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IGN Lists Both Zelda Games in their Top 25 Wii Games List!
IGN lists both of the Zelda games available on the Wii in their new Top 25 Wii Games List for 2012 (not counting Crossbow training)! Twilight Princess became number 7, and Skyward Sword made it to number 1! Personally, I agree with Skyward Sword being number 1, but I’d probably have had Metroid Prime Trilogy as number 2 and then Galaxy as number 3. Instead, Galaxy 2 found it’s way to number 2, and Brawl sits on number 3. The Trilogy and Galaxy are on 4 and 5 though, so IGN wasn’t far off. You can find the full list on their website here.
Skyward Sword definitely deserves the #1 spot. No doubt about it. Galaxy would also be my #2 choice with the Prime Trilogy being #3. And Brawl at #4. So, once again, I'm basically in agreeance with IGN.
Eh, how could Skyward Sword get first place? I'd much rather see the Trilogy there. Skyward Sword was an interesting game, but to me, it has zero replay value, boring sidequests, controls that were quite.. glitchy to me at least and the dungeon were nothing special at all. The sky was an lonely place with nothing to do but travel. Alongside with other stuff. Skyward Sword fanboys, come at me, but I didn't like the game at all and that's my opinion. :/ Sorry.
As a proud Skyward Sword fanboy, challenge accepted.
I have one huge glaring objection with saying that "the dungeons were nothing special at all" because this statement feels like you're turning a blind eye to the simply brilliant design that went into making them. For example, in The Earth Temple, when you find yourself atop that ball of stone and are rolling waist-deep in lava, a gameplay-changing mechanic like that had since been unheard of in a Zelda dungeon. In fact, a complete change in mechanics like that (from free running to rolling a ball) so seamlessly hasn't been done anywhere else as of so far in a 3D game– usually games reserve mechanics like that to their own distinct levels, like in Super Mario Galaxy, in the Rolling Green Galaxy. The fact that they could integrate ball rolling as not only a game mechanic, but an exploration mechanic is nothing short of genius, on top of being more innovative in one dungeon than the entire Zelda series has been in years. But, heck, that's not even all there is TO the Earth Temple. There's also the bomb mechanics, which pretty much make Wii Sports Bowling and Basketball part of Skyward Sword's central design. Have you ever seen a minigame transformed so effortlessly into a gameplay mechanic like that? The implementation was fantastic, and so integral to the gameplay, I feel like many people would miss it, since it was so understated.
That's a good jumping point. Skyward Sword, design-wise, is brilliant, but brilliantly understated at the same time. As in, all of the coolest bits are bits that many people aren't going to notice, since by the time they become cool, Skyward Sword has already conditioned you to them. And that's another thing. When it comes to player conditioning, as in teaching without words, Skyward Sword is perfect. In the same way Portal or Portal 2 does, Skyward Sword manages to slowly reveal the ins and outs of its design to you, allowing you to slowly solve puzzles of escalating difficulty without ever feeling your brain strain for the answer. For example, the Beetle, when acquired in Skyview Temple, teaches you how to use it without a tutorial. The game merely asks you to try it out, and you get to learn how to use it in practice. The game teaches you how to use the Beetle the hard way– you have to learn that it can cut spider webs and hit switches before you can even progress, but it never feels like the game is stalling you, because the mechanic is new and exciting, which is largely thanks to the motion control scheme. See, no other Zelda game to date has ever been able to teach you how to play as you progress like that– heck, sometimes the games flat out expect you to already know the solutions to ridiculously difficult puzzles after only a few hints– such as Phantom Hourglass's Temple of the Ocean King's second visit, where you're asked to press the symbol on the map in the temple to your Sea Chart. Nothing like that had been done previously in the game, so you'd likely have no idea what to do at that point. However, it was clever use of the DS's hardware, so once you figured it out, it stood out as a cool moment. With Skyward Sword, though, EVERYTHING is a cool moment, but you don't realize they're cool moments because the game doesn't force you to stop and reflect on them. It keeps the action going and the exploration flowing, and you don't even notice that you're actually learning along the way.
The controls in Skyward Sword were the biggest help to innovation, on that note. They made combat deeper than just mashing the B button until you win, forcing you to actually think and analyze your opponent's movements and then use your OWN skill to take them out, and as I mentioned before, they made puzzles much more engaging and cooler to solve, after all, who can forget guiding their beetle to cut ropes holding a drawbridge up in order to progress in what would've probably just have been a boring bow and arrow puzzle in any other game. It was a huge risk to change up the control scheme like that, and I'm not about to say that they're perfect, since they do need to be recalibrated occasionally to keep working properly, but they improve Skyward Sword significantly– and I feel like the unjust hatred of all things motion controlled in the gaming community has given them a predetermined bad rep. You may not like having to swing your arms around like you do to fight the bad guys, but that's not all the controls are about. In fact, the most intelligent uses of the motion controls aren't even combat oriented, and CERTAINLY not athletic or tiring. Boss keys are a good example of this. They're like virtual Rubix Cubes, and they feel GOOD to manipulate (as long as you remember that you don't have to twist your wrist all around to fit them into the key holes). That's the thing with Skyward Sword. Thanks to the motion controls, it FEELS good to play, and every victory, solved puzzle, felled enemy, or conquered dungeon feels like it belongs to you moreso than any other Zelda game, because the motion controls add depth to the experience that a traditional control scheme just can't provide. "Glitchy" or not.
Subjective opinion, I know, but you say the sidequests in Skyward Sword were boring. I can respect that, but I think you'd also have to agree that most Zelda sidequests are boring. As is the nature of sidequests. At least the sidequests in Skyward Sword are the most optional they've ever been throughout the entire series. In Ocarina of Time, for example, many of the sidequests were necessary to complete the game, like grabbing Din's Fire, or picking up the hookshot. In Link's Awaking, the game's big overarching sidequest, the trading sequence, is necessary to complete the game– otherwise you'll be stuck in the Wind Fish's egg forever! In Skyward Sword, you don't have to do any of the sidequests to complete the game if you don't want to, so, boring or not, it doesn't matter! They don't have to effect the experience one bit, something few other Zelda games can say about their sidequests.
Zero replay value, again, subjective opinion, though I will say I wholeheartedly believe that Hero Mode is worth playing through. Maybe on the second time through, it'd be easier to appreciate all of the brilliant design, charming characters, wonderful controls, deep storyline, and innovation of Skyward Sword.
The Sky was pretty empty, though, I'll give ya that.
"They made combat deeper than just mashing the B button until you win, forcing you to actually think and analyze your opponent's movements and then use your OWN skill to take them out…"
I feel this is the best thing about motion controls. Button-mashing is just button-mashing, while swinging my arm to attack my enemy in a precise location is a truly immersive gameplay mechanic. I remember one of my dreams as a child was to be able to use my body as the controller, especially after Sony released a commercial for the "PS9" which included putting people into a fully 3D interactive game where they rode around on hoverboards. Now that we have it, or something like it, I can't really complain. It's not perfect, no, but the technology is brand freaking new. Of course it has a few kinks to iron out. Let's face it, you wouldn't want to drive a Model T these days (collectors notwithstanding), but back when that was the only car that existed, you couldn't really complain about the convenience.
3. Mario Kart Wii
2. Super Mario Galaxy
1. Skyward Sword