Ask people which is their favourite Zelda game, and you'll almost always get the same answer. There will always be the odd Wind Waker or Majora's Mask maverick in there, but the overwhelming majority will tell you that it's Ocarina of Time. It doesn't matter whether they're 16 or 35. Ocarina of Time's shadow looms so large over every later Zelda game that they've had to work extremely hard to distinguish themselves; Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks did it with that cartoonish art style, where Twilight Princess made a slightly less confident foray into novelty with its wolfish Link.
After this year, though, there's a serious chance that answer is going to change. I've spent enough time with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword now to realise that this may very well be the best Zelda game ever made. There's no aspect of series tradition that hasn't been revisited and reassessed, and the way that it uses motion control is so effortless and enjoyable that it makes you really mourn for what the Wii could have done if more developers had only made the effort.
It's more than that, though. It's got a feel about it, a kind of magic, that only the best games have. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a serious contender for Ocarina of Time's crown, and here are the reasons why.
Zelda: Skyward Sword - Final Video Preview
An Acrobatic Link
Ever since the introduction of the auto-jump – which, at the time, was an elegant technological workaround for the Nintendo 64 – it's been very clear where you can and can't go in Zelda games. Next to Mario's eclectic, crowded, versatile 3D playgrounds, Link's 3D worlds have felt a little inflexible. A bomb crack here and there doesn't disguise the fact that you've never really been able to properly interact with a 3D Hyrule before.
Skyward Sword, though, opens the world back up again, turning it into a place to clamber and climb and leap around, to explore with your feet as much as your eyes. The dash button changes how you think about the ground beneath you, and the mountains and buildings above. Suddenly there's a platforming element to the game that's never really been there before, as Link leaps gaps and climbs trees like a sweetly non-violent Ezio Auditore.
Volcano Summit Trailer
No More Torch Puzzles
Seriously. Not one in the whole game, at least as far as we've gotten so far. In fact the dungeon puzzles have all been reimagined. That comforting but slightly disappointing familiarity that always colours a new Zelda game's dungeons is pretty much gone. Rejoice!
The Freedom of Flight
The Zelda series is no stranger to elegant and satisfying means of conveyance, from the simple utility of Ocarina of Time's musical warps to Wind Waker's divisive but memorable sailing to Spirit Tracks' delightful, toy-like train. And, of course, there's Epona. But flying in Skyward Sword is fantastic. There's a wonderful sense of freedom as you leap right off the edge off a suspended island, going against everything that videogames have ever taught you about falling off ledges, and whistle for Link's Loftwing bird as his tunic billows in the wind. It's a little daredevil thrill that never quite wears off.
Flying has always felt natural with the Wii remote, from Wii Sports Resort to Mario Galaxy – tilting and twisting the remote makes perfect sense, and importantly, it takes some actual skill, unlike a lot of lesser motion-control methods. The fact that you have to get good at it makes it far more satisfying. Plus, flapping the bird's wings with the remote always makes me grin.
Zelda as a Real Person
Wind Waker is, in many ways, my favourite of all the Zeldas, and one of the reasons for that is Tetra. She's miles away from the usual damsel-in-distress/sexy-ass-kicker dichotomy of the typical female game character. She feels like a proper person, not an archetype – in stark contrast to Wind Waker's Link, actually, who despite his endearing expressiveness is a blank canvas.
She's not exactly Bayonetta, but the Zelda in Skyward Sword is a real character too, one with relationships and opinions and, y'know, dialogue. The relationship between her and Link is much more believable than it ever has been before; at the beginning of the game, they're sort of a cross between childhood sweethearts and best friends. There's a mild romantic dimension to their relationship, yes, but it's a believable one.
Zelda games have never really been about human relationships, and really Twilight Princess is still the only game in the series to delve deep into plot and characterisation. It's fantastic to see Nintendo building on those foundations here and giving us a world full of real people.
The joy of flight
A Hyrule That Feels Like a Place
Hyrule has always been beautiful, but it's often been static. This Hyrule, though – and Skyloft above it – is absolutely packed with stuff, from wildlife to collectible fruits and, of course, quirky natives. Link's dowsing ability lends direction to your exploring, tempting you towards Hyrule's hidden corners. And rather than all the real action being confined to the dungeons, Skyward Sword deviates from the familiar dungeon-overworld-dungeon rhythm and brings its puzzles out into the field. There's just so much more to do. The structure of the game encourages repetition, letting you return to areas again and again, always with a new task in mind. It's a world that you can really get to know.
The Wii's Raison D'Etre
It's no secret that this console has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for many Nintendo fans, even despite its catalogue of superb first-party titles – not because of the console itself, necessarily, but because so few developers have taken the time to really understand it and get creative and confident with its motion control. Even now, only Nintendo has ever really done it right.
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But Skyward Sword fits the Wii remote like Super Mario 64 fitted the three-pronged Nintendo 64 controller: it's made for it, from the ground up. After a few hours with it, you realise that this is the game that you've always wished someone would make for this console, one that's so casually inventive with the MotionPlus controls that it quickly comes to feel completely natural. It's a far cry from Twilight Princess' uncomfortably shoehorned waggling.
Tell me that swordfighting wasn't one of the first things that you imagined when you first saw the Wii and what it could do. Skyward Sword does it perfectly. You can slice precisely, point threateningly and swing wildly with this sword, and it feels like it's really in your hand. It's no exaggeration to say that Skyward Sword has one of the best combat systems in modern gaming – and once again, unlike so many motion control games, it really requires skill.
Motion control adds a new twist to every single well-worn Zelda weapon. Discovering how is a joyous experience that I won't spoil for you.
