Review: The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword
“You fight like no man or demon I have ever known. Though this is not the end. My hate… never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end!”
— Demise
The Legend of Zelda franchise is perhaps one of the biggest out there. Many people would have heard of the legends such as Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask etc., and believed to follow this through until Link will finally rest and Zelda is no more in trouble. However that is not the case; Twenty fives years on and Link is still saving Zelda and defending his homeland from peril. The Latest installment to mark the 25th anniversary of this epic franchise is Skyward Sword. This game is set both on foot, on the earth, and in the sky in a town called Skyloft. Here is a brief summary to click you into the minds of the game!
Skyward Sword is the first in the Zelda series, which is then followed by Minish Cap and then Ocarina of Time. We follow the story of Demise, the origin of Ganon and the creation of the Master Sword. Hylia, the main Goddess, has previously had a battle with Demise and managed to seal him away, but not for long. We then move to Skyloft, which Hylia created. Link and Zelda are both childhood friends on this small island and peace is on the island. However things are shook when evil forces make Zelda fall below the cloud onto Hyrule, thus being in a completely new world. Link then follows, as Zelda is the one person whom he does not want to see in danger.
This game has brought about a new way to the style of playing Zelda games. We have the innovative Wii Motion controls, which make you feel as if you are Link himself, moving the sword at your own pace and striking the exact area you want. It also polishes on what Twilight Princess brought us, the aiming on the bow and arrow, the shaking of the nunchuk to roll, a lot of new things have been added to extend and progress the way the player controls Link. Throughout the story you will gain new and improved items to get through the story. You also have the option to upgrade your items back on Skyloft when you have collected the right amount of items, suck as the golden skulls or blobs from the jelly like creatures. Another new feature we get to play with is the motion control when flying. If you jump off a building or a high place, Link might go into the ‘belly flop’ mode, where he will land on a specific area. You can control Link using your Wii remote to get to the exact location you wish to land. You can also control Link’s bird in the game using the Wii remote. This vastly improves on the other games where you just used the joystick, when infact Skyward helps bring you closer to the mode of transport than the other games!
The graphics may be the only thing letting the game down, but nonetheless, it still looks beautiful and sleek. The graphics systems are not up to date compared to the 360 or PS3, but we all know that graphics are not what makes a game! Unless the game has a brilliant story, it is a pointless game, something to just play through and leave, never to be played again. On the other hand, one with such a story and graphics at the same time makes it to be something beautiful and out of this world, which is hard to come by these days. Zelda improves on the graphics with each game, this one taking a hybrid form of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, which is something that we consider a wise move, as it works in this world of Skyloft and Hyrule!
We think that this is perhaps the greatest Zelda game out there, not forgetting the likes of Majora’s Mask and the Wind Waker, but it certainly is one to be considered as the greatest. It also helps push the Legend of Zelda franchise into a new direction; with the way we control Link and explore the lands of Hyrule! Nintendo have come out, again, with another top-notch game and perhaps one of the greatest games they have ever produced!