June 15, 2010 – I woke up around 10:30 this morning so I completely missed the Nintendo press conference, so consequently I missed the announcement for the new Zelda. Upon my arrival to the Nintendo booth I was greeted with both a sweet Zelda shirt and the chance to play the E3 Demo, here's what I thought of it.
Gameplay
When the next Zelda was first announced Miyamoto promised it would be taking full advantage of Wii Motion + and so this demo does. Shaking the Wii Remote left and right causes Link to slash horizontally, likewise up and down causes him to slash vertically. Thrusting the remote foreword makes Link pierce enemies and so on and so forth. My favorite addition is the ability to dash, holding the A button while moving has Link start to sprint, it's limited but very efficient. If you shake the nunchuck while running Link will roll foreword. So in essence this is the same old Zelda with improved controls and as always new weapons at your disposal taking advantage of the Wii Motion + as well.
Graphics
The graphics in Skyward Sword are what you could call a mix between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. The environments are lacking in sharper detail but the vibrant colour choice and cartoon look make up for it. I was a bit annoyed with the HUD, it didn't seem necessary to put the entirety of the Wii remote shape on the screen but I digress it didn't affect the gameplay at all.
Overall the demo played smoothly and I'm a huge Zelda fanboy so anything with Link in it gets my approval. Look foreword to a ton of new information on the game now that it has been revealed to the world. We'll have a gameplay video up soon!
