The game looks good for a Wii game, with the same sort of cartoony, watercolor look to it that we reported last year. The controls certainly seem to have been improved, although again, E3 isn’t exactly the best place to judge that sort of thing thanks to rampant wireless interference between Wii remotes and other varying factors. I didn’t suffer too much with the sword controls this year (though stabbing was a little bit harder than I would have liked)—and in fact, they felt good—but the beetle-flying mechanic (which we’ll get to in a moment) still didn’t seem to work as well as I would have liked. Similarly, there was a bird-riding sequence which you’ve probably heard about, and it was by far the least popular of the three—probably due in part to challenging tilt controls, or maybe simply thanks to the fact that it’s just a race.
Flying atop these birds is likely to be a major part of the final game
Having said that, the particular station I played the most on didn’t seem to be the ideal choice, and the representatives commented that it seemed like it wasn’t working as well as the others. I had a chance to try the controls again on a third and they most certainly seemed to work better—but I didn’t want to waste the precious time of our press tour of the booth on a game I’d already mostly experienced, so my third go-round wasn’t extensive enough to provide a definitive impression of the quality of play control.
All that aside, however, the rest of the game seems traditional and likewise satisfying in the vein of the Zelda series. The most popular demo segment was the Dungeon, which landed Link in a circular room with a small chamber in the center. To open the door to the chamber, Link had to fly his golden beetle gadget into a red crystal located above. It’s not too difficult to figure out, but is more likely a sort of tutorial meant to acquaint E3 attendees with the new mechanics.
Once inside, the beetle is upgraded (and granted the ability to pick up and deliver items to a location of your choice), and you’re made to fly it further through a hole in the ceiling to the same crystal to once again open the door, this time so that you can exit. The same thing is repeated outside, where a series of small tunnels above links together various areas around the perimeter of the main room. Here, it’s possible to discover and collect some rupees, or locate another red crystal switch to open the next door to a treasure chest.
This guy’s a little emo, but to his credit, he is quite powerful
Following this, things get a bit more complex. Eventually, you reach a point where you are made to attract the attention of these bizarre-looking eyeball switches with your sword. As you move your sword (using the Wii MotionPlus controller), the eyeballs’ gaze follow the tip of it around in all directions. Circling around a few times will actually result in them being dizzied and incapacitated—and, as you might recall from last year’s stage demo, that’s precisely the strategy you’ll have the leverage to move forward here. But cooler yet was the point where three of said eyeball switches were located together in a sort of triangular arrangement. The idea was to distract and dizzy all three of them simultaneously, but it isn’t possible to do this without positioning Link in just the right spot so that all of the eyeballs circle round at the same time with a single movement of the sword. In order to do this, you actually have to push a block to the center of the room in front of the switches and stand on top of it—a really cool idea! Once this was solved, the dungeon demo was over.
So the puzzles were clever as ever—but the combat, again, is considerably deeper than that of previous games (or, at least, the methodology is). Rather than simply slashing and stabbing, now you’re made to leverage the precision of the Wii motion controls to plan your combat. As you’ve surely heard by now (since the controls were nearly identical a year ago at E3 2010), this means stabbing physically with the Wii remote and swiping it around like a blade to mimic the movements of Link’s sword (though it isn’t perfectly 1:1). Many of the enemies block in certain ways to force you to plan your swipes and stabs more carefully, so precision swordplay is surely a much heavier focus in this Zelda title.
Another thing which I found to be interesting was the presence of stamina meters for nearly every one of Link’s actions. Whether swimming or even pushing blocks, Link always was faced with the constraints of a little circular stamina meter indicating how much more of the current task he could take without a short break. Once again, this provides a bit more depth to the usually quite simplified gameplay, possibly meaning (hopefully) that we are going to see a much less casual-friendly Zelda game this time around.
Sometimes it’s best not to stick around after all
The third and final demo sequence was a short boss battle with the demon lord Ghirahim. He’s a weird-looking fellow for sure, pale and slightly emo, for lack of a better description. After berating you a little bit with some harsh words, you’re plunged into a sword battle with him—though to start off, he’s got no weapon of his own. He does like to grab yours, however, right out in mid-swipe. When this happens, you have to swipe upward to free it from his grip—otherwise, he’ll eventually wrestle it out of your hands and steal it for his own use. Attacking him is a matter of precision and timing which truly showcases the Wii MotionPlus swordplay mechanics (surely the reason this segment was chosen for the E3 demo).
The boss battle wasn’t terribly challenging, but it was certainly different from the usual Zelda fare. It felt more like a Ganondorf battle than the typical giant beast (though these are sure to be included as well). Again, it’s something that seems to indicate a more in-depth and challenging experience than in previous games. It’s also interesting that the dialogue leading into the battle sequence was pretty serious stuff—the demon lord seems truly evil, and he straight up tells Link that he intends to beat him within an inch of his life. Based on this, it’s also seeming like the story might take another darker turn in this installment, with possibly more mature themes involved.
Miyamoto went on the record, however jokingly, saying that if this wasn’t the best Zelda game ever, perhaps they should simply stop making Zelda games. It sure seemed as though he was kidding, but I believe there was an element of honesty in his remark. From the looks of it, Skyward Sword seeks to right much of what might have been considered by hardcore fans to be less than ideal in more recent Zelda games—perhaps starting with the depth and challenge aspect. Here’s hoping that we find a game which both challenges and stretches the boundaries of what we consider possible for a Zelda title.
Stay tuned for more coverage of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword in the coming months.
