Thirteen Games To Blow Your Mind Off In 2011

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SKYWARD SWORD (WII)

The Legend of Zelda series, one of gaming’s longest running and most hallowed and revered of all franchises, finds itself in deep, deep trouble. In the wake of Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, the last three Zelda installments, all of which have merely been ‘very, very, excellently good,’ as opposed to ‘OMFG, this thing is amazing and awesome and will change gaming forever!,’ and the competition which has taken all of what was good about Zelda and made it better, bundling it in a refined, complete package that includes a great story and high production values, the series finds its relevance challenged like never before.

Unfortunately, recent developments haven’t really helped the series’ case- it’s E3 showing, long awaited, was horrible, after wireless interference totally messed up the Wiimote’s wireless interface. The graphics of the game looked good and striking, but nothing special, nothing polished, and the artstyle was something that really didn’t go down all that well with so many players and fans. Moreover, after half a thousand assurances and promises from Nintendo that Skyward Sword would be a structural reboot for the series, the game in its E3 showing really looked like more of the same.

The problem is, after the Wii’s superb year winning 2010 showing, 2011 looks to be a tad empty for the system, and Zelda, historically an event that the entire game industry sat up and took notice of, is looking like the only big title for the console, and it is getting lost in a sea of much more hyped and anticipated titles. Unfortunately, whereas we have had reason to hype the other games, for Zelda, we have nothing much at all, except for anticipation based purely off the series’ past pedigree.

Why are we hyping Skyward Sword, then?

A cursory look at the teaser for this game released at E3 2010 would indicate several things- firstly, of course, it’s clear that the game is a work in progress. Say what you will about the artstyle that Nintendo has opted for with Skyward Sword, but you cannot deny that every single Zelda game is highly polished, and that includes the graphics. In the Skyward Sword trailer, things look good in general- depending on your opinion on the impressionist graphical palette the game is espousing- but there are several rough edges and some textures look like something right out of an N64 game.

Apart from the graphical inadequacies (which one would reasonably expect to be gone by the time the game is finished and released), everything shown looks top notch. We have the same tried and tested Zelda formula that’s worked wonders over the years, and it seems to have returned in full form. The trouble is, that may be the game’s biggest problem.

See, it’s like I said, there was a time when gaming was Zelda- a time when Zelda defined and lay down the trends for gaming as they would be for the next few years until the next Zelda game would be released to do the very same thing. And so it was until the release of 2006’s Twilight Princess.

Now, Twilight Princess, by all accounts, is an excellent game- it is one of the highest rated games of all time, after all. However, the primary issue that it faces is that this same formula, which as done the series a world of good over the years, is now obsolete. As games rapidly move towards blurring the line between themselves and movies, Zelda, still made with an old time parochial mentality as far as the story and presentation aspects go, risks irrelevance for itself. Sure, for a game like Mario Galaxy 2, which is a platformer, Nintendo might have been able to give stories a cold shoulder, and made the game a masterpiece purely on the strength of its gameplay. But for Zelda, which is a high fantasy action adventure game, there is a desperate need to catch up with the times, and then to overtake them and set the trends again, if the series is to regain its lost status.

Can Nintendo do that with a console as underpowered as the Wii? I surely hope so. My favorite game of all time is a Zelda game. The series means the world to me- as it does to millions of other gamers, I’m sure. So if Nintendo mess Zelda up, then they’ll have a mob of angry fanboys, fangirls, fanmen and famwomen to answer to. I really wouldn’t want to be in that position where they have to explain why Zelda fell so badly.

Until then, Skyward Sword stays on this list- for even as Zelda fades, it still remains one of the most consistent franchises in gaming. Until and unless we get a Zelda game that is outright bad, every game will find a place in a ‘Most Anticipated’ list, at least, even if the games themselves cease to be anything remarkable as they once were.