Sore Fingers-The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

                     I am a huge Zelda nerd. I've been playing the series since I was old enough to hold a controller, and it remains up there as one of my favorite game series. I've been anticipating this game for years, and let me tell you now, it did not disappoint. The only debate I really have with myself now is whether it's my 2nd or 1st favorite of the series. Yeah, it's that good.

                    The story is very well-done, capturing the simplicity of Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time with the character development and depth of Twilight Princess. The characters are pretty great. This is easily one of my favorite Link's (You can make his dialogue choices sound like Sokka!), and his relationship with Zelda is the best so far in the series. Zelda herself is pretty cool. The villains are chilling, badass, and hilarious. My favorite character has to be Groose, who goes through more development than almost any other Zelda character.

                  I love the art style they chose here. Most people like to talk about how it combined the styles of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but it is more than that. It is an actual artistic style, called Impressionism. (Thank you Art 1.) It was chosen, in my opinion, because it perfectly suits the Wii and its graphical limitations. It looks good without having to be super-realistic, which I like.

                I absolutely love the gameplay here. For the heights it attempts to grasp, it comes close enough for me to be more than satisfied. It fucks up little enough, and when it does it is easily corrected. The level design is incredible. My roommate who didn't enjoy Twilight Princess (I know, what the fuck right?) because it was too easy will be unable to make the same complaint here. This game is hard as balls, but never unfairly so. There's a ton of content here too. I only did the storyline stuff, and it still took be 34 hours to beat.

                The orchestral soundtrack, which comes with the game, is amazing. It is probably the best Zelda score, and easily ranks among the greatest in gaming history for me. Overall, this game met my expectations, it exceeded them by a mile. By the end, I was left sad, but satisfied that such an amazing adventure can be played again any day. And that no matter how much time may go by, there will always be a Link, a Zelda, and an enemy they fight. And it will be great.