The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Review

Skyward Sword was the only home console Zelda game I hadn’t played, so I was pretty excited for a Switch port, especially since it meant getting to play the game without the original’s off-putting motion controls. Unfortunately, the non-motion controls feel more like a “here, are you happy now?” half measure. Nintendo took the laziest way out and just mapped the motion controls to the right analog stick. This works fine for some things, though it creates a direct conflict with the camera. It doesn’t mitigate the finickiness of situations that require immediate (and correct) directional input, either, like in pretty much any sword fight. I also hate how clunky it is just to switch between items, but that’s not even a motion/non-motion issue.

The thing is, Skyward Sword is inherently flawed, regardless of which control method you use. There are just some really poor design decisions at play here. For instance, you have a very limited stamina meter that can never be upgraded. The overworld feels really empty, and not in a good way a la Wind Waker’s realistically vast ocean. There’s so much backtracking and recycled gameplay, too. Like, every new dungeon requires you to return to a central hub to reveal its location. You have to go through the first temple twice, and you have to fight two different bosses multiple times in almost identical ways. It doesn’t help that those are the worst bosses in the game.

All things said, this is probably the least I’ve enjoyed a Zelda game. In fact, the only reason I bothered to keep playing it is because I have so much respect for this series. If Skyward Sword were a new IP by a different studio, I would have given up on it hours ago. That’s not to say the whole game is bad, though. There are some really memorable dungeons here. The Ancient Cistern and Sandship dungeons are both cool locations that you normally don’t see in a Zelda game. And while the Lanayru Mining Facility is annoying (mostly because you’re still struggling with the controls at that point), the timeshift stones are an interesting gimmick. Alas, this is one Zelda I don’t think I’ll ever be tempted to replay.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.