The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Review - Wii

8

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 8
Audio: 9
Innovation: 7

Introduction

The Legend Of Zelda series is one that is almost as old as gaming itself. While it's not quite as well know as Nintendo's flagship Mario franchise, it's a series that most gamers are aware of. With some large spaces of time between releases of the console games (its been nearly 5 years since Twilight Princess was released), the franchise can tend to drop off the radar at times, but the release of each instalment is always a major event. Skyward Sword comes to us promising revamped design, a more cinematic story, and most of all - the best usage so far of the Wii's MotionPlus accessory/Wii Remote Plus controller. So, does it deliver?

Gameplay

I'll be blunt. Skyward Sword ticks a lot of the boxes that make a good game. Almost from the minute you start up the game, you can tell that this is definitely a Zelda title. The usual mythology is present, Link himself looks much the same as ever, and the world is vivid and full of life. Tossing aside the often dark and gloomy look of Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword has all the colour of a bright watercolour painting. The screen layout is standard, though players start with six hearts instead of the usual three this time. While this would normally make the game quite easy, it ends up balancing out, since even the very first enemies knock off a whole heart with each attack.

Events kick off in a similar way to Twilight Princess, with Link being an average citizen. This time around, he's your typical knight of Skyloft. Skyloft is a large island suspended in the sky, and through the knights we finally know the origin of Link's trademark green outfit. All Skyloft knights wear a tunic and baggy hat strikingly similar to Link's. As Skyward Sword is set up as a prequel to the Zelda series, it's heavily implied that the clothing of the knights was passed down over many generations, which is why every other Link wears them (even though they have no idea of the origin themselves). It's a rather clever inclusion.

To sum up the basic story, Link and Zelda are childhood friends, and both of them have their own huge bird which they use as transportation. After a few minor events, Link and Zelda casually head out for a flight around the island...and Zelda gets kidnapped by a mysterious black monster. No surprises there. Zelda's father asks Link to go and save her as a knight of Skyloft, and the adventure begins as he travels down to the unknown surface world.
Link finds himself traversing the underworld, trusty sword in hand, in a similar manner to previous games in the series. Rather than a bunch of small areas, Skyward Sword focuses on having larger areas which are split into a few distinct sections. These contain many challenges for Link to overcome in order to reach that area's temple, with most being in the form of large scale puzzles. For example, you might ...