I’ve been thinking and talking about writing a post reflecting on my experience at E3, but when I sit down at the keyboard I don’t know what to say. It was big. There were lots of people. I can’t write a game review that you wouldn’t be able to find a more detailed version of elsewhere, because I didn’t play many demos, and while I can say that I will be buying the next Zelda game when it comes out, for me that was a given before I got a chance to try it. But lets start there, with the one game demo I played and am truly excited about.
My two biggest complaints with Twilight Princess were 1. That the graphics were pretty but the color scheme didn’t mesh with what I considered to be the look of Zelda and 2. That, perhaps because it was simultaneously released for game cube and perhaps because the wii was new technology, it utilized very little of the wii’s unique features.
The wii is old news now. With PS3 offering similar technology and Xbox’s kinect boasting hands free controls, numerous titles are doing everything they can to be on the cutting edge of interactivity. Skyward Sword utilizes the wii the way I wished Twilight Princess would have. It isn’t just shaking the remote to activate the sword, how you move the remote changes how Link moves his sword. The bow requires draw, and additional items are controlled in other ways, many utilizing the wii’s attention to movement in different ways. While they still haven’t attached the wii fit to allow you to control Link’s movement by leaning, Nintendo has definitely taken great pains to take advantage of the technology that initially set the wii ahead of it’s competitors.
The color scheme seems to be back to what I expect from a Zelda game, but now that I’m here I’m not sure it’s what I want. As much as I complained about the pastels of Twilight Princess, I’ve gotten used to the gorgeous graphics of that world. More than the color scheme, I fell that the whole look of the game has taken a step backward. Gone is the careful rendering of Link’s hair and clothing and the detail in the art of the world around him. The graphics much more closely resembling the N64 games I loved, but I’m not sure that’s what I want. Is it more important to push the limits at the risk of separating the newest product from the established IP, or to maintain the look at the cost of decreased innovation and progress? I suppose the innovation this time is in game play and not graphics.
Regardless, when the game hits store shelves I’ll be picking up a copy. It may take me years to play through the whole thing as it will be living in my dad’s basement and waiting until my sister and I are both home for holidays to be played, but I will play it. It may be one of the last games that my sister and I will both be home enough to beat while playing together. One of these days we’re going to have to move online to do that, but until then I think Skyward Sword is a go.
More E3 reflections to come. It may take me awhile to get my brain sorted, but we’ll get there.