finished the game a couple weeks ago, clocked 48 hours. such a beautiful game all around, the criticism and hatred it gets here really doesn't bother me even though I struggle to understand most of it
first, art direction and animations: top notch. Nintendo really created charismatic NPCs with a well rounded personality, all according to Zelda's tradition. Graphics are clean and varied, although obviously with thre shortcomings one would expect from the Wii
world structure: this is where Nintendo really went skyhigh. I absolutely loved the way the path to reach a dungeon is bigger and more enigmatic than the dungeons themselves, with dozens of riddles, secrets, intricacies. It's all a bit linear but who cares? Absolutely satisfactory, enormous when it comes to content with new zones opening after your eyes to explore and, most importantly, zero empty zones to walk through. I don't know if I'd want the next Zewlda to feature the same structure but if this is the result then I can't choose to go back to the old barren overworld
gameplay: perfect. Yeah, lots of people hated motion controls and Fi. I didn't find it annoying at all because it's not. Maybe I'm just not so easily bored by a two seconds animation or the fact I have to *gasp* press a button to recalibrate the 'mote. Stellar dungeons, great sidequests (I've actually completed all of them, first time i've ever done it in a Zelda game), incredible inventiveness, solid swordplay, new ideas as if there's no tomorrow. And the final showdown is really apocalyptic, something I had never seen in a Zelda before
music: a bit too epic for my tastes. SS isn't that epic (minus said final fight), so i giggled every time me and my bird flew away and the super-armageddon badass music kicked in. I was like "Great music but ehhh, what's it doing here?". All in all, excellent sound effects, strokes of genius (the bazaar) and the main theme is wonderful
story, characters, other stuff: story is always a bit by the numbers, not particularly bold nor exciting, but it's the characters what made me want to see the end of it. Zelda is beautiful, Groose is legendary, Ghirahim is hilarious, and the Mogmas deserve to be in every Zelda. a couple of them creeped the heck out of me like the final boss. I was like, "Damn, SFIV meets Zelda". A nice unexpected touch
so, I loved this. It's a 10 in my book. Don't care about any of the criticism, I've eaten this game alive and my belly was fully satisfied. Now I want the next Zelda to be on the same level, with motion controls and the same amount of bold inventions. Anything less than what SS achieved would be disappointing