Review No. 17 The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Wii (12+)

Strong Points:
Motion controls are really good
Brilliant storyline
Good difficulty
Upgrading items is helpful
Items are easy to use
Flying is fun
Lots of sidequests

Weak Points:
Can get repetitive
Slow to start
Not great graphics
No multiplayer
Not many minigames

In-depth Review:

Release Dates:

Europe: November 18, 2011

North America: November 20, 2011

Japan: November 23, 2011

Australia: November 24, 2011

Controls: allgame.com

Nunchuck Controls:

Control Stick: move/auto jump

A Button While Moving: dash

Shake Nunchuck While Dashing: forward roll

Z Button: centre the camera behind Link

C Button: look around

Shield Controls:

Shake The Nunchuk Forward: raise shield

Shake The Nunchuk Before An Incoming Attack Lands: shield bash

Wii Remote Controls:

D-Pad Down: call Fi

A Button: talk/examine, pick up/put away/etc.

+ Button: view map

- Button: equip pouch item

1 Button: view gear

2 Button: view help instructions

Sword Controls:

Point the Wii Remote Straight Up: charge your sword. Once sword is charged, swing the Wii Remote to release Skyward Sword strike

Flying Controls:

Rotate Wii Remote: Turn bird in direction of your choice

Shake Wii Remote: make your Loftwing flap its wings and gain altitude

This game introduced motion-controls to the world of Hyrule. This change was ingenious and made the game really challenging and fun. Along with the usual Hyrule lore, story and weapons you now live in Skyworld (a world above the sky) and can now fly on your Loftwing, a bird, to get to the world below where the main story takes place. You have bombs, slingshots, bows and a sailcloth which is a parachute.

The motion- controls adds a new flavour of gameplay allowing you to pinpoint attacks to chinks of the armour although the sensors on the Wii Remote are not as refined and can sometimes leave your sword astray. The story, as always, is linear allowing you to travel from dungeon to dungeon with a few side quests in between.

The graphics are cel-shaded and makes Link look a bit feminine but over all are bright and colourful and conveys the games message well. Links new costume increases his feminine look with the earring and robe/dress but looks better than some of the other characters.

The enemies and bosses are fun but infrequent with the world looking rather empty of characters. The challenge of finding the right point to hit can be challenging and a bit frustrating at times due to the lack lustre sensoring for the controls.

Conclusion: overall this game is good with colourful graphics and a good story, but is let down by the accuracy of the controls which still aren't that precise.

Rating: 96%

Thanks for reading, Satamer.