Aussie Nintendo - Australia's Best Nintendo Coverage

System: Wii
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1

Since this review comes weeks after the game's launch, it's interesting writing a viewpoint after a lot of dust has settled on its critical and fanatical reception and where so many have already clocked the game once, if not twice, over. To avoid doubling up on what's been regurgitated by countless professionals (well, aren't they professionals?) I've decided to sum up the best and worst aspects of Nintendo's swansong for the Wii.

Zelda

Diverting from the tried and true scene of a rich young woman clasping her hands towards some symbol, Skyward Sword's Zelda is the first time we see someone eponymously resemble the holy mistress yet act like a naive and outspoken kid with a streak for adventure. Her personality meshes with the common folk at her home town of Skyloft - she just wants emotional rapport from Link, have him as her boyfriend and perhaps explore the world. Her youthful innocence combined with her physical synonymy of the strong and revered icon is nothing short of an intriguing and curious mix: how can a Zelda so playfully naive turn into a iron-willed ruler of lands? Nintendo develops this expertly, especially towards the game's epic conclusion where series staple and pivotal events in other Zelda games are intelligently tied and woven.

In addition, Zelda doesn't appear to be a damsel in distress, with strong support characters such as Impa watching her back and guiding her to "her mission". If anything, Link must prove himself to be of Zelda's worth since so much of the game has her proactive in the fight against evil.  

Skyloft and its community

Speaking of characters, the many townsfolk all share wonderful animations and great personalities that seem to grow and develop either from the main story and various side missions. It doesn't matter if your town isn't populated by dozens of civilians when there's so much character oozing from a tighter community. Groose is the lovably thick bully, Bertie is a submissive and troubled husband, Peatrice is a girl both lovesick and lost in the clouds and Rupin (who is my favourite character of the game) is a nervous and confronting business man during the day and exhausted and mellow at night. Oh, and Beedle is back and still hilariously eccentric. "OOOOOOOHHHHHH!"

Excusing that Skyloft and the sky are the most frequented areas, the orchestrated soundtrack is best memorable around these parts and offer tracks that uphold the proud hallmark of the series' impeccable audio. The glorious art direction, ease of travel between locations and handy map plotting brings a remarkably interconnected feeling to the world.

Lanaryu Desert

While Eldin Volcano and Faron Woods all share some memorable highlights and similar design philosophies, the majority of Lanaryu Desert best demonstrates what this game does right and where the altered direction in design from series norm gels as well as Nintendo have planned. To be tangential for a moment, I'm absolutely fine with retracing familiar territory as long as the approach and interaction with old territory appears fresh and interesting. A popular criticism from fans and critics is revisiting a certain area to gather musical notes underwater. While the story behind this mission is awfully contrived (more so than what we're used to with the series), revisiting a location that has since become flooded and demands a different method of traversal is, at the very least, novel and different. And being able to take to the surface to observe your surroundings before diving towards your next prey was both an entertaining deviation and in practice, relatively effortless.

This very concept of adding new mechanics and new hooks to old territory is emanated best at Lanaryu. What became trekking through harsh quicksands unfolded into minecart puzzles, 'Spiderman' hookshot obstacle courses, basketball bomb baskets, rollercoaster rides, creative delights in manipulating time and changing perspective upon a vast blanket of sand into something unforgettable. The level geometry and layout is more akin to a 3D platformer like Super Mario 64 or Donkey Kong 64 with revisiting wide open areas for new collectables and new areas that genuinely surprise and therefore justify the backtracking as worthy expedition. Zelda's environments may be more tailored to tools and puzzles than acrobatics and parkour, but there's a 'lushness' or 'fullness' to Lanaryu that resembles a virtual playground - where almost every square meter is meant to be interacted with.

Upgrade system

While it's by no means developed, forging better tools and potions through collecting bugs and materials is a great first step into the foray of item customisation. And quite simply, the best part about it is it's entirely optional - you can very much complete the game without upgrading anything, being a Zelda purist if you so choose. It's a neat system to explore if you're hell bent on having the latest and greatest gear or if you're into a more relaxed difficulty "setting" for your playthrough.

To further develop this system, it would be great if certain items actually shaped the abilities and appearance of your arsenal. Using a whole bunch of 'Evil Crystals' to power your sword could disfigure it, give it a purple tinge and engulfs any victim in flames. Or maybe use Blue Bird Feathers instead, encasing your sword in a turquoise glow and increasing your speed and combo count. I'm sure Nintendo could think of some great ideas.

But if you feel upgrading is a waste of time, you can always hunt down bugs and minerals to be later sold in shady, 'under-the-table' business deals for handsome profit! In fact, this whole system teaches kids the value of saving materials and hoarding useless stuff (for perhaps, garage sales or eBay auctions) and learn - as the old saying goes - that one man's rubbish is another man's rubbish that you profited from.

Controls

I'm under no illusion that this game could have possibly benefited from a classic or 'traditional' controller option as Zelda's combat revolves around precision slashes and gestures that could only be best emulated through motion input. For the most part, combat is responsive and scanning for that elusive weakspot before unleashing a combo on a vulnerable enemy is always satisfying, as if you're whaling on virtual piñata (where endorphins are the sweet candy). In fact, motion controls provide more challenging and rewarding encounters with minions and bosses alike and you can tell during the game's best moments that everything has been designed not just to fit MotionPlus but be exclusive for it.

As for items, guiding your bird or manoeuvring your Beetle item feels novel but intuitive enough so it doesn't feel tacky. And the Whip  - though underutilised in Link's quest - has become a favourite from the realistic feedback. It's a shame there was never a good Wii game that featured a whip, since the slight (although expected) delay between performing a gesture and having it register onscreen is something inherently realistic to that tool. It would've also been hilarious to have a Zelda fishing minigame where you're whipping tunas until they're belly-up upon the water's surface. You can have that suggestion for free, Nintendo.

But I know you dear reader, you're not after the pouring of praise, you're more interested by the backhand of criticism. Excuse me while I fetch my helmet for this segue trip...

Now while the controls do work, I can't accept Aonuma's recent comments that this is the definitive set up of where the console Zeldas should head. For a start, precision swinging have left thrilling moves like Helm Splitter, Back Slice and Mortal Draw from Twilight Princess in the dust. While you could recreate these via MotionPlus, their inclusion would dilute the importance of accurate swinging in a gameplay system that's built around precision.

Furthermore, the control scheme here has some glaring kinks. Re-centering the cursor is a nagging problem, even if it's relatively effortless to fix. And in the heat of battle, stabbing motions only register half the time, causing too many headaches for the enemies (or puzzles) that require a poke. It's also baffling to see Nintendo forcing motion where it's not needed as seen with swimming and (in particular) skydiving - the later being as intuitive as opening a magazine with your feet. In cases like these, there is absolutely nothing user-friendly or "realistic" that motion controls offer over a joystick. Overall, Skyward Sword's control scheme works great as an alternative but certainly not as an ultimatum.

Fi

During the first half-dozen hours or so Fi is an intrusive sidekick, seeming to lack any confidence in Link's (or my) abilities to assess a situation and further presume Link (or the player) suffers from some kind of chronic memory loss. Finding the three little Kikwis in Faron Woods for example, had Fi displaying marvelous intellect that after finding one Kikwi, I have two, yes two, to find. Can the boys and girls say the number "two"? Two's such a fun number, it's more than one!

Fi also cares to "enlighten" you whenever you're below a certain amount of heart, whenever your Wiimote's low on battery juice or what the player can already see from a brief cutscene. Caption Obvious must be spend his days around Hyrule, mentoring would-be sidekicks on the art of advice. She does back off with the banter as the hours roll on but she still has to intersperse my adventure with mind-blowing facts such as a key being essential to progress through a door.

I don't know how the Goddess employed this nanny to babysit me but I do find it very interesting a being's source of probability and 'science' of facts derives from spirituality and the heavens. I dig the subtext Nintendo. She's also one of the most beautiful and lovingly animated models in the game, sometimes performing majestic ballerina moves, revealing a more candid aspect of her otherwise dull personality. She's admittedly distinctive from anything else in Skyloft or the entire Zelda universe, but like the algorithms that swim in her porcelain, emotionless head, I found Fi to be overly cold and calculated. Purely graphical, Fi has to looks to compete with Nintendo's best but as for her personality, she's a far cry from sidekick triumphs such as Midna or the 'King of Red Lions' Boat.

However Fi ultimately highlights the obvious lack of wider play-testing that Nintendo did for this game. There's an alarming disparity between Fi's unavoidable advice that demeans the player's intelligence and clueless moments that aren't communicated well enough to the player. Perhaps I'm putting my skill credibility on the line, but I seemed to miss the explanation where I could defuse fizzing, soon-to-detonate bombs by storing them in my body - an illogical deviation from series tradition. And in Eldin Volcano, if you're telling me I have to enter a room where I spontaneously combust into flames, maybe that's a good time for Fi to pop up and offer more forced advice that I shouldn't be scared off; it would've saved me an hour and a trip to Skyloft's Hint Statue. I have a few other embarrassing examples such as these, but it simply bewilders me that a game can be vague on one hand and slap dialogue boxes almost every time you obtain the same material or bug on the other.

Overall

Skyward Sword's constantly recycled world may feel like you're farming just to reach the next plot point but Nintendo's trademark aesthetic comes to the rescue where the action rarely becomes dull or tedious. There are so many individual mechanics and gameplay types that are offered so frequently that the once traditional "trudge" to the temple may sometimes upstage 'The Main Event' entirely; which is somewhat a shame because Skyward Sword wants to maintain that temples are still the bee's knees of Hyrule but some end up recycling puzzles and enemies that the player is already too familiar with.
 
Though in the end, it's hard to overlook that Skyward Sword breaks new ground and sets new series standards with some fantastic characters, its gripping overworld, a unique combat system, memorable art direction and an epic conclusion that leaves the player begging for more.

Score: 8.5/10
Zelda: Skyward Sword is much like the very majestic and beautiful birds you'll ride in the sky, albeit with frayed wings and a slightly wonky sense of direction. But you'll often be too distracted by the spectacular view to care for long. Even if not every new inclusion in Skyward Sword is heartfelt, it's easily the most graciously alternative Zelda since Majora's Mask and certainly features enough great entertainment to earn a recommendation to anyone who's been, at the very least, remotely interested with the franchise. Mark this one as a series high note.