zelda and it is one of the only series that can get away with text for dialogue. Still, there is a number of noises that characters will make. And if you're worried that Link's helper, Fi, is going to annoy you every three seconds, she doesn't. At most your Wii More vibrates and there's a chime to say she wants to tell you to replace your batteries or you need more hearts.

Over all, Skyward Sword is a great addition to the Legend of Zelda series. It brings a lot of new to the table and it a great challenge to new and old players to the Zelda franchises. If you are a fan, pick this game up. If you have a Wii, this is a must have title. The game is plenty long, around forty to fifty hours and will bring you back for more.