Well, it isn't "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time." As long as I have been gaming, that has been the gold standard; the benchmark that most games fall short of. Now, five years since the Wii's first Zelda outing, "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess," many are claiming that the great "Ocarina" standard has been shattered, and that "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword" has earned the designation of being the best Zelda game ever made. As much as I wish that were true, "Skyward Sword" is not perfect. Like all great works of art, there are things that are going to work for some players and not for others, and there are areas that keep the game from being as perfect as it could have been.

"Skyward Sword" is a great adventure story, and one of the defining multimedia experiences of our time. It's expansive, beautiful, and shakes up the series in a way no game has since "Ocarina."It's a heartwarming adventure that I'm not soon to forget, and is the most deep and engaging title that Nintendo has created yet.

"Skyward Sword" is purportedly the origin story for the Zelda universe, and sets up the events of the other games in the series. Link, a knight in training on Skyloft, a floating island in the sky, is best friends with Zelda (not a princess, mind you) and he is about to participate in the Wing Ceremony, which will officially earn him his knighthood. Groose, one of Link's classmates, has hidden Link's guardian bird, and if Link hopes to take part in the "special ceremony events" with Zelda (the sexual innuendo is laid on pretty thick here) he must find his bird and win the race. He does, of course, and while Link and Zelda take a celebratory bird ride, a giant tornado snatches her up, sending her to the mysterious land below the clouds, where the Skyloft residents have been told that nothing can survive. Link takes chase, and his latest adventure begins.

Surprise after surprise, magical moment after magical moment, the gamepulls you along for a ride that only gets more enjoyable as it goes along. It's a game that grows and learns with you as you get better at using the sword you now have to deploy in ways that just make sense. The new motion-based controls require you to physically poke your controller at a specific spot here,or slash one way instead of the other to proceed.The sword controls are nearly perfect, and it's eerie to see the sword on the screen precisely mirror the controller in my hand. Some of the other actionsto which theWii Motion Plus is applied, such as for swimming and flying, probably could have been better suited to the analog stick.But this game features motion controls the way we all envisioned them when the Wii was first announced.

The precision in the controls makes for a more challenging game. Simple enemies are now a lot harder to defeat. No more swinging for the fences or waggling the controller, as almost all of the enemies, both old and new, require you to really think if you want to defeat them.

The world of Skyloft is stunning and masterfully crafted, and while it is not rendered in HD, is still beautiful and expansive. The game uses a blur technique for areas in the distance, which suits the painterly art style, and also I'm sure keeps the world within the Wii's technological constraints. There are places where the style isn't as crisp or as smooth as I would have liked, but this game stands as the defining point in the artistic style versus graphics debate.Stylistically this is perhaps the best visual representation of Link's world we've seen.

I was also impressed at how the game takesinspiration from past games in the series, and improves on almost all of them.In some ways it hasnot, like the sky over world, which is too familiar to the empty and widespread ocean from the Gamecube's "Wind Waker." The game's sense of humor and adept narration is equally entertaining, and a breath of fresh air from the more serious tone that the series seems to have takenof late.

"Skyward Sword"also contains some of the best cut scenes and storytelling in the franchise's history. I was more connected to the universe than I have ever been, and found myself disappointed when I walked outside and real life wasn't painted with wisps of clouds. The characters are as alive and as vibrant as the locations they inhabit. I'm still a little uncomfortable with one of the new races (too much technology for my taste), but Zelda, Groose, Fi, and Ghirahim are all fleshed out and developed in ways unheard of previously. The game manages to pull at the strings of nostalgia without becoming a rehash, and will control and encapsulate you for the duration of its 40-plus-hour adventure. The music only adds to this, and the game has some of the most memorable themes we've seen in a long time.

As perfect as the game is in many ways, there are areas where I wish it was stronger. I was shocked at the archaic save-station system that limits players to saving only at certain geographic points. While the game includes plenty of save stations, it means you can only save at those exact spots. The game froze on me once and I had to start off at the last save point; something that really shouldn't be a problem in 2011. I understand the desire to be able to save in a certain spot, or directly before a boss, but removing the ability to save anywhere wasn't a good solution.

Difficulty wise, I really felt that up until the last dungeon -- one of the most creative in the whole series, I believe -- that I was continually waiting for the game to ramp things up. The few times I was stuck never lasted very long, and while the overall staying alive/taking damage part of the game is harder, the puzzles, while clever, never really advanced into mind bending or difficult. Most of the dungeons were also on the short side, which makes sense given Nintendo's success in making the over world packed with puzzles and trials to do on the way to them. But that system ultimately made the dungeons less formidable once you actually get to them.

I also thought that the number of areas was too few: my map still had entire areas left blank when I finished the game. Instead, Nintendo opted for densely packed areas that the game repeatedly reused, which I'm betting had more to do with spatial limitations of the Wii than anything else. Some of these rediscovery areas worked well, but others felt just like retreading the same places. There's no reason for me to walk through an already-completed dungeon just to fetch something that could have been located anywhere else.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment, however, was the limited number of items Link acquires in the game. Aside from the beetle - a remotely controlled flying device that is found in the first dungeon -- the rest of the supporting items really aren't that exciting or useful. Even series staples like the bow and slingshot are reduced to merely hitting switches. Gone is "Twilight Princess"'s Z-targeted bow, and because of that I barely used what was once Link's most dynamic weapon.

The game did learn a little from "TP" in this area, as the items were used outside of the dungeons they were originally found in and used much more often, but if you take out the series staples and items that have appeared in other games, you are left with very few new ones, and not all of them were used as extensively as other.Some I hoped to be included were missing all together: elemental arrows are gone, as are magic spells, tunics, or any of the other usual late-game upgrades (never thought I'd miss the magic armor). By the time I reached the final boss it had been quite some timesince I had gotten a new item, and I didn't have the pimped-out end game feeling to which I've grown accustomed.

New to the series is an item-upgrade system, which allows you to use found treasures and bugs to enhance your weapons and shields. It was a great new addition, but I felt like it wasn't taken far enough. You can only upgrade certain items, and I had a large amount of treasures and bugs left over that couldn't be used for anything. It made me wonder why I couldn't upgrade everything, especially when the number of items was already so limited.

As for replay value, while there is a post-game hero mode(it makes you overwrite your file, though, so be careful) and a boss-battle mode that are welcome additions, the game lacks an item-trading quest, cave of ordeals, or the other regular side-quest additions I love to waste hours on. There are smaller side quests throughout the game, but I was disappointed about what was left to come back to afterward (unless there's stuff nobody has found yet). The main game is so packed with stuff to do that this can be viewed as an odd complaint, but some stuff just shouldn't have been left out(poor Cuccos, may you rest in peace).

The ending of the game is a bittersweet moment, and one that is growing on me story-wise. I liked how Nintendo tried to tie all the games in the series together a bit, but felt that it could have gone a little further in connecting the dots. I'm not sure if I like how it explains Gannon's existence, either. It doesn't take away from the emotional impact of the ending, and some of the fun in the Zelda series is the intense debate over how the games all fit together anyways.

Overall, I think that it's fair to say that I'm pickier now then I was when "Ocarina" came out. I'm older and actually question why things are included or left out in games, not just a starry eyes 10-year-old soaking up what's put in front of me. The problem, of course, is that I'm still measuring "Skyward Sword" by things that "Ocarina" implemented: number of items, number of areas, difficulty, and so on. Nintendo tried with "Twilight Princess" to make a better version of "Ocarina" and found itself in a creative rut. "Skyward Sword"breaks the rules that "Ocarina" set in place and creates a new adventure that is not limited by its predecessors, and sets the bar quite high for the future of the series.