Nelson Schneider's Game Review of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

A Step Backwards in Time
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/14/12

Five years after Nintendo launched the Wii with a waggle-fied port of the Gamecube ‘Zelda’ game, “Twilight Princess” as a launch title, they have finally released a true Wii ‘Zelda’ game in the form of “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” (“Skyward Sword”). While the motion controls added to “Twilight Princess” offered tantalizing tastes of what might be done in a fully motion-controlled ‘Zelda’ game, it wasn’t until the development and release of the Wii MotionPlus gyroscopic add-on that Nintendo felt confident in releasing such a game to their dedicated fans. After years of minimalizing the motion-controlled aspects of their first-party games, could Nintendo finally show the world that the investment in motion was as revolutionary and game changing as they once touted it to be?

Presentation
“Skyward Sword” attempts to merge all of the art styles of the previous ‘Zelda’ games into a primordial prototype, and does so quite successfully. The characters and world reflect both the bright colors and cell shading of “Wind Waker” and the realism of “Twilight Princess,” resulting in a game that truly looks how a 3D ‘Zelda’ game should. There is also a balanced mix of normal-looking characters (emulating the “Twilight Princess” style) and hideous mutants (emulating the “Ocarina of Time” style). But all of the effort put into the visual design is limited by the Wii’s aged hardware, resulting in a game that is loaded with jaggies except during character close-ups. Even worse, “Skyward Sword” is a game with huge environments, so it was bound to run into draw distance issues, which have been a problem for ‘Zelda’ games for as long as they’ve been 3D. But instead of taking the N64 route and filling Hyrule with fog, “Skyward Sword” took the unprecedented step of making Link nearsighted. Everything in a small bubble around Link looks sharp and clear (aside from the jaggies). Past about 20 feet, though, the world becomes blurred, using a pattern of small circles or dots, making the environments look like Impressionist paintings. It is a truly hideous effect, made even worse by the normal amount of stretching and blurring a Wii game undergoes when played on an HDTV.

The soundtrack also draws heavily from previous games in the franchise, featuring a number remixes. There are also plenty of new tracks, but I didn’t find any of them to be particularly memorable. On one occasion, I almost jumped out of my seat with excitement by the first few tones of the desert dungeon theme, thinking it would reveal itself to be a remix of the original dungeon theme from the original “Legend of Zelda,” but I was sorely disappointed. Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the soundtrack is the fact that the main ‘Zelda’ theme doesn’t play until the end credits. Not even the magical songs Link acquires through the course of the game are memorable, thanks to the fact that Link now plays a harp instead of an ocarina. And by ‘plays’ I mean ‘stirs at the strings with all the grace of an electric eggbeater.’

While there is still no ‘real’ voiceacting in “Skyward Sword,” there are a number of character sounds that go along with the rest of the game’s sound effects. Quite a few of the game’s sound effects are re-used from previous games, sometimes directly in the case of Beedle the shopkeeper’s grating “THANK YOU!” But the main thing I noticed is that quite a few of the characters have much more pronounced Japanese accents than they ever used to, including Link.

Yes, it may be difficult to believe, but – thanks to watching too much fansubbed anime several years ago – I can discern distinct Japanese pronunciation in the various grunts and groans uttered by the protagonist, as well as a few supporting characters. It just seems weird and out of place in a series that has always featured European-style designs and characters. The voices aren’t the only out-of-place bits of Japanese culture, though, as there are several important characters parading around in kimonos. These small details strike me as a cultural inconsistency in the design of the world of Hyrule.

Technically, “Skyward Sword” is a pretty solid game, but for one game-breaking – though easily avoidable – glitch. By speaking to a certain desert-dwelling Goron twice in a row while seeking pieces of a song, it’s possible for the game to erroneously set event flags, preventing two cutscenes from triggering and thus blocking all further progress. Nintendo has acknowledged the issue, but their fix is quite unsatisfactory: Affected gamers can mail an SD card containing the damaged save file to Nintendo, and they will patch the save and mail it back. I knew about the glitch before hand, and specifically set-out to avoid talking to any Gorons… but in playing the game I found that I would have had no reason to talk to any Gorons once, let alone twice, outside of forced conversations triggered by cutscenes.

Story
“Skyward Sword” takes place an unspecified amount of time after a war between ‘the gods’ – including the Goddess Hylia – and the Demon King. This war apparently took place in a time during which Hyrule was a technological power inhabited by robots and artificially-intelligent swords. This high-tech revelation is quite interesting, as it means that any further ‘Zelda’ prequels will, by necessity, be Sci-Fi instead of Fantasy. But despite their technology, the war of the gods ground into a stalemate as Hylia sacrificed herself to raise one of her sacred temples into the sky while simultaneously sealing the ball of scales and teeth that was the Demon King into the former temple grounds and placing an impenetrable cloud layer between the ascended temple and the world below.

In the time of “Skyward Sword,” the temple in the sky has become known as Skyloft and is inhabited by a handful of bird-riding ‘humans,’ the pointy-eared people that appear in every ‘Zelda’ game. These people have forgotten the ancient war and believe there is nothing below the cloud barrier. But the coming-of-age of two students at the Skyknight Academy, Zelda and Link, sets into motion the chain of events set-up by Hylia so long ago. After an accident, Link finds himself thrust into the role of ‘Legendary Hero,’ and must courageously face numerous trials set by Hylia in order to prove himself worthy of defeating the foe that the Goddess could not.

Despite being released for the ‘Zelda’ franchise’s 25th anniversary, “Skyward Sword” is actually the earliest game in the series’ timeline. As such, it would naturally make sense that “Skyward Sword” details the origins of many things in the world of Hyrule, like Gorons, Zoras, the Master Sword, the Triforce, etc. Except it DOESN’T actually explain the origins of anything besides the Master Sword and, at the very end, the eternal cycle of reincarnation that sees the Hero, the Maiden, and the Demon King clash again and again throughout the ages. At the same time, it introduces a handful of loose ends, like a race of mole-men called the Mogma that don’t appear in any later ‘Zelda’ games.

Regardless of these problems, “Skyward Sword” does manage to throw in quite a few references to other games in the series, like the sword beam from the oldest ‘Zelda’ games, the Sheikah Tribe from “Ocarina of Time,” and even the Wind Fish from “Link’s Awakening,” making it feel at home in the mythos that has already been built. However, this fit into the existing mythos is made tenuous by the fact that the world of “Skyward Sword” feels disconnected and too empty. There are no villages on the surface, leaving one to wonder exactly where the two Gorons and one Sheikah in the world came from. And the tiny number of people in the sky seems like an incredibly small and unsustainable population to have lasted the uncounted centuries since the War of the Gods.

While the handling of recurring characters (including a stealth cameo by the owl from “Link’s Awakening”) is well done, the game’s new characters are particularly grating. I am specifically referring to Ghirahim, the main antagonist through the course of the game; and Fi, the obligatory ‘helper’ character and incarnation of the titular sword. Ghirahim is obviously the result of the current Japanese pop-cultural obsession with effeminate pretty-boys with white hair and make-up (seriously, the douche wears white lipstick and purple eyeshadow). Fi, on the other hand, looks like something out of the movie “Tron” and appears at all the wrong times to offer unhelpful advice in the most long-winded way possible. She also sings along with Link’s harp playing, but it looks more like she’s yelling. These characters are just flat-out awful: Ghirahim isn’t menacing or devious; he simply comes off as a flaky blow-hard. Fi is the worst helper since Navi first introduced and filled that completely unnecessary role in “Ocarina of Time.” I actually think most of her monologues are present for the sake of setting event flags in the game’s programming rather than providing assistance to the player.

Gameplay
“Skyward Sword” is supposed to be the culmination of 25 years of game design experience blended seamlessly with cutting edge motion controls that immerse the player fully into the world of Hyrule. Sadly, the game doesn’t live up to either of these claims.

The only well-done facet of “Skyward Sword’s” gameplay is the dungeon design. While there are only 7 dungeons in the game, each is a well-crafted series of puzzles that require clever use of the adventuring tools Link acquires throughout the game. Unlike “Twilight Princess,” these adventuring tools find use in many areas besides the dungeon in which they were discovered. In order to bolster the dungeon count a bit, there are also three ‘Silent Realms’ in which link must collect Goddess Tears while avoiding Sleeping Guardians that can kill his spirit form in a single blow. These Silent Realms are reminiscent of the wolf segments in “Twilight Princess,” but more challenging due to the need for complete stealth. The bosses at the end of each dungeon, on the other hand, are frequently inscrutable and feature an unfortunate number of repeats. The main problem I had with bosses is that many of them don’t provide comprehensible feedback to let the player know that, yes, the boss is taking damage. Other times I made no progress until a control glitch caused Link to do something unintended, like launch a Skyward Strike (e.g., sword beam) horizontally instead of vertically, at which point I thought, “I didn’t know he could do that!” But both the dungeons and the bosses are hampered by Fi, the avatar of Master Sword. While she appears repeatedly in the dungeons and Silent Realms to repeat the same advice over and over or point-out an obvious visual cue, she provides absolutely no assistance against bosses.

Links arsenal of tools includes a number of old standbys plus a number of all-new items. There is a mix of good and bad among both old and new gear. The traditional boomerang has been replaced by a flying robot beetle that Link can control from a distance; bombs can now be dropped, thrown, or rolled, which makes for some novel uses; and the whip is like an upgraded version of the grappling hook from “Wind Waker.” The clawshots, however, feel redundant alongside the whip, and rely far too much on obvious targets that look out of place in the environments. The bow and slingshot feel redundant as well: Why would Link need two projectile weapons? Of course, the reason he needs the slingshot as well as the bow is that the bow can only be fired from a footwork-impeding first-person perspective, which makes it useless in heated combat situations.

“Skyward Sword” is also home to a number of new gameplay mechanics that seem to exist only for the purpose of tedium and frustration. Link now has a Stamina Meter (which changes to an Air Meter while swimming) that pops-up like a comic strip voice bubble and ticks-down whenever he does something strenuous (like running, climbing or performing his signature spin-attack). Not only does it look stupid in relation to the rest of the game’s interface (Why isn’t it in a standard spot like the old Magic Meter from “Link to the Past”?), but it adds nothing enjoyable to the gameplay. It just forces the player to rush through climbing puzzles as quickly as possible, never use the spin attack, and alternate between walking and jogging to cover long distances. While there is a potion Link can purchase that temporarily gives him unlimited stamina, the base version of the potion only lasts for 3 minutes.

This brings me to the problem with potions: They are worthless. The basic health potion only restores 8 hearts of health – exactly the same amount as a fairy in a bottle. In order to make the potions he buys more powerful (and actually useful), Link must have them infused by the potion-maker’s husband, who requires yet more money AND a variety of insects to grind-up and dump into the mix. Of course, Link needs to provide his own bugs. So in order to get a single potion that isn’t worthless, Link needs to pay an outrageous sum of money AND catch a bunch of specific bugs. I found that potions weren’t worth the effort and just spent the entire game (up until the final boss) relying on fairies I found and captured myself. And while it’s possible to find a large number of bottles for storing potions and fairies, actually carrying those bottles can be a problem, as Link now has an Adventure Pouch that allows him to carry a limited number of items in addition to the dungeon tools.

The Adventure Pouch starts with 4 slots and can be upgraded to 8 slots at extreme expense by purchasing additional pouches from Beedle’s Airshop. Bottles, ammunition bags (for bombs, arrows, or slingshot seeds), shields, and badges all take up space in this pouch. I usually carried the Rupee Badge and Treasure Badge to make money and monster drops appear more frequently, as money and monster drops are required in order to pay yet another merchant to upgrade Link’s equipment (the bow, slingshot, bug net, ammunition bags, and shields can all be upgraded in this way).

But why does Link carry his shield, an essential piece of combat gear, in an optional pouch? Because in “Skyward Sword,” shields are worthless as well! From the beginning of the game until immediately before the final dungeon, the only shields available for use have Durability Meters. If Link fails to block ‘perfectly,’ the shield takes damage. The first two shields Link can obtain, a wooden one and a metal one, have low durability as well as vulnerability to a specific element (fire and electricity, respectively), which means they can be destroyed easily. Toward the middle of the game, Link can purchase a Sacred Shield that has low durability but no specific vulnerabilities AND the ability to repair itself, but it is very expensive and can still be destroyed. The only useful shield in the game, the classic Hylian Shield, must be obtained by winning 8 rounds in a Boss Rush mini-game. This shield is completely indestructible… but is available so late in the game it is only useful (and by “useful” I mean “mandatory”) for the final boss.

And now we come to the elephant in the room: “Skyward Sword’s” motion controls. Combat is entirely handled via motion controls with the MotionPlus Wiimote handling Link’s sword and the Nunchuck handling his shield. While the controls are reasonably accurate, the game is designed as if the controls were perfectly accurate. I found that the WiimotePlus frequently would register my horizontal slashes as diagonal slashes or thrusts, or just register my horizontal slashes from the right as horizontal slashes from the left. These minor differences wouldn’t have been a problem in a game that was designed around a somewhat flakey, but fun, swordfighting system (like the one in “Red Steel 2,” for example), but almost every enemy in “Skyward Sword” will parry every attack that doesn’t come from a specific direction. What’s worse is that the weakest enemies, Bokoblins, have the most difficult guard to read (I lost an insane amount of hearts to cattle-prod-wielding Bokoblins’ parries). Link’s worthless, fragile shields do nothing to improve the combat, as Link only raises his guard by flicking the Nunchuck, but drops it again as soon as he performs any other action. I also found that the Nunchuck was sometimes hyper-sensitive, causing Link to raise his guard at inopportune times if I slightly adjusted my wrist position. And unlike “Twilight Princess,” Link doesn’t learn any interesting combat maneuvers throughout the course of the game. He is stuck with the same stable of moves from beginning to end, which makes combat unnecessarily repetitive and boring. Later in the game, I would simply shoot enemies with the bow to save time over engaging them in melee.

But even worse than the mediocre implementation of motion controlled combat is the way motion controls were implemented everywhere else in the game. Flying on his bird, skydiving, and swimming are all motion controlled, and closely resemble the lazy motion mechanics slapped into games by Sony for use with their SIXAXIS controller… in 2006. Flying on the bird gave me horrible flashbacks to Sony’s “Lair,” right down to the inability to actually hit anything with the bird’s ramming attacks.

And Nintendo wasn’t content to implement poor motion controls in new ways, but they also destroyed the one aspect of the Wiimote that has always worked well: The Pointer. Instead of using the sensor bar to control the Wiimote Pointer, “Skyward Sword” uses MotionPlus to simulate a PC Airmouse. The result is a Pointer that is incredibly sluggish (It feels a bit like pushing a Galapagos Tortoise around in a sandpit.) and constantly needs to be re-centered. Obviously Nintendo was aware of this issue, as nearly every screen in the game allows the player to re-center the Pointer by pressing down on the d-pad.

Finally, possibly in an effort to appeal to N64 fans, “Skyward Sword” has the worst camera in a 3D ‘Zelda’ game since “Ocarina of Time.” The biggest sacrifice in using the Wiimote + Nunchuck control scheme is the lack of a second analog stick with which to control the camera – something that has become a necessity in 3D games. While some Wii games hand-off camera controls to the Wiimote’s gyroscopes (not ideal, but better than nothing), “Skyward Sword” leaves players with nothing but the traditional Z-Targeting button that pulls double duty in locking-onto enemies and re-centering the camera behind Link. While “Twilight Princess” didn’t have a camera stick in its Wii incarnation either, its camera was at least somewhat well-behaved, while the camera in “Skyward Sword” gave me no end of frustration. While it is possible to switch to a first-person view to look-around and ‘Dowse’ for items using the Wiimote as a virtual analog stick, upon switching back to third-person mode, the camera resets itself to the position it was in before the switch to first-person.

Overall
“The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” is a game with great potential, laid low by poor design decisions and extreme overreaching of the capabilities of Wii MotionPlus. Neither incredible dungeon puzzles nor the origin story of the Master Sword can save this game from its poorly-implemented, inaccurate controls; dreadful camera; tiny, empty world; and annoying characters. While long-time ‘Zelda’ fans may still get some small amount of enjoyment out of it, “Skyward Sword” is a poor choice for introducing new players to the series. This is not the motion-controlled game we’ve been waiting for, and it makes me wonder if Nintendo has been paying any attention to the reception motion-controlled gaming has received and the lessons they should have learned from it.

Presentation: 4/5
Story: 4/5
Gameplay: 2.5/5
Overall (not an average): 3/5