Recently I made the decision to return to my Wii and make my way through a selection of games on the platform, though for starters I thought I would make my way through one of the Wii’s last major games The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. I originally played this game in 2011 when it was released and immediately I thought the game was visually stunning, it contained a beautiful art style that really worked perfectly with the game. However at the time I was unaware of what a game really looked like in high definition, as well as how a high definition TV could affect games on an older system.
Recently I discovered just that when I started looking back at a series of Playstation 2 games that I always thought looked good, but I have been proven wrong, the games like Burnout 3 and Lord of the Rings Return of the King don’t look as good as they used to but it is the way with time. The Wii may be younger then the Playstation 2 but it does not mean that the games really hold up visually on a big TV as I have started to discover, it is not that they look bad, but they don’t all look as good as they once did. However there are a selection of games that do stand the test of time and from my recent return to Skyward Sword I can say without a doubt that this game has an almost timeless art style that gives it a certain beauty even in a high definition world.
Looking at Skyward Sword now I can’t help but be reminded of an oil painting, the particular style of art has an almost timelessly beautiful design, that is as long as the picture being produced has the same vibe, which Skyward Sword does. Before I go to far, I would like to stress the fact that visually this game isn’t perfect and while I am suggesting that the game is timelessly beautiful at times the game can be considered a bit blocky, this mostly is born from a couple of small sections in the game but this does not impact the overall beauty of the game.
When I first returned to this game this vision was not immediately acknowledged, the sky section where the game begins never quite captures the beautiful nature of the game initially, it actually takes further exploring to discover the games beauty which can be discovered in a forest. The Faron Woods is a rather stunning location in general filled with color and beauty at almost every turn the places you can walk to never fail to impress, however it is the things found in the distance that truly make my point on Skyward Sword being timelessly beautiful. From any section of the forest it is nice to look up and all around and look at the sights you can only find in the distance, from a quick glance they may seem a bit blurry but allow me to remind you of an oil painting, a further look provides just this feeling as the games initially blurry looking graphics transforms into something much more, to be exact a thing of beauty. A particular tree in the center of the area further shows this as we see it take shape with the leaves and the tree becoming a thing that will continue to look impressive as time goes by.
Further environments in the game also continue to spread this idea, a quick glance at the games desert environment also known as Lanayru Desert provides an area that shares the forests same sense of beauty however on a different scale. The desert is dry and dull but at a distance it still reminds me of the timeless beauty of an oil painting while helping this with the natural vision of a desert, seeing the desert all dried out with the distance being blurred out is natural. When you look at a desert as a whole due to the intense heat we start to see the place become a blur to the eyes but yet contain a certain magic, something that is captured here perfectly allowing the area to cultivate a further timeless vibe.
Many other games may be able to stay beautiful and timeless through just all around looking good, but it is these games like Skyward Sword that we will one day look back at with wow. The games will be noted in history for its art style that even as we move into the future and the game begin to further blur it will remain relevant just because of how truly timeless the art direction was. This at least is my vision, the game is beautiful and in some odd way I think it impresses me more then back in 2011, it is 2015 and beyond that where we will further note how impressed we are by its design.
