The hyper-fixation on Skyward Sword's motion controls as a point of criticism has always struck me as really misplaced. They're certainly a negative, but Skyward Sword could've been a decent game without at all changing its control scheme. In reality the motion controls are just the bad icing on a dreadful, dreadful cake. The game's only three locations consist of the most boring ideas possible for levels in a video game: a forest, a volcano, and a desert, each of which you're forced to visit multiple times. In a game series that's arguably carried by how interesting its locations are, this is already unacceptable. Couple that with how bafflingly linear their designs are in a game series that's inarguably carried by its exploration and it's downright damning. There are a couple neat little concepts in there- the beetle you can pilot to survey areas and the time mechanics in Lanayru Desert come to mind- but they're just brief breaks from an experience that's bland at best and painful at worst. Skyward Sword's other positives include a cheesy but admittedly pretty appealing story and most of all its soundtrack. It really can't be overstated how impressive Skyward Sword's music is. It's a game that's part of a franchise that has multiple contenders for greatest soundtrack of all time, and yet it still somehow manages to stand out. Ballad of the Goddess alone justifies Skyward Sword's existence, but it also comes with the negative of creating a reason to play Skyward Sword.