The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Some reviews (and official press pieces) have thrown around the phrase "best Zelda ever" for Skyward Sword, but for my money, no -- it doesn't really come close. While there are some aspects of this adventure that really stand out, I feel that overall - and crucially, in the areas I would consider most important to the Zelda franchise - Skyward Sword feels pretty lacking. It's still a good game for sure, so long as you're willing to forgive its more obvious faults for the eventual payoff; but to me, this installment is less triumphant than it is an opportunity to learn.

Regarding what it does right, I will remark that this is the greatest inventory Link has assembled so far. Although I might argue with the sensibility of leaving the hookshot and bow items until so late in the game, there is an impressive collection of kit here, from the fly-by-wire beetle, to a magic whip that Indiana Jones would tip his hat to, to an oddball air-blowing bellows that's surprisingly useful throughout the adventure. Splitting consumables and other temporary items off into a separate inventory is a great organizational improvement, and the loadout mechanic that comes with Link's limited pack space (should you take more bomb bags, or more potions?) adds a dash of equipment strategy as well.

The controls generally work well, although I confess that horizontal slashes, and especially straight stabs, continued to stymie me right up to the end. While they aren't perfect, these are certainly the best motion controls yet to be seen in an action game. A perfectly-timed shield block is immensely satisfying, and the different ways you can deploy bombs (tossing, dropping, or rolling) open up some cool new puzzle opportunities.

The plot, too, is pretty good, with a suitably epic backstory, some fine characters, and an ultimate villain who really manages to impress despite (spoilers?) not being Ganon for once. But here is where I'm going to veer into "complaint" territory -- the storytelling is some of the worst in the series. For the first 70%-or-so of the game, you'll be chasing the princess, but with little in the way of carrots to tease you along; just sticks, forcing you down the golden path. Every once in a while, the sword-spirit Fi will mention that you've gotta save Zelda, but the rest of the time she and the rest of the NPCs around her are concerned only with the immediate goal: find this item, unlock this door, help this person, kill this whatever.

Ghirahim is a very interesting villain, but he barely appears until the finale, and his strong, discomforting personality feels almost completely wasted. Some other supporting characters, too, feel like they don't get the screen-time they really deserve (although there is one sidekick in particular who develops spectacularly well).

With little in the way of narrative motivation to keep Link plodding along his quest, you're left to rely on the strength of the level design and individual encounters to stay engaged with the game world; but by and large, these are fairly mediocre. The forest area is navigable but not much else; the volcano area is consistently a big pain in the ass to visit; and the desert area, while very cool, is the last area. The sky never really "opened up" like I expected, and instead, most of the game tasks you with returning to the three regions you've already visited -- either to open up a little new terrain and go to a new dungeon, or in some cases, just to re-tread the same ground in a different way.

The effect is only frustrating in a few particular instances, but the heavy-handed asset reuse smacks of lazy design. It's also excruciatingly linear, not only because you must do the dungeons in a specific order, but also because you must do the bullshit around them in a specific order. There's only one point in the game - collecting the Song of the Hero - where more than one objective is available to you at a time (and of course, this is the point where, if you choose the wrong order, your game save is worthless).

Aside from those three regions, you've got the Skyloft town Link starts in, and, that's about it. There is one other island vital to the plot, and there are three more involved in some sidequests (two of which only have one NPC on them apiece); the rest of the rocks floating in the air are just homes to locked treasure chests, unlocked by finding Goddess Blocks on the surface. It's a lot like the treasure maps from Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, but less interesting because the chests mark themselves on your map as soon as you unlock them.

So by and large, Skyward Sword's sky acts less like an overworld and more like a menu. There are almost no diversions or obstacles. What should be an awesome, epic part of the game - flying around on a giant bird - ends up being a simple point-A-to-B travel mechanism. (And while the orchestrated music sounds great, it doesn't feel like there is enough of it; particularly the flying theme, which repeats more frequently than is welcome.)

As for sidequests, they start out pretty weak (meaning, basically none of them are open) until later in the game, but while ultimately there is a healthy number of extra tasks you can do, few of them really seem worth doing, since at that point Link is already chock-full of money and heart containers. There is a fun diversion in unraveling a love-triangle drama among Link's peers at the Knight Academy, but the conflict ends abruptly, and unsatisfyingly.

Finally, the meat and potatoes of any Zelda - dungeons and bosses - are pretty middling. I would only consider two of the game's seven dungeons really memorable (including the last one), and only one or two of the dungeon bosses genuinely entertaining. The next-to-last boss of the game is a real challenge, although the necessity for stabbing motions dulls its appeal for me; and the last boss is, finally, a thrilling battle that tops the Ganondorf showdowns from Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. But otherwise, the bosses are unfulfilling -- trivially difficult, or recycled throughout the game, or both.

In spite of the paragraphs of complaints I've lodged against it, I wouldn't call Skyward Sword a bad game -- even a bad Zelda is pretty good. But it's far from the strongest in the series. It does do pretty well for itself in raw game mechanics, and I can't help but respect that. But by what seems like either sloth or oversimplification - between the tiring bullshit that interrupts dungeon treks, the largely-unremarkable dungeons themselves, the absolutely underwhelming world map, and the disappointing lack of ongoing narrative - it falls short of precisely what I expect most from a Zelda game.

Skyward Sword is good; but not as good as it should be.

Better than: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Not as good as: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Basically as good as: Darksiders

Progress: Saved Zelda, AGAIN.