With the announcement of the Wii U, Nintendo’s focus seems to be shifting away from their current home console and toward the future. However, there are still a handful of great games coming for the current Wii from the company, like Kirby and Rhythm Heaven.
Oh, and Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is looking to send the Wii off with a bang, handing us a MotionPlus-enabled adventure that fans can sink their teeth into. I got a chance to check out an updated build of the game at the Nintendo booth at E3.
My demo consisted primarily of a boss fight with what appears to be the main antagonist, a man named Demon Lord Girahim. This guy actually looks less like a Nintendo character, and more like something Square Enix would come up with. He is tall, slim, young, white-haired, and completely metrosexual. He seems to be looking for a girl (presumably Zelda), and the ever-heroic Link is not interested in letting that happen.
The fight took place in a temple of some sort, in a large circular room. I attacked him by using 1:1 sword swipes, but randomly swinging got me nowhere. Not only did I have to swing in a certain direction to avoid his attempts at blocking, but half the time he caught my sword between two fingers and I had to wriggle it out of his grasp.
He had several attacks, ranging from quick sword swipes to charging at me with lightning-speed. The latter was difficult to avoid, and so had to be blocked by thrusting the Nunchuk to raise Link’s shield. Also, he would summon little purple kunai-like objects in a line, and I would have to swipe them in the same direction to destroy them or else take a fair bit of damage.
I’ve got to say, this guy put up quite the fight. I basically walked through the entirety of Twilight Princess, but this guy made short work of my ten hearts, making me use the fairy I had in my inventory to revive myself. I thought that this game would be easy as long as you figured out if you had to attack vertically or horizontally, but even then I was given a run for my money. The capabilities of MotionPlus are not wasted here. Those worried about the challenge offered by this game can rest easy.
The graphics are sharper than they were last year for sure, with the game looking like a living watercolor painting. Link is very expressive, and Girahim looks like a guy you really do not want to mess with. I didn’t get a chance to play around in a more open environment, but what I saw looks quite promising.
In a sense, Zelda is a poetic swan song for the Wii. After all, the system’s first big Nintendo title came from the franchise, and now it’s looking like its last one will be too. If what I’ve played is any indication, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is looking to satisfy hardcore gamers everywhere when it launches later this year.
