The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Review

Controls
While it's a good idea to change a formula once in awhile and see if anything new works, I feel that that just isn't the case this time around. The nunchuk it too sensitive and the Wii MotionPlus is not sensitive enough! Most enemies can be killed just by waving the controller in every direction really fast. So fast that blocking on their part is impossible. In the rare cases that you do have to use possession strikes, the controller (about 25% of the time) will misunderstand something and perform the wrong attack. Which will result in a counter by the enemies that gets me hurt. It's OK to get hurt, it's another thing when it's not your fault.

Another thing is the part where you have to tilt or point the controller to perform an action, such as flying your bird, or using the gust jar. It's not a good sign then the game has to tell a person how to recalibrate their new item as soon as they get it! It should just work as designed, without workarounds! This goes along with the fact that every time you turn on the game you must re-calibrate the controller by laying it on a flat surface.

Design
I also want to talk about, Fi. The new sidekick. Who is by far and away the most annoying character in the series! She will not only point out the obvious all the time, but she will repeat it not only seconds after it's told to you in the narrative! At any point where I had to ask her about something she would never have the answer! WTF? What's the point of a hint system that gets in your way and DOES NOT HELP YOU!!!

Along that line I would also like to point out that the new dowsing ability, SUCKS! What's the point of an ability that only ever points me in the direction I was going? Wouldn't the flow of the level design lead me to where I should be? Why do I need to know where Zelda is if the game keeps constantly reminding me already? Why do I need to know where hearts are, do they just not appear as they always have in the other games?

The addition of the whip is a nice change for the series.
I would also like to point out that it is very annoying that every time you pick up a collector item, (such as a bug or a crafting item) Link will always hold it up and the game will explain to you what it is, then open the menu for you and show you the spot it's putting it in. Why do this every time I restart my game? Every time after the first time Link can just walk over the item and pick it up just as easy as picking up a heart or rupee. Why waste seven seconds of time when you can just pick it up in less than one?

Even with all the hand holding this game does where is does do it is at the ceremony at the beginning. At which point Zelda pushes you off a statue and doesn't explain HOW TO MOVE YOURSELF IN MIDAIR!!! That's just crazy! Why go the long way to explain everything else up to that point and beyond but fail to tell me how to land in the middle of the circle. It was only AFTER I failed to do so that Zelda told me how to move while in the air.

This game also adds the new idea of a fatigue meter, which is very much like the one found in Shadow of the Colossus. It drains whenever you dash, claim, spin attack, hang off cliffs.This an extra layer of management to gameplay, but all that is undone by the fact that there is a fatigue fruit that fully restores your meter almost everywhere. Which makes the meter useless most the time, as you are never pressured into managing your meter to get to higher places.
DIIEEE!!!!
This game doesn't so much hold your hand as it picks you up an carries you. In past Zelda games there would be hints as to what to do next. The hints in this game are like this, “I buried a key. But it's not in this room!”, or “There are two switches. One on top, one on bottom”, or my favorite, “Back, rear, back of right hand, back of left hand.” Why give us puzzles if you're just going to tells us how to do them in such an obvious manner, and when we do need help Fi refuses to give any!

On a side note it's interesting to note that in all the past Zelda games the three goddesses are Red-Din-Power, Green-Faror-Courage, and Blue-Nayru-Wisdom, but in this game Nayru's color is yellow. Why? All the other goddesses have their right color, why change it at this point?

In the end it's a good game, but as far as other games in the series this fails to have the same charm and atmosphere as those before it. Which is sad because I always go into a Zelda game expecting the same and always leaving with more. Just not this time.

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