Game: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Publisher: Nintendo

Release date: 2011

In terms of control, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a stellar improvement over the last Zelda game for Wii that was ported from GameCube, Twilight Princess.  The game requires the Wii MotionPlus add-on and true 1:1 motion is the result.  Though the short demo at E3 did not share details about the plot of the game it did help introduce how you will control Link for the better part of the game.  The Wii-mote is your sword and the nunchuck acts as the shield.  At all time you’re constantly whipping out your sword and shield to fight off enemies.  To bring them to the forefront it’s as simple as a quick forward moving shake of the controllers.  Most of the enemies came in the form of plants and the game makes it super easy to figure out how to kill them.  Plants open their mouths horizontally and vertically; so if a plant opens its mouth vertically you take out your sword and slice vertically to kill it.  Slice and dice is the name of the game here.  After learning how to kill the plants with your handy-dandy sword you quickly learn that you have a bunch more weapons at your disposal.  Hit a button on the Wii-mote and a menu pops up enabling you to select from weapons like a slingshot, bow-and-arrow, and a whip.  Many of the weapons, namely the sword and bow-and-arrow, work exactly like they do in Wii Sports Resort.  It’s pretty clear that Nintendo ported these 1:1 actions from that game to this one.  But that’s not an issue, really; I always enjoyed Swordsplay anyway.  Link can also throw bombs into the middle of growing baddies and boom they go.  With the aid of a map I was able to find my way through the plants and to a door with a wandering eye.  I was instructed to spin the Wii-mote (my sword) in a clockwise circular motion to confuse the eye to enter the door.  The demo concluded with an oversized scorpion boss.  To kill it the game hinted at slicing your sword at its pinchers.  I had very low health and ran out of potions so I died before I could kill the big baddie.

All in all Skyward Sword is definitely turning out to be a solid Wii title.  Before this year’s Nintendo press conference all we had was a teaser poster and now there’s a trailer and playable demo.  As a long-time Zelda fan there’s not much I can complain about.  The precise motion controls are a welcome addition to the franchise and a more cartoonish-looking Link and environment make the game feel less like Twilight Princess and more like uber-successful titles Ocarina of Time (my personal favorite) and Wind Waker.  There’s no cell shading here, but the graphics feel more friendly and colorful when compared to Link’s last outing.

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