The Shrine

.....no you're not getting Link!....ok maybe you are getting Link, but not links!

That joke was horrible. Here's a link. >_<

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/revie ... ard/723946

And I'll be playing this eventually...

IGN has a great review which offers the game a lot of praise:

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be remembered for revitalizing a franchise that had, for a time, seemingly settled for being merely great instead of revolutionary. Once again, Nintendo is demonstrating its unparalleled ability to craft some of the greatest gameplay this industry has ever seen. Remarkably, this Zelda game manages to reshape its control scheme, design sensibility and pacing all at once while still telling a brilliantly powerful story featuring some very memorable characters. Increasingly Nintendo refuses to compromise cinematic storytelling for gameplay, finding a balance that seems effortless.

It's fitting that Skyward Sword arrives on Zelda's 25th anniversary, because it truly pulls from the franchise's entire history, even addressing the winding narrative directly within its story. It captures a grandness and scope we haven't seen since the 2D era. It advances combat and control in the most significant way since Ocarina of Time. It finds a tonal and visual harmony between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. And, most importantly, it leaves a mark on the franchise that future installments will no doubt draw inspiration from for years to come.

10 Presentation
The origin story, characters and cinematic sensibility here are superb.
10 Graphics
Nintendo's creative visual style here is not only the best on Wii but truly timeless and stunning.
9.0 Sound
The soundtrack doesn't quite measure up to the franchise's best, though that's a very high standard. No voice acting, though not necessary, does hurt the cinematic feel.
10 Gameplay
You'll never want to go back to traditional controls for a Zelda game.
10 Lasting Appeal
There are tons of side quests that will keep you busy. Plus there's incentive to play through the entire 40-hour adventure again.

They awarded it a rare 10 Overall score as well, tying it for the top score given to a game this generation (with Super Mario Galaxy 2, Uncharted 2 and 3, GTA4, and MGS4). That speaks a lot to me considering the other Wii game they awarded a 10/10 (Mario Galaxy 2) is the first game released in about 20 years that I have really been able to call my new favourite platformer - Super Mario World was probably the last time I said that, but that was fairly short lived as I ended up liking Mario 3 more again; probably shortly after my first playthrough of Mario World.

Their statement of "Best Zelda game of all time" speaks a lot to me too, considering my thoughts on the series: it's one of those series like Final Fantasy and Mario where the games are timeless and classics rather than mere updates rendering the previous versions as out of date and obsolete; For example: Final Fantasy 6 or 7 is usually argued as the best Final Fantasy game; I would argue 8 as the best - and if Final Fantasy 15 ends up being the new best, that's a huge surprise to me; and I would buy it and enjoy it even if it's half as good as FF6, 7, or 8 (like FF10 or 13) - whereas NHL 2012 or Mario Kart should be the better than the previous games in the series to be worth buying.

Saying that Skyward Sword is the best Zelda game holds a lot of weight to me, because to me that is something that the vast majority of the community considers Ocarina of Time (a view which I also share, and IGN also shared). I just recently played through Ocarina of Time 3D, and I was actually very surprised at how well the game held up. Also a little disappointed, that even with the vast additional knowledge of game design, how contemporary adventure games seem to not have that same level of fun and satisfaction as a game released back in 1998. So yes, I am looking very forward to this game =)



On the Game Trailers review you have linked, I think that was a very poorly written review.

I am not sure if that guy was the best guy to do a review for any Wii game. There was a notable lack of professionalism in his Zelda review; He seemed to use the review as much as he could as a platform to voice his anti-Wii bias, using the typical language of ignorance you'd expect to read in a system-wars thread populated by a bunch of 10-15 year olds "Wii is only played by grannies" and such; certainly far from anything you'd expect to hear in a professional review. Also noteworthy of level of professionalism in the review was the level of clumsiness and contradictions giving the review a very rushed feeling:

"Nothing much has changed from previous installments in the series"
"A huge departure from the series"

"The most boring level designs in the series"
"The best level designs in the series"

Julius Seeker wrote:On the Game Trailers review you have linked, I think that was a very poorly written review.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/moder ... a64/723925

Note the key words poorly written review. My response to the Game Trailers review was not at all about its score; the score is actually extraordinarily high considering the writer seemed more interested in using the review as a platform to bash Nintendo instead of (get this) actually reviewing the game. Much of the review that was used to actually review the game actually had a lot of positive stuff (it noted how excellent they found the dungeon design, for example), but then there was negativity (it noted how poor they found the dungeon design, for example).

The person who reviewed Skyward Sword for GT was their Editor-in-Chief Shane Satterfield, and he's a massive Zelda fanboy, his twitter account is even named Dinfire. So I think if he did find faults with the game it's not due to any personal bias against Nintendo.

Eric wrote:The person who reviewed Skyward Sword for GT was their Editor-in-Chief Shane Satterfield, and he's a massive Zelda fanboy, his twitter account is even named Dinfire. So I think if he did find faults with the game it's not due to any personal bias against Nintendo.

If you aren't actively choking down on Nintendo's balls, you are an anti-Nintendo fanboy.

In Seek's view at least.

Eric wrote:The person who reviewed Skyward Sword for GT was their Editor-in-Chief Shane Satterfield, and he's a massive Zelda fanboy, his twitter account is even named Dinfire. So I think if he did find faults with the game it's not due to any personal bias against Nintendo.

My complaint had nothing to do with any faults he had with the game, but rather the blatant contradictions he had throughout the review (I don't actually recall any faults he found with the game that he didn't contradict later), and the fact that he spent a good amount of review time platform to bash Nintendo instead of reviewing the game; kind of weird that he would use a Zelda themed Twitter name if after such an inadequate and rushed review of an actual Zelda game.

kali o. wrote:
If you aren't actively choking down on Nintendo's balls, you are an anti-Nintendo fanboy.

In Seek's view at least.

You'll forgive me if I can't take a 30+ year old man seriously who talks about "ball choking". Fairly childish if you ask me.

Julius Seeker wrote: You'll forgive me if I can't take a 30+ year old man seriously who talks about "ball choking". Fairly childish if you ask me.

You'll also forgive me if I find your oft used line silly and hypocritical, as it's coming from a similar aged console fanboi, with an Edgeworth avatar, on a forum devoted to videogames.

Gargle those Ninty nuts, you ball choker you.

On topic: The game looks like ass, at least what I saw from the Trailers review. I try not to be a graphics whore but I honestly couldn't play such a shitty looking new game.

I'm a videogame fan, true; that's why I am here talking about videogames on a videogame's website. I don't see a problem with that.

On the otherhand, you're still a 30-some year old man who likes to talk about "ball-gargling".

This is the first Zelda console game that I have not purchased at release, and I don't plan to purchase the game. I also don't ever plan to buy a Mario game again, or a Metroid game again, until something revolutionary is done with these IPs.

I am finding that playing wii games is definitely something I do not do because of its 480p output and having to use that dang controller.

Been playing this in 1080p with Dolphin and it looks amazing, graphics are definitely not a concern here.

But honestly, I'm tired of these games. Until they put out a Zelda game with a meaty story, I won't be engaged.

Yeah the Dolphin is a beastly Emulator, doesn't hurt that the Wii's tech is like 2 generations behind making it easier to emulate for.