Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Review

 I love Sonic, I’ve played a lot of the main series Sonic games, and Sonic has been with me since I was little and had Mega Collection Plus on the PS2 back in the day. However, the series has had its ups and downs, and there’s no denying it. I love the great sense of speed and action-filled levels that have replay value Mario can only wish for. When SEGA went 3^rd party, they had a bit of a hard time finding feet with the blue hedgehog. Sonic Adventure 2 was the last Sonic game to be made by 1^st party SEGA, with a re-release on the Gamecube. What followed were games like Sonic Heroes, which was a good game but the levels had a ton of bottomless pits and design that would lead you to questionable deaths, and the Shadow the Hedgehog, which was an ok game (despite it being hated by the general public) but it took the series in a direction too serious for what the series originally was about, and it resulted in being very awkward and mellow-dramatic. Then there was Sonic 06, which I have yet to play but it is one of the most hated Sonic games of all time. I’m here today to review the game that I think was the start of SEGA’s poor decisions with the blue blur that persisted in the 2000s. Sonic Adventure 2 is actually one of the more popular games in the Sonic series, often being labeled as the best 3D Sonic game. I obviously disagree, but to what extent you may ask? Well, I’m gonna look at this game thoroughly and asses what exactly I find wrong with it. I’m not shaming anyone for thinking this game is the masterpiece it’s praised to be, I’m just here to give my personal opinion on the game. Are we clear? Ok then let’s get started!

Graphics

This is the first game I’ve reviewed that has aged a considerable amount since it was released. I’m gonna be straight-up and honest here; this game has aged HORRIBLY visually. Some of the cutscenes are almost cringe-worthy to watch, just look at this one (start watching at 10 seconds): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaWkTfGG67I. Now I know this is an early 6^th generation/ late 5^th gen game and most other games from that time period haven’t aged very well either, but that’s still something that should be counted as a flaw in my opinion. What I’m gonna do here is I’m gonna compare this game to other games that came out around the time the original version came out and judge it based off of that.  Comparing this game to the likes of Majora’s Mask, Phantasy Star, and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3, I’d say that this game looked considerably good back then. It’s hard to judge a game by it’s graphics if it’s an early 3D game, but from what I can tell it looked decent so I’ll give it an 8.

Plot

I’m gonna try and make this as quick as I can because the 3D Sonic games have a tendency of having very complicated plots that honestly take what was once a simple premise for a story far too seriously, especially in Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06. This game falls under that category.  Basically a black hedgehog named Shadow is causing trouble and Sonic is being mistaken for him. At the beginning of the Hero story, Sonic escapes a plane that was taking him to a prison by the military. He later bumps into Shadow and fights him. The victor of these character fights depends on whether you’re playing the Hero or Dark story. Shadow is apparently a project from Eggman’s grandfather Gerald Robotnik. Shadow was made to be the ‘ultimate life form’ and there are apparently several prototypes of Shadow. Shadow had a childhood friend named Maria who was shot and killed by military forces, and it has traumatized him ever since. Eggman wants to use the Eclipse Cannon, which is on the Space Colony Ark where Maria was killed, to blow up the moon. When he thinks he has all 7 pieces of the Master Emerald, he finds out that one of them is a false emerald, thus making only a fraction of the moon exploding. Sonic is shot out of the spaceship Eggman is on by an exploding capsule that assumingly kills him, but apparently he was able to use chaos control using the fake emerald, which doesn’t make any sense. When Sonic Team tries to make their games edgy, they just end up making everything look awkward as hell with plotholes like the fake emerald suddenly able to do chaos control.  The Dark story shows the story from a different perspective with a few cosmic differences here and there. Once you complete both stories, you unlock the last story where you play this level with all of the playable characters in the game and then fight Biolizard with Shadow. Biolizard was a prototype of the ultimate life form made by Gerald Robotnik, and Biolizard is apparently about to destroy the world. When Shadow thinks Biolizard is gone for good, he reawakens ass Finalhazard by fusing itself with ARK. Sonic and Shadow use the power of the chaos powers to go super Sonic/Shadow, and defeat Finalhazard and save the world. The theme in this boss battle is awesome. Live and Learn is probably my favorite theme from the Sonic series. After the fight is over, Shadow loses his energy and falls to Earth. Sonic saves Shadow’s ring cuff and shows it to Rouge when he returns to ARK. The characters reflect on what happens and thinks about what to do next. Sonic waves goodbye to Shadow in the same way Shadow did to Maria. Now that I’ve gotten the story out of the way, now I wanna talk about one of this game’s many flaws; how the game makes you play through the story. You play through one of 3 types of levels, which is traditional high-speed Sonic action, treasure hunting, or mech shooting. The game makes you play through them in a certain order in order to advance through the story, unlike in Sonic Adventure 1 where you had the choice of playing the level type you wanted to. The game also makes you play through 2 stories, which adds to the frustration. Now this is just a sample of what’s to come in later 3D Sonic games, namely Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog. I’m gonna give plot a 6. While it is a little epic, it takes itself a tad bit too seriously, has plotholes, and I don’t necessarily care for how it makes you play through the different levels. It is one of the better plots for a Sonic game, but I still don’t care for it that much.

Gameplay

Oh boy, here we go. I already explained how I don’t like how the game forces you to play through certain stages in a certain order, but there’s a reason why, and it’s that I don’t care for 2 of the 3 level styles. The regular high-speed levels with Sonic and Shadow are fun and have replay value, but I still do find then a bit buggy, especially the ones that are in space. I really don’t like the treasure hunting levels with Knuckles and Rogue. They do have exploration in them, but the areas they have you exploring in aren’t very intriguing in my opinion. You have a radar that tells you when you’re near the emerald or treasure that the game wants you to find there and then. In Adventure 1 the radar went off whenever you were near treasure, but now it makes you look for a them in a given order which really breaks the pace of these levels and makes them drag the hell on. These floating monitors give you vague hints of where the pieces are which remind me of the old man in the cave from Zelda 1. They’re just not very fun to play and I dread every time I have to play one. But guess what? You’ll be spending most of your time in these levels since they drag on and there are a total of 9 of these stages! There are 9 speed stages too but the treasure hunting stages drag so they really take up a lot more time than necessary. The mech shooting stages are ok, but in the earlier ones with fewer upgrades they feel really slow and clunky. The final stage is pretty cool. It doesn’t have most of the things wrong with the regular stages. There are also 2 kart racing stages but they feel insignificant. Probably because they take little to no skill as you just drive down a highway. They are kinda fun though. In Adventure 2 Battles there’s a robust multiplayer mode where you can play as   several different characters. I haven’t been able to try it out myself so I have no opinion on it. It does look fun though. There’s also a Chao garden that I admittedly don’t care about. I’m sorry but I never got into raising Chao. They are cute though. The gameplay gets a 5. It’s shown its age over time with how buggy the levels can be and only 10 of them are truly enjoyable, but even those levels have their problems.

Music

This game has some pretty awesome music. The main theme Live and Learn is awesome and I particularly like the theme for City Escape, Metal Habor, and Eggman’s theme. However, some themes are mediocre like most of the themes for the Knuckles stages, which are cheesy rap songs. I’ll give the soundtrack an 8.

Overall

In conclusion, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is an okay game for me. I don’t particularly like it that much but I do like replaying some of Sonic and Shadow’s stages to get higher scores. I didn’t grow up with this game like most people who love it, so maybe the fact that I don’t have nostalgic immunity toward this game is why I see the flaws more clearly than those who grew up with this game. It’s not a bad game, nor do I dislike it, but it isn’t something I would consider to be very good either. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle gets a 27/40 and an average of 6/10.
Next review: Tha GBA
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Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker review

So I’ve talked about Skyward Sword and I said that I liked it but I thought it had a lot of flaws and was ultimately one step forward and two steps back back for the Zelda series. Well today I am here to talk about another 3D Zelda game that I can almost cry over. That might sound like I hate it, but hell no I don’t hate this game like many other people. What I mean by that is that this game is just so beautiful. I absolutely LOVE this game. What you’re about to read is me gushing over this game and praising the living hell out of it. I’ll be doing what I’ve been doing with my reviews, so let’s dive into this sea of wonders.

Graphics

There’s very little I have to say about how this game looks. When it was originally revealed to the public that this game would use cel-shading, lots of people went ape shit about it and this game got quite the bit of bad talk, even getting the nickname of Celda. All I’ve got to say is this: did this game shut people up after release or what? This game is GOURGEOUS. The beautiful graphics have barely aged a day and while I prefer Skyward Sword’s visuals, Wind Waker’s graphics are ageless and with the HD remake on Wii U, I think this game will really stand the test of time graphically. The colors are varied, everything looks great, and the cel-shading really opened up for a lot of facial expressions with the characters, especially this game’s incarnation of Link. Sometimes when I bump into something in the game, I actually do say ouch like I really did bump into something. I can completely block off what’s going on around me in person when playing this game. That’s how well this game sucks me into its absolutely amazing world. Needless to say, graphics get a 10.

Plot

The plot of this game is great. Many of the modern Zelda games have really good plots, namely this game and Twilight Princess, so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Every character has real weight to them unlike in other Zelda games. Link isn’t just stopping the forces of evil because it’s his job; he’s doing it for his family. His little sister Aryll is captured at the beginning of the game and with the help of Tetra and her crew, he gets to the Forsaken Fortress where she’s being held captive. Unfortunately, when he gets there he loses his sword and the game becomes Metal Gear Zelda. The stealth bothered me in the original game but I found it to be a lot easier in the HD version. It might be because I played the remake after the original version, but I’m really not sure. Apparently Link doesn’t have the necessary qualifications to defeat the giant bird that stole his sister and he wakes up on a boat known as the King of Red Lions, who is the navi of this game. He’s pretty good. He doesn’t annoy the shit out of you but he does take a bit of a backseat for the most part. Not a problem at all. In fact it’s what I prefer with these guide characters. Link then learns that he must collect 3 pearls to find the goddess tower to retrieve the master sword, defeat Ganondorf, who’s back yet again, in order to get his sister back. He first goes to Dragon Roost Island where human-bird hybrids called the ritos live. The prince of the rito race has the pearl but doesn’t wanna give it up. The Sky Spirit Valoo, who’s a giant red dragon, is upset because something is tugging at his tail. By the way Link gets this game’s instrument at Dragon Roost Island, which is the Wind Waker. More on that in gameplay. Link ventures into the Dragon Roost Cave to investigate what’s going on with Valoo and after defeating this game’s version of Gohma, who is a giant insect that lives in lava, he is given Din’s pearl. It’s just so badass to start the game off like that in such a huge, lava-filled dungeon with an outside area that really brings a nice natural feel to it. Link then goes to the Forest Haven where Farore’s Pearl lay. We meet this game’s version of the kokiri, the Koroks, who are lead by none other than the Great Deku Tree. He must go to the Forbidden Woods to rescue Makar, who is being held captive there. After defeating a weird flower-like thing he rescues Makar and is rewarded Farore’s pearl. Link then finds out that the island where Jabun, the holder of Nayru’s Pearl, has been destroyed and he’s hanging out back at Outset Island. Link retrieves the last pearl, sets them in the 3 triangle islands, which reveal the location of the Tower of the Goddesses, which is the last trial Link must face before he can get the master sword. The Tower of the Goddesses involves you guiding statues around and doing water-based puzzles which are much more tolerable than the ones from Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. After an epic boss battle with a robot-like creature that can snort bombs out of his nose, Link is given access to the world underneath, which is none other than Hyrule itself. Or what’s left of it. The goddesses had to flood Hyrule because the Link from Ocarina of Time wasn’t there to stop Ganondorf (this game take place in a different timeline and universe than Ocarina of Time). Once Link pulls the master sword from its pedestal, all the monsters upstairs come back to life and your skills are put to test with your newly acquired sword. You then travel back to the Forsaken Fortress and beat the shit out of everyone you had to sneak past the first time, including Phantom Ganon, who has an awesome sword. This time your sister is sent home, but you still have work to do now that you’ve claimed the master sword and everything. You meet up with Tetra again, and after defeating the Helmaroc King, you meet Ganondorf who tells you that the Master Sword isn’t strong enough to defeat him and that Tetra is Princess Zelda. Having no idea what Ganondorf is talking about, you are taken back to the world underneath and the real King of Red Lions appears. Apparently he was using the boat to telepathically talk to you this whole time. He bestows the triforce of wisdom upon Tetra in an epic sequence with a nice remix of the opening theme of A Link to the Past, and Tetra magically gets a dress and everything that Zelda is supposed to have. She then has to stay where she is so Ganon can’t get to her, which is a little sad considering how good of a character Tetra was. She wasn’t your typical damsel in distress at all. She was the captain of a bunch of male pirates for pete’s sake! This is definitely my favorite incarnation of Zelda because of her being more than a damsel in distress or a refugee in disquise.  Link then goes to the Earth and Wind temples to reforge the Master Sword. Both of these temples have you with a partner. In the Earth Temple it’s Medli, who you met a Dragon Roost, and Makar in the Wind Temple. Both of them are helpful for the dungeons in question and add to the huge charm this game has. After reforging the master sword, Link has to collect the shards of the triforce. This part is infamous for how much it pads out the game. While it is a bit tedious, I love sailing the sea so much in this game that I could care less. You then return to Hyrule and with your fully powered master sword, you break the barrier that made it so you couldn’t go to the final dungeon of this game, which has you defeat 4 previously beaten bosses. They’re much easier this time around due to the reforged sword. You then fight Phantom ganon once more, this time with a tricky room puzzle, get the light arrows, and then use his sword to open the door to Ganon’s 3 puppets, and then you finally fight Ganondorf with an epic ending where you stab him in his forhead as he turns to stone. The king of Hyrule wished for the goddesses to drown Ganondorf and in a very sad ending sequence link and Zelda float away from the king and surface to find everyone ok, including Aryll. Apparenty Ganondorf wasn’t just evil because of his ancestors, but the gerudo race lost their home and he actually had some good intention for once. You see how 3 dimensional these characters are? This game’s plot is very well written and there isn’t really a time that feels like unnecessary padding other than maybe the triforce quest, but even that’s not so bad, so I’ll give the plot a 10.

Gameplay

This game plays VERY smoothly, especially in the Wii U version. So you have your normal Zelda items; a sword, shield, boomerang, bow, bombs, bottles, and hookshot. The Fire, Ice, and Light arrows make their return yet again in this game but sadly this is the latest console Zelda game to have them. They are technically in Twilight Princess, but they’re not items that you use, Zelda does. The Ice and Fire arrows work nearly the same as they did in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, but the Light arrows are a bit different. They automatically kill every enemy with one hit, but you get them very late in the game so you won’t be that overpowered for most of the game. The Skull Hammer can be used to hit switches, break objects, and break the skull of the Helmaroc king. The boomerang can now target multiple object and enemies, which is a very welcome change that returns in Twilight Princess. The bombs are exactly the same as they were before, except you can use them when at sea to bomb other ships, enemies, and objects. The hookshot is pretty mucht he exact same as it’s been since Ocarina of Time, but there is a similar item you get much earlier in the game called the Grappling hook, which is used to cling on to things on the celling for you to swing across gaps. It can also be used to snag these little items called spoils from enemies, which you keep in your Spoils Bag. Collect a certain amount of, say, Knight’s Crests from Darknuts and you can learn the Hurricane Spin, which is a mobile version of the spin attack that’s been in every 3D Zelda game. It’s great for taking out a lot of enemies. You have to stop what you’re doing in the original version to change which direction you swing in, but in the Wii U version you can freely change to direction you swing in. You also get the Deku Leaf, which is used to float across gaps. It’s great for catching yourself before making an accidental fall. It’s also used as a little fan to blow wind at switches that require it or to push platforms across the room. You can also get mail from a mailbox that’s on a lot of the islands. You can deliver it to get some goodies like Heart Pieces. The Wind Waker is this game’s instrument and it’s put to good use just like the Ocarina. You can use it to change the direction the wind is blowing so you can sail to the places you need to get to, certain songs for plot progression, the Command Medley which s used to command your partner character in the Wind and Earth temples as well as statues in the Tower of the Gods. You can also learn the Ballad of the Gales, which is very convenient for warping around the map to place you need to get to. You can actually take the weapons from other enemies in this game and use it against them. It’s a really nice little touch. Target locking returns and is helpful as ever. Now there’s the infamous part of the game known as sailing the Great Sea. This is the overworld of the game and you will be sailing across it constantly to get from place to place. If you’re going in a direction other than the direction the wind is blowing, you must play the wind’s requiem to make it go the way you need it to. However, in the Wii U remake, you can obtain the Swift Sail through this weird raffle mini-game that changes to wind for you and doubles your sailing speed. The sea itself isn’t quite as bad as people make it out to be. It sometimes feels great sailing across the vast ocean, especially with the beautiful theme to go with it and sometimes sailing while the color of the sky changes has an unexplainable beauty to it. Plus you get the Ballad of the Gales later on in the game, which lets you warp to certain spots on the map to make it more convenient.  You can get parts on your map filled using fish bait to get a little fish guy to do it. He does it for the map tile you happen to be on. You can also get Hyoi Pears (I have no clue how to pronounce it) tog et seagulls to fly around and collect stuff for you. I get the feeling this was an inspiration for the Beatle in Skyward Sword. So gameplay gets a 9 for the original version and a 10 for the Wii U remake. It’s already very smooth in the original version but it’s pretty much perfect in the remake.

Music

It’s a Zelda game; I really don’t need to say much about the music.  This game in particular has some absolutely epic and beautiful music to boot. Windfall Island, Outset Island, the Great Sea, Dragon Roost Island, farewell King of Hyrule, the title theme, and Tetra’s theme all com in mind when I think of the best tracks in this game. Music gets a 10.

Overall

Needless to say, Wind Waker is an absolutely amazing masterpiece of a game. Even though it isn’t exactly my all-time favorite game, it’s definitely one of them. I might as well consider this game (in my honest opinion) the best game ever made. This is definitely my favorite Zelda game. Many other games have immersive and amazing worlds but Wind Waker's world is something else. I can completely block out everything else going on around me when playing Wind Waker and feel part of its world and get more enjoyment out of it than any other video game world I have explored and tried that with. There's just something I really love about the world of Wind Waker and I can barely put it in words. This game isn’t completely perfect, but this game is so damn incredible that all of its tiny flaws can be forgiven. The graphics are great, the music is beautiful, the story and characters are great, and the gameplay is nice and smooth, and the game has a charm that other Zelda games and other games in general wish they had. Wind Waker for the Gamecube gets an average of 10 and a 39/40 and the Wii U version gets a perfect 10/10 and 40/40. Let’s see if Zelda U can amaze me like this.
Next review: TBD (possibly Sonic Adventure 2 or another Sonic game)
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Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Review

Oh the Legend of Zelda. How much I love thee. I fucking love Zelda. It’s a fantastic franchise that almost always has games that are top-notch in almost every category. The Zelda games I like in particular (as well as a lot of other people) are the modern 3D Zelda games. Ever since Ocarina of Time wowed the world in 1998 with how good it was, Zelda has been held to very high standards. I know the series had already had a great track record with the original NES classic, Zelda II, and of course A Link to the Past, but the Zelda game everyone orgasms over the most is definitely Ocarina of Time. However, I’m not reviewing that game today. That’s for another day. Today I am reviewing the newest mainstream console release in the series, Skyward Sword, which has been held to a lot of the high standards Ocarina of Time was held to. It’s gotten great critical reception across the board. So what’s my opinion on this game? Do I agree with all the higher-ups who consider this game absolute perfection? Well let’s find out. I’ll be going over the graphics, plot, music, and gameplay to thoroughly assess the quality of this game. All right well let’s get started!

Graphics

What better way to start out with reviewing Skyward Sword than talking about its absolutely STUNNING visuals? There’s very little I have to say about the graphics. The game looks beautiful. The presentation looks like it could’ve been from a movie! These are arguably the best graphics seen on the Wii. It looks like it could be in HD! I love the art style of Skyward Sword and I definitely think it would be great to see it return in future Zelda titles. Graphics get a 10.

Plot

Alright so far it sounds like I really do love this game like all the gaming journalists, right? Well to be blunt things are gonna go a little downhill from here. You’ll see what I mean. The plot of Skyward Sword is decent. I liked seeing the backstory of how the master sword and Hyrule came to be. I also thought it was very nice to see who the original bearers of the triforce were. What a great way to celebrate the 25^th anniversary! The game is also filled with many likeable characters such as Zelda, who feels more relevant to the plot than ever. Groose, a supporting character, is your average school bully but he’s damn hilarious. He’ll spit out a bunch of one-liners in the game such as, “They should name this place Grooseland!” and not to mention his theme. Ghirahim is an amazing villain. I felt that in Twilight Princess they really pushed the main villains to the side until the very end, but in this game, you see Ghirahim a lot and you fight him 3 times. Unlike a certain other character in the game you fight 3 times, Ghirahim’s fights are epic and fun. Some other characters though… I just can’t stand. There’s one in particular that I’ll talk more about in gameplay. I’ll give you a hint; she gives you a lot of those throughout the game. I also think that a lot of pointless filler was put into the main game to pad out for time like collecting the notes to the Song of the Hero. I felt that that was a very pointless part of the game that easily could’ve been taken out.  I don’t care for Demise nearly as much as I do Ghirahim, especially because he felt a little phoned in and I didn’t particularly like the boss fight with him very much. More about that in gameplay. The plot gets an 8. There are very likeable characters and moments that stick out, but I feel that it was padded out a bit too much. Not to mention that it had you revisiting a lot of the same places rather than having more places to explore.

Gameplay

Oh boy here comes the part where I’m gonna rip this game apart. This part of my review will be VERY rant-heavy so be warned.  While I feel that Skyward Sword has outstanding aesthetics visual and plot wise, I think that the gameplay is this game’s huge weak spot. This game was made to take advantage of the Wii Motion Plus and the motion controls of the Wii but I honestly think that the controls are just… bad. These are some of the worst controls I’ve ever come across in a video game. The motion controls feel very gimmicky. Some parts of the game really show the controls’ ugly self, especially at the end of the game where you have to wiggle your wiimote through hoards of Bokobins and Moblins. That part shouldn’t have been in the game at all if they wanted to go with the motion controls. In the final part f the final boss battle, you have to quickly wiggle your Wii remote and nun chuck a certain direction to land the final blow, and it is VERY easy to mess up. I would’ve much rather pressed A to deliver the final blow like in the previous game.I also found myself having to constantly recalibrate my Wii remote due to the game glitching up on me. The game doesn’t even let you turn the motion controls off if you don’t like them! I know Zelda games aren’t known for customizable controls but this game could’ve definitely benefited from choosing whether or not you wanna use the motion controls for those who aren’t so hot on them like me. I honestly feel that Twilight Princess, a game that didn’t set out to push the limits of the motion controls, did a much better job at handling the motion controls. I know they weren’t used very heavily in that game but the way they were executed was just right for those who were interested in them and for those who saw motion controls as a passing fad. There’s even a version of that game on the Gamecube! I’m not saying that Skyward Sword should’ve been on the Gamecube, in fact it probably would’ve been impossible for the Gamecube to handle Skyward Sword, but what I am saying is that the previous game gave people options to whether or not they wanted to try out the new motion controls or not versus having them forced onto them for the entire game.  The motion controls aren’t the only thing I find wrong with the gameplay, oh hell no. There’s also Fi. I HATE FI. Sure, she’s a relatively interesting overall character plot-wise, but she is also the worst thing about this game. She points out every single little detail that you could’ve EASILY figured out on your own. She even lets you know when you’re low on hearts when there’s already a beeping noise that tells you that! What the fuck were they thinking? I also don’t like how she gives you all this probability shit. Don’t tell me there’s an 85% chance the triforce is in Sky Keep, just tell me that you think it’s in there. I know it goes with the super computer-like personality given to Fi, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. People say that the ending of the game where Link has to say goodbye to Fi is very sad and emotional. Quite frankly I was happy to see that I could finally say goodbye to possibly my least favorite video game character of all time. Yes, I really do hate Fi that much. At least Navi wasn’t nearly as all-up-in-your-face as Fi is. Fi’s just completely pointless in my opinion and I think that the game could’ve been way better if they toned down her level of handholding. So let’s talk about other things this game has. Well dowsing is a completely pointless mechanic. Why the hell can’t I just look around the area for the dungeon until I find it? I mean sure the dowsing could be helpful for finding secrets and stuff but I think they should’ve made it do JUST that. If you hold up your Wii remote for a while, you’ll charge up a skyward strike, which is essentially a sword beam but I think the sword beam is much more useful. The skyward strike is really just there for the plot, not much else. Sure there’s the goddess cubes, but that’s about it. You can run in the game but you have a stamina meter that goes down VERY fast. Granted you can get potions and there are plenty of little bulbs that’ll restore your stamina, but I feel that it was a completely pointless addition.  Why can’t I just run as much as I’d please? Why does there need to be stamina for climbing when you were able to do it for as long as you’d want in the older 3D games? I think this game could’ve very much so done without the stamina meter. Let’s hope it doesn’t return in Zelda U. I know it returned in A Link Between Worlds, but I think it was handled better in that game. It was used in substitution for amo and magic power and it might’ve been a bit of a chore to wait for it to go back up, but it didn’t go down so damn quickly.  You can get upgrades to your weapons at the bazaar in Skyloft by collecting little items found from defeating enemies. These upgrades are not worth it in my opinion. Yes, it’s nice to have a beetle that flies a little faster, but getting the items necessary for a payoff so small just isn’t worth the time. When you collect the small items like a monster’s tail, the game will ALWAYS tell you that you obtained the item and describes it for you no matter how many of that item you’ve collected. It really breaks the flow of the game and feels tedious.  In other Zelda games like Majora’s Mask you can get your sword forged to be more powerful and the in the game that came out after Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, you can get your items upgraded by collecting 10 Mai mais, as well as sword upgrades via Master Ores. While the item upgrades in Skyward Sword are similar to the ones found in other Zelda games, they don’t feel as effective. They don’t add effects to your weapons like making the whip take little items from enemies like the grappling hook in Wind Waker. The Harp is absolute shit. You just strum it with your Wii remote. It’s not like the Ocarina or Wind Waker where you’d have to input a certain button combination to play a song. While the harp does make it so you don’t have to memorize songs, it’s used so little that I can’t help but call it wasted potential. Why can’t I use to warp to parts of a dungeon? Granted you can select which save point you wanna go to on the map when you dive into a previously visited place, but that just takes away the potential the harp could’ve had. You can fly on your Loftwing in the sky, much like Epona, and unlike riding on Epona or sailing on the King of Red Lions, the flying doesn’t really feel that good. It is partly because of the motion controls, but it’s also because I just don’t really feel like it adds much to the game, I think it’s just another motion control gimmick thrown into the game. The sky is also boring. While there are places to visit there, it just feels so underdone compared to the great sea from Wind Waker.  I know that they decided not to make the sky the real form of exploration in this game, but they didn’t need to make it this small. So yes, some things were taken out of this game in favor for being used for other things like warping and exploration, but I don’t think the changes were very well executed. The actual landmarks beneath the sky are full of exploration though and are fun to go through, so I’ll give it to them for that. Some parts of the game require you to go into these spirit realm-like worlds called the Silent Realm. I’ll say this; I like the concept of Silent Realms. Your weapons are all taken away and you have to go around the area collecting goddess tears and when you collect all of them you get a useful item or upgrade like the Clawshots. And this time you get both of them instead of just one like in Twilight Princess. The silent realms also do a good job at showing you where the goddess tears are, but for the sake of exploration, I feel that the game should’ve let you find them on your own. If you touch the water or if a timer runs out for the Silent Realms to be peaceful, the guardians all wake up and it becomes what can be described as a nightmare. If one of the guardians gets to touch you, you must start the level over. This sounds fine and dandy and all, but again they aren’t very well executed. They can be very frustrating and they’re FILLED with pressure, which is something I don’t like in a video game if there’s too much of it, which in this case there is. Your shield now has health and while it admittedly makes your shield feel more important than other Zelda games, I still don’t find myself using my shield very much. Not to mention that the health goes down from using them to defend attacks, which is what they’re made for. That’s just a minor complaint though. The new items include the Gust Bellows, the Whip, and the Beetle. The Gustbellows are only useful for the puzzles that involve it like cleaning out sand and pushing carts across a conveyer belt, the whip is only mandatory for the dungeon you get it in and the Sky Keep, and the beetle is great for testing out further away areas and for solving puzzles. Ok, so I know I’ve complained A LOT about the gameplay and I probably sound like a whiney fanboy by now, so now I’m gonna talk about what I do like about the gameplay. The dungeons are very well designed, with special mentioning going to the Ancient Cistern, and most of the boss fights are climactic and fun to partake in. Notice how I said most. There’s one boss fight in particular that I just do not care for and that’s the Imprisoned. It puts a lot of pressure on you as it climbs to the top of the area to devour the Sealed Grounds and it’s just an annoying boss fight. The game makes you fight the imprisoned 3 TIMES throughout the entire game, and 4 if you count Demise, with each fight getting harder and harder and more frustrating. Other than that, the boss fights are very good. They’re some of the best fights in the series. My case-in-point is Koloktos. Man do I love this boss fight or what? You pull his limbs apart using the whip and then use one of his own weapons against him to completely wreck the shit out of him. It’s fun. Another great boss fight is the last fight against Ghirahim, where you continuously try to throw him off the edge and have him fall down for you to strike his chest. My only problem is that this game reuses boss fights a little too much. Ok so now it’s time to give the gameplay a score; 5. Yes, it’s that low. The gameplay can be really good at some parts, but there are so many pointless additions, awkward controls, and so much hand holding that it just doesn’t really do it for me.

Music

Ok, it’s a Zelda game. There’s very little I have to say here. The soundtrack is great and for as much as I hate her, Fi’s theme is very pleasing to the ear. It doesn’t hit home for me nearly as much as Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask, or Wind Waker’s soundtrack but it’s good for what is. Music gets a 9.

Overall

So at the end of the day, Skyward Sword is a good game. It’s different from a lot of Zelda games, sure, and a lot of the new changes are pointless, but overall it’s still a decent game worth playing for all Zelda fans. I just think that the good stuff and the bad stuff about the game mix in a way that feels…awkward. It’s still a fun game, but it’s just very flawed. I honestly think that Skyward Sword is an overall step back for the Zelda series because of all the handholding and motion controls. Trust me, I think that a game that differs from the usual formula of its series can be good. I really like Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Majora’s Mask; I think that they do the job of being different right. I don’t think Skyward Sword does a very good job at being different and instead just comes off as an awkward kind of different.  Like Fawful’s Minion said, it is very limit pushing to what Zelda usually is, but unlike him I don’t think it pushes limits in a positive way. To be completely honest, I think that Skyward Sword takes a shit on what Zelda used to be, and not in a good way. Yes, the original game could’ve been better if it marked objects that you could burn or bomb, but that non-linearity of the game and the huge feel of adventure is what made Zelda Zelda. True, the 3D games aren’t as open ended, but I think that A Link Between Worlds is a better example of what the series should be doing in the future, not this game. I hope that this game is just one of a kind and that Nintendo focuses on making 3D Zelda games open world, free for you to explore dungeons in any order you’d please, more streamlined, and I hope that the subsequent console Zelda games don’t baby you as much as this game. Skyward Sword is worth your money, and if you haven’t played it yet than you should, but just be warned, it’s a different kind of beast that you may or may not end up liking very much. Skyward Sword gets a 32/40 and an average 8/10. I’m not doing a personal score this time since my personal score is the same as my critical score for the game. It’s nowhere near perfect, contrary to the perfect scores it gets, it’s actually very far from it, but it’s still rather good, but most of the good stuff in the game lies in its visuals, characters, and music. The gameplay, which is the most important factor in any video game, falls short though and this game is flawed because of it. If you get Skyward Sword, all I can say is to proceed with caution.

Next review: Wind Waker (yes another Zelda game)

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