The same, but different. Still, not quite as good as Sam Dimas High School football.

User Rating: 9 | The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword WII
It's hard to objectively rate a game like Skyward Sword when the mind invariably wants to compare it to its predecessors -- some of which are legendary games. Do I rate the game based on its objective qualities or succumb to the temptation to feel disappointment that it doesn't engender the same sense of wonderment as Ocarina of Time?

I enjoyed Skyward Sword and some of the changes it tried to bring to the aging Zelda formula, but it's a mixed bag. There is a sense of linearity in much of the game which can be both focusing and infuriating. The clear bifurcation between the game's lone town and the adventuring sections is novel, even if it does diminish the sense of there being a full, open world for Link to explore and discover. And the motion controls, at times, are more viscerally satisfying that simply pushing a button.

But I still can't shake the feeling that I've done all this before. The story, in particular, seems to contribute to this malaise. Does every Zelda game have to have the same general story arch? I mean, I know that's the back-story for the series, but it severely limits my interest when I know the basic plot outline before the game loads for the first time.

I applaud Nintendo for mixing up the Zelda formula as much as they did. But it's high time they truly changed some of the basic tenets of the series lest it completely lose its relevance.