The game’s debut dungeon, the Skyview Temple, gave me a big sense of déjà vu because a cross-section of this temple was shown off at E3 2011 and subsequent press events. Still, going through it in its entirety showed off a somewhat narrower focus (you don’t have the full slate of weapons you do in the demo), and was a lot more enjoyable because of it.

Skyward Sword seems to have an interesting item progression to it. Unlike past Zelda games, you don’t just get one major item per dungeon. Instead, at least in the early sections, you get one item in the pre-dungeon area (slingshot in forest area), and one more in the dungeon (beetle in Skyview Temple). It makes each individual item less of a milestone, and makes the action filled with more variety.

The item inside of the Skyview Temple is the beetle, a new item that seems to be a replacement for the boomerang. It is one of the coolest and most useful items added to a Zelda game in recent memory. While the spinner and the ball and chain were cool in Twilight Princess, they were one-note items that were used for specific tasks. The beetle can be used as a scout, an aggressor, and a way to flip switches. It’s versatile and easy to control, at least after a short MotionPlus learning curve.

On the other side of the MotionPlus spectrum is tightrope walking. Especially in this first area and dungeon, you are forced to walk over long distances while precariously tilting the Wii Remote back and forth. I half expected the game to pause and tell me to use the Balance Board. It just kills momentum and isn’t that fun. The beetle is also a little slow, but at least there is more direct control over it. Tightrope walking is just annoying.

And on a final Skyview Temple-related note, I still don’t really like the Ghirahim boss fight. It’s rather unintuitive for a Zelda boss fight, and this is coming from someone who has played it three times at this point. In the legion of first bosses in a Zelda game, it might be the most cinematic, but I think gameplay-wise, it’s one of my least favorite. Queen Gohma in Ocarina of Time might be piss easy, but she’s got an undeniable charm.

Also, I still hate dowsing, but you can't do it in dungeons. I guess it's a bit of a saving grace.