Probably my ultimate "well *I* liked it" game, I bought this game for the Switch during a sale for a bit of a laugh and ended up falling in love with the game. I will admit that this partially has to do with the fact that my childhood involved Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Tooie and so I'm just acclimatized to that kind of sprawling level design with the frustrating challenges and partially to do with the fact that I bought it after they released those QOL patches, but this game honestly hits the right notes of nostalgia and so I 100%ed this game. It's like a portable DK64 and I'm just that kind of weirdo that still likes DK64.
The sequel's WAY better though.

This game is the biggest argument against having the Zelda Timeline because this game's attempt at writing The Deep Lore™ for several of the Legend of Zelda icons like the Master Sword and Ganon are all clumsy as hell and honestly I hate this game's writing far more than anything to do with the motion controls. I probably would've liked this game a lot more if it wasn't trying so hard to be an origin story for everything Zelda including small things like Link's outfit. I'm good, Nintendo. I didn't need to hear that the Royal Crest of Hyrule was based off the nameless red Loftwing in this game like that really means anything. It's fine.

I also loved that they teased the whole "fly on a Loftwing and explore flying islands!" thing a lot in trailers but ultimately the Loftwing gameplay just feels like a glorified level select screen with the occasional optional island to land on and find 20 rupees on. Beautiful. I love the giant yellow-grey cloudy void that Link lives in and I love constantly looking at it between levels. At least now I know the Master Sword used to be a character that constantly reminds Link about dungeon doors he just opened so clearly this game earned its spot at the beginning of the timeline. 10/10 Epic Lore.

However, paradoxically, while this game is indeed my least favorite console Zelda game, it also contains some of my favorite bosses and dungeons in the entire franchise. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on the game if it gave me the Koloktos fight and the Ancient Cistern dungeon, but god, this entire game just felt like a slog and I hate all the unnecessary fluff this game attached to the Zelda franchise when they already had Groose in this game. Did we really need all that shit with Demise when Groose was right there? Did we?

This game made me realize how tired I am of the main Pokemon series' combat system because I actually thought the GO catching mechanic on the wild encounters actually streamlined the game enough that it didn't just feel like I was playing the same game I've been playing since 1998.

You know, even though it's a remake of said game from 1998.

So there's my review. It's a game if you want to play a Pokemon games but you're tired of some of the Pokemon gameplay mechanics while wanting to play a game that has the other gameplay mechanics of the older Pokemon titles, creating a weird tonal Frankenstein's Monster of a Pokemon game that makes it feel weirdly out of place compared to Sword/Shield.

Honestly one of the most underrated PS3 exclusives out there with how little people talk about this game, and man that's a huge shame considering what this game offers.

Mechanically, there are some things that could've been better (and, if you're trying to go for a Platinum, some of the trophies are really bullshit and involve either a guide or lots of trial and error) but it oozes so much charm and style that it honestly makes up for it. While very much a "style over substance" game in terms of how intricate the platforming is (or isn't in this case), this game's general aesthetic sucked me in enough that I kind of don't care that the gameplay is merely "okay" while the game's atmosphere, soundtrack, and character acting does most of the heavy lifting.

I don't know what made the PS3 such a target for charming craft-y games with British narrators but honestly I couldn't get enough of it. Sometimes a game can just be a very cool art project with the gameplay mainly being used to string the extravagant set-pieces together.