So "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword" ($49.99) looks like the last gasp for the once unstoppable Wii. Is it worth dusting off and plugging in your old machine to play it Absolutely — although it's not quite the masterpiece Nintendo has been promising.
The core elements of the 25-year-old "Zelda" franchise remain. Once again, you are Link, a teenager who's destined for great things. As usual, your friend Zelda disappears and you must run to her rescue. Your journey takes you through a series of fantastic locations — including, most notably, a series of dungeons filled with brain-twisting puzzles.
Still, there are plenty of tweaks to the formula. "Skyward Sword" begins in Skyloft, a tiny town floating high above the clouds. Each character is master of a "loftwing," a bird you can fly to the other rocks floating around Skyloft. While out on a joyride, Zelda is attacked by a tornado and dragged to the land below, where most of the action takes place.
There are three major areas to explore: the grassy Faron Woods, the fiery Eldin Volcano and the desolate Lanayru Desert. Each is populated with a healthy variety of native creatures, some helpful, some vicious. There's plenty of sword-swinging combat, but that's not the emphasis — the real challenge is figuring out how to get through the mazelike environments to their central temples.
Source: Korea News Wire
