The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (mini-review)

 

My family hasn’t had this much fun playing a video game since we first bought the Wii. Thatis no joke. My daughter (pictured below) is a huge Zelda fan. She’s seen all the cartoons, knows all the music, and loves sitting in my lap watching me play the games.  My wife grew up on the first Zelda game on the NES. It’s one of the few games she enjoys playing or at least watching me play. So, with a lot of time off (on vacation this week), it has been a family event to play through a significant portion of the new Zelda game, Skyward Sword.

I had high expectations for this game, which you can get a taste of by reading my previous post, so every little thing both good and bad would stick out to me when, normally, they wouldn’t in any other video game. Let me get some of the nit-picky things out of the way first. I don’t like auto jump. In fact, I hate it. Especially when I fall off a ledge in Sky World because then you have to sit through a cut scene fo someone chewing you out for falling off the edge. Too many times do I leap to my “death” on accident because I didn’t stop in time. It is irritating to have to stop gameplay just because I wanted to look over a ledge but not jump over it. Thankfully, they don’t penalize you by taking a heart away like the have done in every Zelda game going back to A Link to the Past. But, it’s still irritating. Also, some of the fetch quests, especially in Sky World, are tame. Lots of helping people find a missing friend/partner/son/daughter etc. Without too much of a spoiler, I will say that some of the stuff that a gargoyle-like creature gives you is pretty useful. Finally, in some ways the game is still too easy, but that’s an issue I’ve had with most modern video games.

That’s really the only problems I have with the game so far. I am thoroughly enjoying the dungeons, the surface world, the sky world, heck the whole game. It brings back a sense of freedom in Zelda games that I’ve always wanted to have back. There is so much to do in the surface world it’s insane. One thing that’s helpful to know before you play is that the surface world is really like one long inter-twined dungeon. In fact, it’s hard to tell when the overworld ends and where the dungeon begins. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the first time you go through each world, you will have to solve A LOT of puzzles to traverse the land. The good thing about that is that you can find ways to open up shortcuts so that when you do go back through each world is far more open and you won’t have to go through so many trials to get where you want to go.

Combat is far more exciting than it has been in any other 3D Zelda game. I have died more than once fighting a group of grunts. And those danged “Little Shop of Horrors” plants that are in every Zelda game now- those things used to be easy and now they are a pain! The bosses are really fun, too. I usually hate playing bosses in 3D video games, but I actually enjoyed the ones I’ve fought so far. They are a puzzle in and of themselves, but unlike past Zeldas (torch-lighting anyone?), the puzzles are based 100% around combat. 

Items and power-ups have been refreshed as well. With the right combination of materials you find and money you spend, you can upgrade ALL of the user-based items (except the sword). This means rupees are worth searching for and holding on to. Stuff’s expensive, too. Danged Beedle raises his prices on you throughout the game! So, that will certainly mean you will have to go back through each level to collect more rupees.

My daughter, dressed as Princess Zelda, Skyward Sword in hand

What are my favorite things in the game so far?  The flying beetle (effectively replaced the boomerang which was my favorite Link weapon until now), sprinting!, the desert world (best world in the game so far and really show off the graphics), and flying. Leaping off the edge of a flying island and onto a bird hasn’t gotten old yet.

So far this has been shaping up to be one of my favorite Wii games and possibly my favorite Zelda game of all time.  Definitely worth buying new and worth getting the snazzy new Wii-mote with it.

Skyward Sword Will Rule Them All…

And wash the Twilight Princess taste out of my mouth.

As I wait in anticipation of the Wii’s next and last great game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I have had plenty of time to reflect on why I am psyched about this game when I haven’t been psyched about a new Zelda game in about 15 years. This matters, to put things in perspective, because I was (and very recently AM) a huge Legend of Zelda fan. The first Legend of Zelda is easily my favorite game on the NES. The same goes for A Link to the Past on the SNES.

With those games, my friends and I would stay up all night passing the controller around, drawing our own maps, and debating on what each clue meant to find the next item. Even while I was in college, although my gaming tastes had changed, I still had some love for old school Nintendo characters and looked forward to the memories a 3D Zelda would make with my friends and me.

I could, as the title of this blog post suggests, blame my absence from Zelda fandom all on Twilight Princess, but honestly it all started with a humble little game called Ocarina of Time. I couldn’t wait to play OoT when it first came out. Unfortunately, I blew all my extra money on a PC where I played most of my games, but a friend bought the game at launch. As soon as I could, I went over to his house and feasted my eyes on what was supposed to be (and many say that it IS) the greatest Zelda game ever made.

Countdown to Nintendo’s Next Console (Project Cafe)

What to do now that the Wii’s days are numbered.

 
Ever since Game Informer first broke the news that Nintendo is planning to announce a new console at E3 this June and Nintendo has since confirmed it, I have been debating with myself how much more I want to do with my Wii. Obtaining the new console (which for now is codenamed Project Cafe) when it is released sometime next year is a foregone conclusion. If at all possible, it will even be a day one purchase for me. Although some of it has yet to be confirmed, the new console will most likely include:

• HD Graphics that will surpass the PS3.
• Better On-line
• Both Motion and Standard Controls
• Third Party Developers lining up early (like Rockstar)
• A controller with a touch screen and the ability to stream content from the console.
• Backwards compatibility with both Wii and Gamecube.

As awesome as all that sounds, it made me wonder if there was anything left for me to play on the Wii? Should I just save my money and wait for the next console? Or does the Wii have any life left in it?

The Legend of Zelda (and why we should all love video game music)

Being the first commercially successful RPG adventure game on a gaming console, it was nothing short of amazing to see how long the first Zelda game stayed on top of the Nintendo sales charts. Every month, I would read Nintendo Power and in the back, they would list the top selling video games of the last month, and well, month after month Zelda was at the top. Outside of the Mario franchise, Zelda was the NES top seller, with roughly 11 million copies sold between both Zelda and Zelda 2. There’s no doubt that one of the many reasons why Zelda was and is held in such high regard is its musical score.

I spent three months with my friends playing that game almost every day until we FINALLY beat it. Check this: before Nintendo Power came out with their full color, glossy “overworld” map, my friend James’ mom pain-stakingly drew us a map of the entire world of Zelda. And it looked just as good as the official version. For those three months, she was like the coolest mom ever! (except my mom)

Let’s see if these bring back some memories:

“It’s a secret to everybody.” The Lost Woods. Waking up the ghosts in the cemetery so you can score a lot of coin, only to lose track of the “head ghost”. Discovering a secret door only to have to pay some old man for destroying it. The “skull” shape of dungeon 9. The Magic Sword. The Power Bracelet.  Defeating those knights that can only be killed by stabbing them in the back. The Bait (most useless tool in the game). Accidentally drinking your last potion. Boomerang! “Dodongo dislikes smoke.”

Without further ado, here are a few unique samplings of the Zelda theme song played by its fans: