The biggest difference in this iteration is the motion controls. A Motion Plus controller is required (so most early copies came with a special edition pretty gold Zelda version of said controller) so that Link's sword can follow the direction the player is holding the controller. This leads to many wonderful types of puzzles where you have to swing the sword in a specific direction with the right timing. It also leads to some of the most frustrating moments in the game when the game misinterprets your motions.
What I Loved
The Puzzles
The game was filled with wonderful puzzles of all types. One dungeon had you rearrange the rooms with a slider puzzle in order to get around. One area plays with the concept of time to get around. At one point you lose all of your items and must sneak around trying to get them back. All of these are presented wonderfully with just enough clues to indicate what you need to do without making the puzzle pointless.
The Bosses
Each boss was really its own sort of puzzle. In most Zelda games, a boss is killed using the item they keep in their dungeon, so you just have to figure out how to use it to get them to expose their weak points. In this Zelda game, it's sort of the opposite. You still need to use the item you got from the dungeon, but you have to figure out the enemies' attack patterns and learn where and how to strike to get the opening to use that item. Really, I love this because all of the bosses are their own puzzle. All of their attacks can be avoided once you learn their pattern, so it's more of a strategy than a skill thing, which I always appreciate.
The Goddess Cubes
Hidden throughout the land are these cubes that when struck with your sword ascend into the sky and unlock a treasure chest. The thing I love about these is that not only are they hidden collectibles, but they're the right kind of hidden. It's usually obvious where they are, you have to figure out how to get to them. Near the end of the game, you get the ability to "douse" for the cubes so even if you missed some, you can very quickly and easily find where they are. And even when you do unlock the treasure chest, many of those are hidden in much the same way.
Item Use Instructions
Just like Nintendo does with Mario, many lessons on new items/enemies are taught by just forcing the player to try things. The best example is when you discover the Bellows can affect a certain object type in the volcano area (I'm trying to be vague so I don't give away this discovery because it amused me so much how they did it). They arranged this one part of the level where you first see this object such that most people will naturally get stuck behind it and forced to figure out how to remove the obstacle.
What I Disliked
Fi
I don't really remember Navi being as annoying as the running gag claims she is. Fi, on the other hand was the stupidest, most useless waste of programming I have ever seen. Her purpose is to help guide Link through the dungeons, give him clues when he gets stuck, and remind players of what they're doing when asked. The problem comes when she offers advice unheeded, which happens ALL THE FREAKING TIME. When you reach a new area, she'll pop out and say something useful like, "There is an 80% probability that this is where the MacGuffin is" or "I have calculated a 40% chance that that treasure chest is important". Everything she spouts out is blatantly obvious, does not help the player in any way whatsoever, and always comes with some random percentage (because she's a virtual intelligence, so she must sound computery).
The Imprisoned
Near one of the temples in the land, the great evil you are working to defeat is sealed. However, somehow his power keeps growing, he keeps breaking the seal, and you have to fight him to reseal him and give yourself more time. This would be fine if it only happened once in the game to show how powerful this evil is. However, this fight happens three different times. Each time he gets a little bit harder (i.e. more annoying). I still don't know what the point of having to fight him three times was. He wasn't fun enough to warrant that.
The Motion Controls
When the controls didn't work, it was one of the more frustrating moments in the game because it'd almost always be when you're trying to deflect some attack or trying to skydive into a very specific spot when it fails. So then not only did you fail (which feels bad), but it wasn't your fault (which is much worse), but also you have to repeat whatever you were trying (which is the worst). There are times when the motion controls were fun, like when you waggle the joystick around to repeatedly attack a boss in a very short time span. But I don't think those really outweigh the times they made me want to give up.
Flying
Traveling in Zelda games is very varied. He has traveled on foot, on horseback, on a boat, on a train, and now on the back of a giant bird. At best, it's kind of a nuisance to backtrack, but at least you still have things to do (defend from enemies and such). At worst, I could get up and make a sandwich with Link moving towards his destination with no fear of anything ever happening (stupid Wind Waker). Flying in this game is closer to Wind Waker than any of the others. There are very, very few enemies up in the sky to attack you and the few there are are incredibly easy to just go around. And for some reason this very empty sky is huge, so it takes awhile to get from one place to another. However, you have to be paying attention because you have to waggle the controller every once in awhile to make the bird flap its wings to go higher up in the air since it's slowly moving downwards. In theory, there were a few moves to try to speed up getting around, but it never really felt any faster.
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