The legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword had me excited. It was the big, new Zelda game for the Wii. Was it good? Was it bad? Well, dear reader, just keep reading.
I'll be rating this with five factors in mind: Story, Graphics, Gameplay & Controls, Music, and Characters.
STORY
Link and Zelda are childhood friends. At first, i didnt know how i felt about this. I know ive always craved a bit more than a hero/damsel relation, but this was a bit unexpected. As i played more, and the story developed, i found this to be an amazing breath of fresh air to the story of the franchise. Nearly every other Zelda has been "The Princess is missing! Save her!", and i dont want that. The fact that they're friends gives Link a valid reason to save her beyond "She's the princess, you're the hero". It also revealed the origin of Ganondorf through Demise, which i thought to be very creative.
GRAPHICS
Skyward Sword, as i'm sure you've already heard a dozen times, combined the realness of Twilight Princess with the cartoony-ness of Wind Waker, and i feel they did rather well. It gave us a world close enough to reality so that we can immerse ourselves, but also not too close, so that we dont forget its a fictional world. There already been so much said about the graphics that i cant contribute much without repeating someone else, so i'll end here saying "I liked it!".
GAMEPLAY & CONTROLS
While certainly the weakest point in Skyward Sword, it did not make the game unplayable. Motion controls was a bold move, and my initial thought was "...Okay..!". It can be a tad touchy at times, making it difficult to swing in the right direction, but it can be solved by re-calibrating the wii-mote. Understandably, you dont want to, say, during a boss fight, but sometimes you gotta, which can break the pace a little. However, Nintendo took advantage of this and added puzzles based around swinging in the right direction, making the motion controls not completely unnecessary. Again, the worst part of the game overall, but not a bad part.
MUSIC
Orchestral was definitely a step in the right direction. Skyward Sword's music is among the best soundtracks of all Zelda games, and i constantly catch myself humming the Ballad of the Goddess (My favorite song in the game, by the way.). I hope Nintendo continues with the orchestral song style in Zelda Wii U.
CHARACTERS
I'll just list some of the major characters and give one or two sentences about each.
Fi- I dont understand why people hate Fi. She talked a little too much, but she provided interesting lore and history to an otherwise barren land. And people, in order for her to tell you your hearts are low, or your batteries are almost dead, you have to acknowledge her, meaning all those interruptions are your fault. Overall, i liked her.
Groose- Groose was someone i appreciated but could still roll my eyes at every now and then. Though he stopped being such a jerk to Link in the end, he's still a bit of a narcissist. Im indifferent to him.
Ghirahim- No doubt about it, the best Zelda villain to date. Nothing more to say. I loved him overall.
Skyward Sword is a masterpiece of a game with a few flaws that people tend to inflate out of proportion. If you are a Zelda fan, Skyward Sword is just another Zelda game with a revamped story, a face-lift, better characters and great music. Overall, one of the best games in the Zelda franchise, among at least the top four.
9/10