For me The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a fantastic testament to an iconic series. Hailed by some as the best The Legend of Zelda of all time, I had no choice but to compare it to my experiences with The Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.
As you can see, I did play all modern-console The Legend of Zelda titles up until this one so it would have been really silly to suddenly stop here, even though my faith in Nintendo has dwindled ever since the launch of the Wii. Nevertheless, strong software makes hardware, Nintendo’s ever-lasting motto – so off I flew into Skyloft for another stint as the metro sexual superstar Link. 
A beautiful world (probably the most beautiful you will see on the Wii) holds within a host of imaginative environments, gruesome baddies and your typical save Zelda and the world storyline. Skyward Sword takes elements from all the classic games while polishing the experience to make it appealing to the modern gamer. Wii Motion Plus certainly helps the cause by giving players full control of Link’s sword, which is very cool. What Nintendo didn’t take into consideration is Wii Motion Plus makes doing almost everything else, pretty difficult. Just try rolling a bomb or performing a particular sword attack consecutive times – it’s not easy.
That being said, the time I spent with Skyward Sword was magical – Nintendo took particular care in modernizing the old dungeon formula, making pretty much all your time spent in caverns and caves, thoroughly enjoyable. Great dungeon design and clever puzzles pushed those segments of the game forward, ensuring there was always something fun and challenging to do.
Occasional pacing issues and some backtracking outside the deungeons hindered the experience somewhat and alongside Wii Motion Plus inconsistencies, I had enough crosses on my review sheet to conclude that Skyward Sword is not the best The Legend of Zelda game created. What it is however, is a terrific representation of everything that we know and love about the franchise, glued together with modern gaming elements that make it appealing and very enjoyable for the classic fan and new school gamer alike. I happen to fall under the former and I was very pleased with how they brought The Legend of Zelda one-step further into the next generation of gaming. Favourite things about Skyward Sword:
Wii Motion Plus, when it worked.
Cool weapon and item upgrade system, something totally new to the series.
Excellent dungeon design.
The Earth Temple.
Most annoying things about Skyward Sword:
Wii Motion Plus, when it didn’t work.
The needless backtracking that could have been avoided.
Although modernized, the series simply refuses to budge from its classic roots.
Thanks for reading and check the blog tomorrow as I award 6th place to game that deserves a huge amount of praise for its innovation in the industry – can you guess what interactive experience I’m talking about?
As always check me out on Twitter @ss4Igor
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