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Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is worth a second chance — if you disable motion controls

Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is worth a second adventure — if you disable motion controls

skyward sword hd
(Image credit: Nintendo)

When Nintendo commencement announced The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, I wrote about how information technology was the perfect entry in the series to remaster. The original Skyward Sword was an ambitious and creative game, hobbled by an obnoxious motion control scheme that wasn't as accurate every bit it needed to be. If Skyward Sword HD could nail button-based controls, I argued, and then the game would really be something special.

Having completed my Skyward Sword Hard disk drive review, I am pleased to inform you that I was by and large correct. While the game'due south controller-based setup isn't perfect — especially when it comes to swordfighting — information technology's a huge improvement from the choosy, enervating motion controls in the original game.

  • Play the best Switch games
  • Learn where to play every Legend of Zelda game

More importantly, it turns Skyward Sword from an expansive tech demo into a full-fledged traditional Zelda game. And in an era dominated by the very different Breath of the Wild, that'due south something we need now more ever.

A history of motility controls

Zelda Joy Cons where to buy

(Image credit: Nintendo)

To briefly recap some arguments I fabricated near The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword a few months dorsum:

  • It'south arguably one of the best games in the serial
  • The Wii Motion Plus controls made the game unnecessarily frustrating to play
  • A normal controller would make the game a lot more enjoyable/accessible

The only trouble was that I wasn't quite ready to put my money where my mouth was.

Nintendo sent Tom's Guide a review re-create of Skyward Sword Hard disk a week agone, and I installed the game as soon as the workday ended. I knew that I'd have to play the game with all 3 command schemes — motion controls, standard controller and handheld — in lodge to review it fairly. The only question was, how would I spend the bulk of my fourth dimension with the game? As I knew from playing the game dorsum in 2011, how a game controls can color your perception of the championship for years to come.

At first, I decided that since Nintendo initially designed the game with movement controls in heed, that was probably the "right" manner to play. Besides, I reasoned, information technology had been 10 years since the Wii Motion Plus. Surely, the Switch's motility controls were much improve than what Nintendo offered a decade ago.

I fired upwardly the game, and promptly remembered why I'd lamented the control scheme back in 2011. For those who haven't played Skyward Sword, you use an analog stick to move Link around, but well-nigh everything else relies on motility controls. You use movement controls to swing a sword, pilot your riding-bird, swim underwater, fire projectiles, and even aim yourself when you spring off of tall structures. And considering the Switch doesn't have a dedicated sensor bar above your TV, like the Wii did, this command scheme is fifty-fifty less accurate now than it was back in 2011.

To say that the motion controls in Skyward Sword are "infuriating" is putting it mildly. Every single time I rested my Joy-Cons in my lap, they lost their position onscreen, meaning I'd have to reset the gyro every time I wanted to toss a flop or ride my Loftwing. My controllable beetle tool flew around in circles; I couldn't get my Loftwing to turn left; I fell directly past collectable treasure chests and slammed into the ground. At times, I gave up on optional objectives birthday, because information technology simply wasn't worth the frustration.

How I learned to stop worrying and dearest the Pro Controller

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on Nintendo Switch

(Epitome credit: Nintendo)

It wasn't until only subsequently the second dungeon that I realized there was a amend mode to play the game. Around this time, my Joy-Cons ran out of battery, and I figured it would exist a good opportunity to come across how Skyward Sword Hard disk ran in handheld way. The first thing I had to do was adjust to the new control scheme, which used the left analog stick for aiming and flight, and the right analog stick to control the management of your sword.

At start, I was sure I'd hate using the right analog stick for directional swordplay, since it meant I couldn't freely rotate the photographic camera. But every bit I played through Skyward Sword Hd''s third dungeon, I realized that having limited control over the photographic camera wasn't so bad; in fact, it was no worse than the N64 Zelda entries, or their 3DS remasters.

Besides, playing in handheld mode solved all of my traversal woes in one fell swoop. My Loftwing and beetle went exactly where I told them to; my cursor no longer flew in circles every fourth dimension I tried to aim a bomb or a slingshot. Not only was I having a amend time; I was actually playing more effectively, losing less health and consuming fewer items.

While I'd played with movement controls, Skyward Sword HD was a tense, stressful experience, where I was fighting the game every pace of the manner.

After my Joy-Cons finished recharging, I picked upwards my Pro Controller, and take been playing the game that style e'er since. While swordfighting is a fiddling tougher, every other role of the game is immeasurably better. In fact, a few hours after I started playing with the Pro Controller, I had a startling realization: I was leaning back on the couch.

While I'd played with motion controls, Skyward Sword Hard disk drive was a tense, stressful experience, where I was fighting the game every step of the manner rather than enjoying it. With the button-based control scheme, I found myself thinking advisedly about the puzzles and exploring each new surface area thoroughly, rather than wondering how I was going to survive the next run into that required accented precision from an imprecise peripheral.

While I'm sure that some players will still prefer Skyward Sword Hard disk with move controls (they are absolutely more fun for combat), this is the style I wanted to play the game 10 years agone. Existence able to use a regular controller makes Skyward Sword Hard disk drive feel like a regular Zelda game, rather than "that weird Zelda game where the move controls really got in the manner."

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the Switch's star allure, as well it should be. But what Breath of the Wild gained in scope, it lost in tradition. If you accept away the intricate dungeons, interconnected puzzles, clever accessories, sprawling towns and deliberate difficulty curve, what'south left of the honey 3D Zelda formula?

With Skyward Sword Hd on Switch, players no longer have to choose. There's room enough on Nintendo's innovative console to both break and embrace Zelda'due south conventions. And, now that Skyward Sword feels comfortable to play, information technology tin can finally take its identify among the best entries in the franchise.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom'southward Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of scientific discipline and applied science. Afterwards hours, you tin find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/zelda-skyward-sword-hd-motion-controls

Posted by: hallfromen77.blogspot.com

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