Spoiler Skyward Sword Reviews Thread

[A Link In Time]

Yes, I was looking at this myself.
http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword/critic-reviews

For the lowest scores, we have an 80 from Giant Bomb, 80 from GamePro, and an 83 from 1Up.

Quote from Giant Bomb:



Quote from Game Pro:



Quote from 1UP:



I haven't looked into the other two much yet, but I was looking into the review for Game Bomb, and there were a couple of things I noticed in the comments on it that stuck out to me. Here:







This rather gives me the impression that the reviewer did not give the game a proper playthrough, skipped many hours of sidequests, and had his mind preoccupied with wanting to get back to playing Skyrim in the midst of playing the game and rushed through it (particularly the bit about feeling like the beginning took forever, why so impatient in the first place?), which tells me that he did not allow himself to truly experience the game properly, in addition to having had influenced thoughts while actually writing the review due to being in the midst of immersion in an unrelated game.

This may just be an impression I have though, and perhaps I am wrong, as it is all subjective on many levels to begin with. It is just that this kind of circumstance behind reviewing a game does have a tendency to undermine its credibility in my eyes. I don't claim to know how accurate or inaccurate it is, it is just my opinion.

Anyway, aside from the lowest scores, we have 4 90s, 1 93, 2 98s, and 8 100s, which shows perfect scores outweighing all others thus far.

In retrospect though, despite the fact that way may be discussing these numbers right now, it's good not to forget that they are just numbers in the end, and that the personal experience that each of us will have with the game can neither be captured properly with any such number nor necessarily defined by it.

Regardless of the numbers, I'm sure all of us can be looking forward to an absolutely fantastical, memorable experience.

::EDIT::

@zeld@ I disabled it, but what browser are you using? Is it safari? This might be getting slightly off-topic but I might suggest to you that the internet browser you're using might be causing you specifically issues with viewing animated GIFS in general, because many users on here also use them and despite what you are suggesting, no users have actually had any slow-down issues with them prior...same goes for my sig which I've had for months, many users have seen it (no way it would have been voted best signature on here had it been lagging and causing problems for those that saw it). Firefox and Google Chrome load animated GIFS flawlessly and don't lag at all, and I would suggest in general switching to one of those two. This is a general recommendation to improve your internet performance =)

Since both Skyward and Majora's Mask have a 95 on Metacritic, I compared the two games on Gamerankings and found Majora's Mask to be less acclaimed. Skyward Sword still has a realistic chance of topping The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Giant Bomb's review of Skyward Sword is the most biased.

 

[JohnFC]

The difference between a 95 and 96 is pretty negligible. Especially considering the reviews are still coming in. Of course the game won't top Ocarina in terms of scoring. 1998 was a different time. The industry was not leaning so heavily toward gritty realism so games like Zelda were looked on in a better light. The game is getting a lot of 10's, that should be enough proof that ths is a grand Zelda title.

 

[RedDekuScrub]

Ah, a place to view all of the reviews for Skyward Sword. Look at all of those high scores, Skyward Sword will definitely go down in history...

 

[captainchew2]

For the first time ever, a 3D console Zelda game fails to get a 5 on G4. Skyward Sword was meant to be the best 3D Zelda game yet not the worst.

First, G4 is the least reliable place for anything ever.....

Second, have they even been around long enough to legitimately review all of the console zelda games in a non bias manner? TP yes WW maybe MM probably not.

 

[A Link In Time]

Seems Game Trailers liked Skyward sword after all awarding it a 9.1/10.

 

[Crash]

Seems Game Trailers liked Skyward sword after all awarding it a 9.1/10.

That's still a low nine for what many of the others gave it... I'm not taking it into consideration mind you, it just seems a little out of place if you know what I mean.

 

[A Link In Time]

That's still a low nine for what many of the others gave it... I'm not taking it into consideration mind you, it just seems a little out of place if you know what I mean.

Yes, especially considering they gave twilight Princess a 9.7/10.

 

[A Link In Time]

I have updated the first post with several new reviews.

 

[Mastik]

Don't you find that weird the skyward scored highest from th toughes places ( ege, erogamer, game informer ) places that usually don't give away a 10 like a muffin, but got the lowest reviews from the reviewed that is the most esy to get a high score from ( giant bomb, gametrailers)?
Dudes, stop getting abset about the g4 review. It's the most unrlaiable review site in the world. I mean its on TV! They are very influential on the average buyer ( call of duty guy) so most of thyer five stars are because the publisher paid them! Metacritic deosnt Evan take thyer review into count in th overall average.
GT's review lost all it's cridablity to me when they started complaning abut the WII's hardwere, the shortco
Inges of the WII aren't the games shortcomings. Besides, they said that TP was field with content outside the main game and then said that there aren't any in SS when every one how opted TP can say it's the most liniar, nothing-outside-of-the-game Zelda ever, so yes, I have my dubts abut the review

 

[A Link In Time]

Don't you find that weird the skyward scored highest from th toughes places ( ege, erogamer, game informer ) places that usually don't give away a 10 like a muffin, but got the lowest reviews from the reviewed that is the most esy to get a high score from ( giant bomb, gametrailers)?
Dudes, stop getting abset about the g4 review. It's the most unrlaiable review site in the world. I mean its on TV! They are very influential on the average buyer ( call of duty guy) so most of thyer five stars are because the publisher paid them! Metacritic deosnt Evan take thyer review into count in th overall average.
GT's review lost all it's cridablity to me when they started complaning abut the WII's hardwere, the shortco
Inges of the WII aren't the games shortcomings. Besides, they said that TP was field with content outside the main game and then said that there aren't any in SS when every one how opted TP can say it's the most liniar, nothing-outside-of-the-game Zelda ever, so yes, I have my dubts abut the review

Metacritic used to include G4 but not anymore.

 

[kaimason1]

What??? How did Joystiq give it a 4.5/10? Unless that should be 4.5/5...

EDIT: Yeah, it's 4.5/5. This should be fixed.

 

[A Link In Time]

All critic review have been updated.

 

[Rytex]

Let me try to do this in a way that justifies my rating instead of just posting a score.

I have been playing Zelda for years. In recent years, I have managed to play every Zelda except the DS ones, and today I went and purchased my copy of Skyward Sword. I got home, tore open the packaging wrap, and started playing the game. Well, to be honest, I am a little put off by something. I'm a little put off by just how much better than Ocarina of Time this game is. It is a true masterpiece in everything from the art to the puzzles to even the gameplay. The landscapes are breathtaking, the mechanics of the game are flawless thus far, and the sword-fighting with certain characters entertain me in a way few Zeldas ever have, with the previous top holder being Twilight Princess vs. Darknuts. However, when I finally faced Debbie the Fabulous- excuse me, Lord Ghirahim- in single combat, I, having never played the demo before, was stunned. He reacted to everything in a realistic manner, as opposed to some predictable "realism" used by Halo, where all the Brutes will simply side-step to the right when you shoot at them, making them predictable to where it was easily exploited. And then I witnessed the beautiful scene where Fi showed a bit of a love for skiing on water, whatever her motive for doing so was. So far, that is as far as I have gotten.

All in all, thus far, I give this game a 10/10. I would give it more, but I've taken things up to eleven a little too much today.