The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Hands On

Right after the hands on with the 3DS, next on my Nintendo list was LoZ: Skyward Sword. In part, it was research for an interview I had the same afternoon with Eiji Anouma – more about him later, as well as in upcoming coverage. And aside from that? I've used this line before: it's Zelda, dude!

The game is controlled with the remote and chuck, and utilises the additional precision and control of Motion Plus. They had made big promises about the ability to slice vertically and horizontally with ease, and the need to use these moves to vanquish different enemies. As you'll have read, the press conference wasn't exactly free of glitches, so I really wanted to test this myself.

A nice little Nintendo of Australia led cutsies got me to the front of an intimidating line and I must say I feel a lot better about the control system. Anouma asked us to raise our hands in the developer round table later that day, just to ensure we all rightly agreed that the morning's poor showing with Miyamoto had to be down to unseen and malevolent wireless forces: we reached for the sky.

The quick and dirty control rundown goes thus: with the 'chuk, you raise your shield, and can also use it to thrust. The thrust can be used as an attack mechanism to bounce back rocks at Deku Scrubs and other projectile hurling beasties. Z is the classic lock on button, and you'll use the analogue stick to get Link running. With the remote, you control your sword, including its orientation as you move or stand to fight. Holding it up (skyward, duh) charges it, and you can unleash projectile attacks. Slamming both hands down, or sweeping across, will deal powered up attacks also.

The version on the floor at the show has quite a cluttered HUD, but we were told that this is just because the final look and feel is still taking shape, and there's a need to show off a few items and abilities without the hassle of explaining how they work and what button to press when. Fair point.

Returning items include the bow and arrow (this was what I found the hardest to use, but the guys who had obviously had a bit of practice before they got on stage handled it a lot better) bombs and slingshot, among others. We'll also see a couple of new ones, of course. A few well placed question marks in the item screen has whet many appetites, I would say. The method by which you select these items is now a hold-button-point-remote affair, which is going to make things a lot easier. Anouma also made many references to the achievement of this new gameplay/menu integration during our one on one chat and the dev round table (don't worry – I will get you guys all the goss on that stuff!). In practical terms, it's not a massive leap for gaming, but it is pretty big for Zelda. In a world where so much remains the same each and every time (not that we don't like it that way) it's nice to see the cogs are still whirring in Japan.

The environments are lush and welcoming, done in an art style Miyamoto said takes certain elements from Impressionism; one of his personal favourites. PS3 die-hards will once again lambaste the Wii for its lack of grunt, but as always the ocular feedback from LoZ is well thought out and achieves exactly what it needs to. Up close, I saw more texture blurring than I would like, but it's early days.

Story wise, although they seemed to think they were giving out a lot of info, details are a bit thin on the ground. The trailer shows Link diving from islands in the sky (that's Skyloft) down through the clouds. Below, you guessed it, evil is at work. Better get to work! You'll need to travel between Skyloft and the world down below many times during the game, and this is by all accounts a “key” gameplay element.

We ran through one 10 minute demo, defeating a range of both familiar and not so familiar enemies. The sword play really is a highlight, but as always its the adventure of Zelda that gets the fans excited. What we can tell you is that even in the little snippet we got to test, there's a great scorpion boss to fight. Targeting the left and right pincers, we had to take out his key weapons before taking aim at the head. I am not going to pretend I killed him – the demo actually faded to black before I got a chance (I guess I spent too much time whipping Keese and chopping down trees and grass). Of course, the developers can't stop talking about all the fantastic stuff there is to discover this time around, but getting specifics is like talking a librarian out of her undies.

The game isn't due out until next year; Miyamoto said it would be cruel to talk tough about trying to hit the holiday season only to miss, so they made an early decision to keep working on the foundation they have, and build some meaner bosses and trickier dungeons.

Nice work, Nintendo – looking forward to seeing the finished product. I have way more cool stuff on Skyward Sword and the Zelda universe from Anouma and Miyamoto, so watch out for that in coming days.

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