Went into Skyward Sword with pretty much negative expectations and found it enjoyable, all despite how much scuffed it is. There are plenty of glaring problems: like combat that's made a joke by button controls yet still frustrating when an input doesn't register one in a ten times; or padding of playtime with a lot of unnecessary fetching and some repetitive tasks.

My main gripe although is something I feel about many Nintendo games: Skyward Sword introduces a lot of potentially spectacular mechanics but doesn't build enough interesting challenges around. The game just rarely asks anything more than the ability to recognize patterns brought in the first time an item or mechanic is introduced. It's also irritatingly handholdy, to the point a solution to one of the most interesting spatial puzzles in the game gets awkwardly spelled out on a readable sign. I understand the game needs to be beatable by everybody, but then I wish the HD remaster introduced a new hint-removing difficulty mode, changing dialogues and signposts where it's possible to give new players an opportunity to figure out things for themselves. It's just such a missed opportunity, especially taking into account the few times when the game lets go of the reins really do feel great.

Still, there's totally more good than bad, and despite its annoyances Skyward Sword delivers neat surprises throught all its length. This makes it a pretty good time in my book, even though I wish it was more fulfilling.