The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Return of the swing.
The Legend of Zelda games may traditionally focus on the heroic adventures of mild-mannered elves and shy princesses, but the roar that met the E3 announcement of the latest instalment was anything but gentle.
As Epona rode out of the mist once more and Nintendo shuffled through a handful of the series' most iconic incarnations, it was as if a trans-dimensional rift had opened up inside the Nokia Theatre - sorry, Theater - in downtown LA, and millions of sweaty, Cheetos-eating fanboys were screaming for their lives on the other side.
Zelda ignites passions, then, and no aspect of it is quite as volatile as the question of whether or not the series is in need of a touch of revolution - of whether its cherished mechanics and structures have started to creak, or if those endlessly repeated rituals are still the key to the game's evergreen charm.
Nintendo, however, seems to have made its own mind up and decided that some manner of overhauling is on the cards - at least in terms of control. In a brief yet daringly cheesy presentation, Miyamoto suggested that the new game, titled Skyward Sword, will be seen as "a key turning point in Zelda's long history". A hands-on session with Nintendo afterward offered us a chance to see what he means.
The Skyward Sword E3 trailer.
The current demo build is a chewy 10 minutes of combat, culminating in a boss, and while there's no hope of getting any hints of what might be in store when it comes to the plotting and structure, a familiar blast through some of the series' more recognisable enemies is a perfect opportunity to try out the new control system.
As a Wii MotionPlus exclusive, swordplay is handled with the remote, allowing the nunchuk to act as your shield - as well as providing the analogue stick for you to get around. Thrusting the nunchuk forward sees Link bringing up the shield for deflection and sudden knockback attacks, while the sword can be swung freely or charged, by holding it still, to send out familiar little waves of power.
Trigger-targeting returns, as does the spin attack, which is unleashed by thrusting both controls to the left or right, and is available in a new vertical flavour, too, that sees Link pulling off a neat full body flip as he slashes downwards.
The MotionPlus allows for pretty good one-to-one mirroring when it comes to the sword positioning, and there are plenty of opportunities for the developers to revel in the added fidelity it offers, throwing up obstacles like doors fitted with inquisitive motion-tracking eyeballs that can only be defeated if you first render them dizzy by spinning your blade around quickly.
Combat focuses on enemies who will block both horizontally and vertically, meanwhile, which means that tackling even standard foes requires really quick responses as you work out the best way to strike, while fighting the demo's giant scorpion boss quickly turns into a frantic struggle as you slash at eyes concealed by snapping mandibles before lunging, at just the right moment, to stab a final concealed weak spot.
If the design team has made the battling a little more complex and thoughtful, it's also been refining the inventory-management system with a new radial wheel available on the B trigger, which means you won't have to duck into the pause menu to switch items in and out of play.
There's a good range of toys to mess with too, from returning favourites like bombs - which can now be rolled along the ground as well as flung, with a Gears-style arc indicator - and the slingshot, to new gadgets like a whip, that can fly out to collect rupees, slice grass, flatten bats and stun the larger enemies, and a kind of weird gun that fires off a little winged beetle. Once he's loose, you can then take control of the buzzing critter with the Remote, flying off into the sky to collect distant objects, or just get a better sense of your surroundings.

The world of The Skyward Sword is an interesting balance of realism and caricature - it has the grown-up Link and detailed Hyrule from Twilight Princess, but there's a subtle watercolour dappling on textures creating a look that is almost reminiscent of Street Fighter IV.
Distant forests settle into blurred washes, which is a much better solution than the alternating jagged edges and fuzzy horizons of the last Wii game, and the landscape is far more colourful than it was the last time around: bright greens, pinks and purples make up the environments, while there are clusters of huge bouncy toadstools all around for you to refine your sword skills on.
While the changes to the control scheme may not seem too significant, they really enhance the feel of the game, allowing you to mix up your approaches to problems as you switch in and out different gadgets, turning even the humblest of battles against a Moblin into an encounter that feels a little more significant than it normally might.
Such a focus on the basic mechanics, however, means it's impossible to get a sense of whether the wider game has had a similar recalibration in terms of structure and pacing. With its swing attacks, bombs, and slingshots, the tiny slice of The Skyward Sword shown today currently feels like a smart refinement - time will tell if it has enough to please those players who are after a touch of reinvention, too.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is due out for Wii in 2011.
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Comments (34) Latest comment 5 months ago
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There are four unlit torches.
There is some fire.
You have a stick.
What do you do?
Can we pleeeeeeeeeease have some new puzzles, Ninty? Hopefully ones that won't instantly be given away by a little cretin following you around giving you MASSIVE clues every ten seconds.
There's something quite magical about Zelda games which makes being stuck really rather nice, so please give us more water temple stylee psychotic dungeon design please!
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>Looks like I need to get a Motionplus
No doubt it'll come with one.
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Actually NielzOr, I wa thinking about this earlier. I like you, might actually think it is time for a radical overhaul of the Zelda games to keep them fresh. But at the same time, I think Nintendo are really just reinventing the game for a new generation. To a seasoned Zelda verteran like you or me, it may seem like repetition, but for new Wii users, this is the first/second time they are experiencing them, while for you and me probably the fifth.
I have to say, I was hoping for a more radical overhaul, but I like the visual style, I like what I have seen of the new controls and I am sure I will enjoy the final product.
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I don't know why they couldn't quite manage that in TP (I liked the battle against Ganon though, really memorable)
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Unfortunately I don't have a DS so cannot comment on PH, but actually handheld Zelda games have innovated in quite a few ways even prior to the DS. Different stories for one thing, but also the connectivity of Oracle of Ages/Seasons was quite cool as well.
Weirdly, handheld games offer an opportunity for developers to take risks with a franchise for much lower development costs and that can only be a good thing. I have a feeling that something like Okami would have been a much greater success on DS than on the PS2 or Wii (3DS version sounds good to me though).
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But to be honest, it's going to take more than new control schemes to freshen up this series. It's seems like Nintendo's idea of innovation has just been, same old shit (by shit, i mean quality games), but new controls, and while thats cool, I hope they realise that the gameplay structure/mechanics need freshening up too...
I think Nintendo should take a long hard look at Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and Shadow of the Colossus/Ico.
We shall see.
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Pretty safe bet. Though possibly may be the slingshot too.
At least one boss will feature throwing bombs into the mouth - 5-1
5-1? I'd have had this at 3/5 really, it seems a total no-brainer.
Link will transform into a slightly different version of Link - 10-1
I hope not, but that is just me.
Out of all the shops, there will be only one truly useful item for sale - 20-1
I want to steal things like in Link's Awakening.
All players will be forced to consult GameFAQs at least once - 50-1
Again, low odds for what seems to be a no-brainer.
The water temple will be the most enjoyable 100-1
Ahahahahahahahahahaha. Ain't gonna happen. Maybe closer to 10,000,000-1.
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You know.. if i recreated that post with another franchise which sounds a bit like "helo".. The whole forum would disappear under the crunch of "certain" console owners labeling me as a fanboy (while ignoring what i just said about the graphic style).
Seems funny that you can say it about 1 but not the other...
So i wont.. imagine i did in your head though...
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Still, this is a must buy and the final reason for me to get off my arse and go buy the Wii.
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I wonder if those people who did Die By The Sword ever got into Wii development? That game was amazing.
Edit: holy crap, that was Treyarch! Why are they wasting their time on this Call of Duty nonsense?
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[pedant alert] The whip isn't new, it was in Spirit Tracks [/pedant alert]
Anyway, this is sounding pretty good to me if a little over familiar now. I hope this will bring back that Zelda magic that I personally feel was missing from the last two DS instalments.
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I'm hoping for some "new" features and puzzles, in maybe a more "epic" scale, but I like the beetle and whip so far and it's pretty much a given that I'll buy it: all have to do is hear the discovery/chest opening sound and I grin like an idiot. Nintendo have conditioned me to respond well to Legend of Zelda.
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Please, I beg on my knees to the gods of gaming, DON'T let them turn Zelda into another neutered, mind-numbing linear piece of fucking shit like so many other games, under the guise of "streamlining". Please please please please please please please.
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http://ww w.eurogamer.net/gallery.php?gam...
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Does look like the models have cel-shading, but combined with regular textures, bit like in Mario Sunshine. I guess that the designers were aiming for somewhere between the cartoon look of Wind Waker (which I think I'm right to say they preferred) and the more realistic look that (less tolerant) fans pined for in Twilight Princess.
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Go play Darksiders.
Here endeth the advice.
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I thought that the implementation of the Wii's controls onto what was a GC game didn't work for me (I actually sold my copy and got the GC version - I far preferred it and gladly sacrificed the lack of 16:9 and slight framerate issues for a better control scheme - but this is made WITH the Wii in mind). Shame that Link's a righty now but I guess we have to accept that most people are right handed, myself include.
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Check it out http://www.facebo ok.com/Nintendo3DS
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You can play Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time 3D, and there’s even the chance to win some fantastic prizes by turning up on either Saturday or Sunday dressed as your favourite Zelda character.
Check it out http://www.facebo ok.com/Nintendo3DS