Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

In honor of last month’s No Shame November, I have a confession to make: I don’t like the Zelda franchise. I’ve only ever beaten one game (Link‘s Awakening) and found myself bored with Ocarina of Time, Windwaker, Twilight Princess, and Link to the Past. The problem I’ve always come across is a giant disconnect between the game and myself, one that I see when I play League of Legends, and one that came to fruition back when Twilight Princess came out. See, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was able to grab my by the neck and pull me into the game thanks to its amazing (and modern) storytelling. Twilight Princess didn’t. Patrick Stewart didn’t talk to me, instead I had to read text. Go ahead, say whatever you want, but in the 21st century, this is a problem.

Skyward Sword finds a new way to deal with these problems. Once again launched alongside an Elder Scrolls title, Skyward Sword is able to offer something that every other game out on the market can’t: perfect gameplay and controls. Yes, we’ve long criticized the Wii’s controller and notion that Nintendo made a huge mistake abandoning their traditional “hardcore gamer” market with the motion controls, but once you’ve played Skyward Sword, you realize that its almost as if the Wiimote and the game were meant for each other, creating a perfect marriage of brilliant game design and controls that keep you coming back for more, even if the presentation and story don’t win you over.

Skyward Sword is a critical game for Nintendo for two reasons: It’s a prequel to the entire Zelda franchise and its also the first game that features a Nintendo character that features cinematic storytelling since Metroid: Other M, and we all know how well that went. By now we’ve all heard about how Nintendo has been able to incorporate such connection between characters without any voice acting, but the more you think about it, the more cliche the story becomes. Link and Zelda are childhood friends caught up in an evil plot where the Demon King Demise has stolen the Tri-Force for his own Demon King ways and Link has to find a way to stop him and save Hyrule, again, for the first time. Playing through the game and watching the cinematics, one has to wonder if Nintendo was about to voice all of the game’s characters, but the negative reception from Other M scared them off. It’s undoubtedly possible that you could keep the integrity of the Zelda franchise by voicing everyone aside from Link and Zelda; we’ve seen main characters remain silent in modern day games such as Skyrim, and even Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It continues to boggle me to see such storytelling potential fall short in this franchise, but then again, one can argue that this isn’t a franchise known for its stories.

Instead, when I personally think of Zelda, I think of two things. First of which is the gameplay and how solid it is. As much as I found myself not enojying my time playing previous Zelda games, I’ve always been impressed with the dungeon design. Skyward Sword improves on this manner thanks to the Wii controls. They may not be an absolute perfect 1-1 translation, but they’re a hell of a lot better than Twilight Princess’ and, you know what, I found myself enjoying the combat moreso than in Skyrim. The Wiimote adds a certain flow to the combat in ways I’ve honestly never seen in a game before. It’s just a shame that it took someone this long to get them right.

One of the controversial changes to the game is the option of a quick-travel system, in comparison to, say, sailing on your boat in Windwaker. I get why it was done, to cut short on walking/flying around aimlessly to keep the gameplay running smoothly, and for this I am grateful for, but at the same time, a game that advertises such gorgeous and artistic graphics eliminating the need to see the environments as you travel them seems, well, odd. As much of a pain it was, I enjoyed sailing in Windwaker and the excitement I’d get when I’d arrive at my destination. That thrill for adventure is gone in Skyward Sword and it’s a tad bit disappointing. Thankfully, journeying through the dungeons themselves will take up plenty of time, so it’s almost a wash, but it wonders what could have been if you were able to find little nooks and crannies along the way. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still spend time flying through the sky on your bird…thing, I didn’t find it to be the same.

Speaking of the graphics, they are held back by the Wii’s technical limitations. Recently, Nintendo has always had a theme with Zelda’s visuals, whether its the young look of Windwaker or the mature look of Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword goes for a combination of the two and while the aesthetic is there, lets face it, the lack of a higher resolution makes the game lose out on what could have been a crisp and clean look, making for some disappointing visuals. Thankfully, the game’s soundtrack is as memorable as ever, and is, in my opinion, the second staple of any Zelda game, along with its gameplay. There’s a reason why the game comes with a Zelda 25th Anniversary Soundtrack: the music is memorable and awe-inspiring, adding an emotional level to the game and cinematics. It’s just too bad there’s no damn voice acting, because that would have brought things to a whole new level.

Skyward Sword is the ultimate love letter for any Zelda fan. Nintendo has been able to keep its key franchise in tact while adding in some modern features, such as controls and cinematic storytelling, and create an absolute masterpiece that Zelda fans will fall in love with. However, if you’ve, say, spent the past month in Skyrim, you’re going to feel a massive disconnect with the lack of modern storytelling and sense of adventure that we’ve seen in past Zelda games. It’s almost as if Nintendo took a step back before taking two steps forward, but it does intrigue me about the future of the franchise. For someone like myself who’s only love goes out to Link’s Awakening, that’s enough to warrant a recommendation for what is the Wii’s final goodbye.

Before Xenoblade Chronicles finally comes out, that is.