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The moment this game is in your Wii an epic adventure begins. Amazing battles, plot points that will give you goose bumps and landscapes that will take you to a fantastic world.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has some classic characteristics of The Legend of Zelda saga, there is a princess that gets captured and a ordinary boy is chosen to be the hero who goes in an adventure to rescue her, it's a story we haven't grown tired of
, specially
because it's never the same, even if it has the same essence. Anyway, this game takes an effort in being unique and it accomplishes it's goal, it's not just about the motion controls which achieve excellent game mechanics and an incomparable immersion, but the story, the maps, the temples, it all adds up to result in what, in my opinion, is the best game I've played for the Wii.
In the saga's time line, this is the first game, even before Hyrule. In this time, humans live in the sky in a floating island called Skylof, and each individual has it's own companion bird called Wingloft which they can mount to travel across the sky between the small islands. The main character (Link) is a trainee knight and Zelda is his childhood friend and the mayor's daughter. The game starts with Link having to participate in a competition to be able to ascend and to be a step closer to knighthood, after wining he must carry a ceremony with Zelda during which they are interrupted by a typhoon that takes Zelda away, there's when the adventure starts and Link has to go to the surface to find an enormous world and rescue Zelda.
As in other Zelda games, the story is pretty deep and develops until the last minute of the game, but I must say that this games stands out given that it not only has a deep and extense story, but it also has meaningful secondary stories that are well placed so the player will want to play them right away and not wait until the end of the game (as I usually do).
In the 40 to 50 hours of game you're going to feel the adventure run through yout veins and you're going to enjoy it till the last minute.
This game aims for the immersion of the player, and the motion controls are a big help. Handling all the items as if you actually had them makes you want to play standing to feel deeper into the game. All the controls in the game feel intuitive, swimming, flying and handling the different items is natural. You even can decide how to use some items like the bow or the slingshot which you can use as the real ones or aiming with the wiimote as in Twilight Princess. The stamina bar was a good addition, being able to run is something we players have wanted for a long time in a Zelda game, and the fact that some activities consume stamina make the game more interesting.
Battles aren't simple, you can't defeat enemies just swinging the wiimote randomly, enemies see our movements and predict attacks, you have to think your moves in order to beat them, it ends up being really entertaining and wining has a good feel.
I've read some negative comments about the graphics in this game, I personally love them. I've always preferred colorful games, I grew up playing Super Mario and Zelda, and while I respect a good dark game, they are not my favorites. Graphics in Skyward Sword are excellent, colors enhance the life of the game and achieve unforgettable landscapes.
Music in this game is something that will stay in your memory, every melody fits each situation and each landscape. All the music is orchestrated and it sounds amazing.
Temples are perfectly created, from the different puzzles to the enemies you'll find, they are long enough to be entertaining but not too long to be boring. Even though I didn't get stuck in any temple, I spent a long time solving puzzles and discovering secrets around, I've even come back to find stuff I didn't see the first time.
Something different to the other Zelda games is the RPG elements that Zelda didn't use to have, added in an unconventional way that fits the game perfectly. The amount of items you can carry is limited (except for the main items) and there is a place where you can store them, besides some of the items can be upgraded using different materials and the potions can be upgraded using bugs. The item selection menu is in real time, so the action doesn't stop when you choose an item, it's an amazing addition and I hope they keep it in the next games.
Even though it's not something regular in the game, you can make some decisions that change some aspects of the game, a lot of dialogues have options to answer in different ways, and there are some choices you can make through the game, in the end the game evolves in a different way for different players, added to the fact that you can select which items you carry with you, it makes every Link a signature Link of the player.
There are some elements I personally liked and are different to other Zelda games. The new items are awesome, my favorite is the whip, but the most characteristic is the beetle, which has multiple uses and is very useful. Another element is the display, you can change between three different configurations, one of them (the one I use) only shows a couple of things on screen, what I'm grateful for. Finally something I found characteristic is the lack of a map displayed on screen, I loved it, it's something that enhances the difficulty a bit but it doesn't get annoying.
To sum up The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is an excellent game and I recommend it to everybody, it's a perfect title that you will enjoy from beginning to end.
