The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Review
This has to be one of the more complete Zelda games I've ever played. You're going to start in a city named Skyloft, a city somehow suspended above to clouds, the ground has long since be forgotten. You'll enter in on the day of the Festival of the Goddess, and of course Zelda is the main star. Well something happens and Zelda gets sucked down to the world below, and this is where the journey begins. You'll have to traverse several different areas, defeat several types of enemies, and collect items that will help you win the day, and of course defeat the ancient evil that plagues the world.
Graphically this has to be one of the best looking Wii games I've ever played, I'm wondering if they just maxed the crap out of the system, or what they did to achieve the look of the game. There really aren't that many of your usual enemies popping up in this game, so you'll have fun getting to know some of the newer ones as you slice them with your blade. The look and feel of each of the areas that you will visit look amazing, and well done, I really enjoyed all the temples.
The music is always top notch in this series, so expect more of the same, and if you play in sessions as long as I did you're probably going to be whistling or humming some of the area music. As seems to always be the case don't expect any voice acting, you're going to have to do the reading to find out what is going on in the game.
The controls make this game a very unique entry to the series. You'll be utilizing the Wii-motion plus, and for better or worse that is going to make the game for you. For some reason I had to continuously reset the calibration of where my indicator was on the screen, there were also times where when I tried to do a specific sword swing I didn't get the desired response because of the calibration issue. I really do wish that there was a jump button in the game as well, but there is not, so you'll have to run at stuff to caused a jumping action to occur.
You'll have to chase after Zelda for the majority of the game, as she tries to stop the rise of an evil power known as Demise. There will be one other that will constantly get in your way, a servant of Demise, but if you are strong enough you will win in the end. There was an extra layer to this game, and that was the collecting and side-quests. The collecting was basically retrieving items from fallen enemies, capturing bugs, and being rewarded with rare items. All of those pieces you'll get to use for upgrading equipment, or strengthening potions. You'll also have to be on the look out for extra pouches so that your inventory can grow and you can be as armed as you want to be. The side-quest thing I never really did, you could gain a special item that you were of course collecting for someone, but I never felt the need to do so. It could give something extra to break up the flow of the game, but I wasn't interested in that. There's also the issue of shield durability. Now when you try to use your shield it takes damage, enough of it and it breaks. Fear not there is someone who can repair the shields for you, but it definitely throws an interesting twist into how you play the game.
Now I know everyone is interested to know what items other than a sword and shield will you have access to. Well you'll get to have the bow and arrow, slingshot, whip, digging claws, bombs, grapple glove, bug net, and wind bellow. You're going to get to use all of these items a ton in the game as you try to solve all the puzzles that have been put in your way.
As much as I was annoyed by the calibration issue of the controls, I couldn't get enough of the game, and I didn't want to stop playing. Sure there were times where the answers were a bit out there, but in the end this was yet another solid game, and something we've grown to expect from a game with the name Zelda on it. If you have a Wii, this is the game that will breath life back into the system, or for me a chance to dust off the system that has not been turned on in a year. Get this game if you haven't already, this game gets a 9.6 out of 10.