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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, so it seems appropriate that Nintendo has acknowledged the occasion with Skyward Sword, a fantastic-if-flawed addition to the series which effortlessly recaptures everything that you’ve always loved about Zelda.
   
This isn’t a major shakeup for a Zelda game but then again, why would you want it to be? The Zelda games scratch such a precise itch that any major tinkering would ruin what make them so great to begin with. The game is primarily divided into two sections: a city in the clouds known as Skyloft which acts as a hub, and the massive plains of the surface world down below where the majority of the action takes place. By smartly separating the two sections, the game gives you two distinct flavours of Zelda experience which you can bounce between at your will; Skyloft consists mainly of character-based side quests like something out of Majora’s Mask, while the surface world gives you the action and exploration of the most traditional Zelda games. Neither section is groundbreaking but combined together, they make the game feel like a greatest hits of Zelda moments.
   
Even with 25 years of legacy to live up to, there really are moments here that surpass everything that has come before them. The dungeons — probably the most integral part of any Zelda game — are easily the most diverse and creative bunch to appear in the series, none of them pared down to simple boilerplate design which has led to lazy levels in previous games. A pirate ship in which you must jump back and forth in time is one of the many highlights, so deviously clever and original that it alone is worth playing the game to experience.
   
There’s so much greatness here, so much of that  impeccable Zelda design — so when some glaringly flawed mechanics pop up, it’s all the more disappointing that Nintendo let them squeak by. The biggest offender is the artificial padding the game constantly relies on simply to add time-consuming content where it’s not needed. A good chunk of the game is spent tediously scouring already-explored land trying to find arbitrary objects the game says you need to move on.
   
In one particularly frustrating sequence, you need to find a tiny propeller that has fallen from the floating city onto the surface of the land below — which means you’re forced to return to areas you’ve already searched and wander aimlessly through them, waving your magical sword around, hoping it can pick up the signal of this random object. For a game containing countless moments of brilliance, it’s shocking that it can also feature elements as lazy and sloppy as this in its design.
   
Skyward Sword reaches new dizzying heights for the series — no small feat considering the legacy that is Zelda — but those frustrating, illogical design choices are always there to undermine your enjoyment, turning what should be a series-defining classic into a tragically flawed near-masterpiece.
Bits & Bytes
   
After years of terrible games which tarnished the brand name, the Tony Hawk series is wisely returning to its roots with Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD, a download-only title due out for the 360 and PS3 in summer 2012. The new game will act as a remake of the classic first two entires in the series.
   
Mel Stefaniuk is a writer who can tell the difference between Mario and Sonic.