E3 '10: The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword Hands-On

In case you couldn't tell from a nickname like NaviFairy, Zelda holds a special place for me as a gamer, so I was eager to get my hands on the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii. The story this time around revolves around a Link who lives on a secluded floating island, hence the title, who longs to explore the ground world below. To tell this story, the Zelda team is using a watercolor art style that looks like a halfway point between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, leaning more toward the former. The art style still wasn't finished yet for the E3 build, but it already looks gorgeous. The depth of field effects in particular are just jaw-droppingly beautiful, as the blurred colors in the distance blend like splotches of paint.

But what you really care about is the new controls using Wii motion+, right? While the swordplay isn't exactly 1:1, it is extremely accurate in translating slashing at any angle. This was actually a crucial part of defeating most enemies in Skyward Sword. For example, the Deku Babas (Zelda's piranha plants) have mouths that open both vertically and horizontally, and you must swing the sword the proper way to slice their mouths in half. Even using only quick flicks of the Wii remote, the added motion+ was able to accurately tell exactly how I wanted Link to attack. When chopping through trees, it was very gratifying to have the tree slice at exactly the same angle I had swung the controller.

This same level of control applied to Skyward Sword's new items as well. The first is the whip, which lets Link lasso enemies and items similar to the hook shot in past games. Some enemies will have shields, or block with their weapons, and you must swing the wii remote horizontally or vertically to latch onto them. The other new item is a beetle drone which can pick up items, and carry them wherever you control it to. This gives you direct control over the drone, which in the demo was used to retrieve items, carry bombs, and pick fruit from trees. My mind is already racing with the puzzle possibilities that could stem from each of these new items.

Even old stand-by items get new life with the new control scheme. Bombs can either be thrown or rolled like a bowling ball depending on whether you perform an overhand or underhand gesture with the Wii remote. The shield can now be used to push back enemies with a flick of the nunchuck. And even the bow and arrow have new controls inspired by Wii Sports Resort's archery game by pulling the nunchuck back while aiming with the Wii remote as a pointer. I must admit, the bow and arrow felt the least intuitive because the new controls made the bow much harder to use quickly, but it did help to provide a differentiating factor between it and the slingshot which was less powerful but was easy to just point and shoot.

But probably the biggest, and most welcomed, change is how you select which item to use. With the press of a button a radial menu of items appears on-screen, and by pointing at the one you want to use with the Wii remote the item is equipped. The action doesn't stop when the radial menu is up though, which makes the whole game move at a quicker and more seamless pace. This lack of pause carries over throughout the game, including drinking potions to regain health. As much as the new swordplay is a big change for the series, this shift in pacing is probably the more significant one. To compliment this faster pace, the signature roll move has been removed and replaced with a sprint button. I know lots of you have probably grown accustomed to rolling into trees for spare rupees, but I must say that the sprint is a far more practical ability. Besides, you can chop down trees now. Taking damage from falling hadn't been implemented in the demo yet, so it's too early to tell if the lack of rolling will make a difference when falling from heights.

Motion+ is already looking like an integral part of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It definitely adds to the experience, but there is a cost. Even when running around Link will mimic your hand movement. If you hold the remote pointing at the screen as you normally would, Link awkwardly holds the sword out in front of him as he runs. It doesn't hurt the gameplay, but it looks really silly. It's also extremely difficult to pull off Link's spinning sword slash move with motion+, by which I mean I never found a way to do it in the E3 demo.

Everything else about Skyward Sword is just as you would expect from a Zelda game. Locking onto enemies still feels just as good as it always has, and jumping is still automatic when you run off of a cliff. I've been talking a lot about how different the controls for Skyward Sword are, but the bottom line is that despite all of the changes it still feels very much like a Zelda game. Zelda fans probably don't need me to tell them this, but The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is on track to be another stellar entry in Nintendo's flagship series.

NaviFairy
Posted to E3, Hot Stuff, Video Games on 18 June 2010 · Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: e3, e3 10, legeld of zelda skyward sword, motion plus, nintendo, wii, zelda