The recent game in the Legend Of Zelda franchise has been a massive hit, for both fans of the series and newcomers alike. Once you play it, for even 10 minutes its very easy to see why. After over 120 hours of game play since its release I decided that I am well informed enough to make a review for the people here.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the franchise, the story behind most of the games are very similar. You play as the hero named
Link who has to save
Zelda the princess. Usually from
Ganon or sometimes other evil forces. Each game creates a different story based around these key points, giving each different game something unique.
I wont go into the story for Breath Of The Wild, people are too worries about spoilers these days.I will only do a very brief description of some key areas of the game, with some screenshots to go with them.
What I will cover in this review.- How it looks
- How it plays
- Small summary
How it looks:A brief overviewAs you may or may not know, Nintendo has never been one for amazing graphics. Usually they go for a cartoon style. They've done the same here, while it is not amazing detail it does look quite good, from frozen peaks to sandy deserts to forests, every area is visually appealing in this game and makes anywhere you go a special experience. Sometimes, however, you will see something extraordinary, a lake with the sun reflecting off it, a waterfall with beautiful flowers around it even heavily forested areas with light peaking through the trees. These things will implant themselves in your memory.
This is by far one of the best looking Zelda games they have made.
See for yourself
The TownsThere are many different towns, each with their own look and feel and loads of side quests to pick up. They all have somewhere to buy / sell items, sleep for the night and other things that are specific to each town.
Cinematic'sThe cinematic's in the game are gorgeous. Each one very different from the last and all of them look stunning. I don't have much else to say about these, so have some screenshots.
How it playsExploringYou can walk, climb and glide everywhere. The game puts no physical restrictions on where you can go at any time. This creates an awesome feeling of openness. You are even able to go from the tutorial area directly to the final boss.
There is always something worth exploring just around the corner, a small puzzle, an enemy camp, a chest with some loot or some nice scenery. There are loads of things to collect such as bugs, mushrooms, different foods, weapons and other items. You will never find yourself without something to do while walking around.
SurvivingIt's not exactly a survival game, but it's up to you how to play it. You can hunt deer for meat and eat it for health, cut down trees for wood to create camp fires in the rain to stay warm and dry, cook your own food to get bonuses and more health from your meals. You can also cook food for specific things like going to cold places, or hot places. Attack up, defense, electricity resistance, etc. There are loads of food combinations and they are yours to find out!
CombatCombat is fun in this game, there are always multiple ways to take on groups of enemies. Such as rolling boulders down to kill them, shooting a fire arrow at some explosives, sneaking up and killing them with stealth. It's up to you to decide how to kill them. Figuring out the best way to defeat an enemy is really satisfying, each enemy requires different strategies.
You can dodge just before an enemy attacks to go into a 'slow time' mode, where you can get heaps of hits in. Each enemy has different timing and patterns so you will have to learn them all.
Your weapons will break after some use, this makes exploring to find more weapons all the more meaningful, the same goes for shields and bows.
You get different armour suited for taking one different situations, for example, you can get armour designed for taking on electric enemies, of flaming enemies.
You can collect different swords, spears, bows, shields, clubs, etc. Each one is handy for different situations and opponents. You are able to fight from horseback, making it easier to kill enemies with your bow, and long weapons such as spears.
All of these make good reasons to explore to find more gear so you can take on different enemies, or take on the same enemies in a different way. Slowly but surely mastering each enemy.
You will run into enemies that are too hard to face sometimes, there is absolutely no shame in running, if you can get away. The game uses these strong enemies to put limits on where you should be going, if somewhere is too hard you can come back later with better gear to get through. This feels a lot better than putting physical limitations on where you can go at any time.
ClimatesAs I said before, you can explore snowy peaks and deserts alike. However, if you go to a snowy area you will start to freeze to death, if you go to the desert you will start dying from heatstroke. You must cook certain foods or acquire specific clothing to handle these conditions. This is an awesome mechanic, it gives real meaning to collecting different sets of clothing and cooking different foods.
The puzzlesThe puzzles themselves are unique and different for a Zelda game, this is the first time they have tried a more open feel to the dungeons and they did very well.
There are a total of 120 shrines, which are small dungeons, 4 major ones and 900 small puzzles to find and solve, each one being different and all of them have a good reason for finding and completing them with the rewards you get. Some of them are challenging, I found myself stuck a few times, but never felt like I was unable to figure out a way.
Wrapping it upI didn't cover everything here, it's not possible to do so. Everyone's experience will be different. These are my final thoughts.
The combat is fun and challenging when you run into strong enemies, there is always another way to handle it.
Each puzzle is different than the last, they do not feel repetitive and there is always something good at the end.
Exploring is rewarding, both finding items and finding cool new areas.
The story isn't jaw dropping, but its not the major part of the game, there are loads of extra quests and exploration to do.
The music is good and even epic at times. They made it more atmospheric than previous music, so it may be a little slow and dull while you are just walking around. It does really add to the feel of the game though.
Its the first time Nintendo has done voice acting for a Zelda game, they didn't 100% nail it, but most of the characters do a good job.
This game feels like the Zelda game that Nintendo has always wanted to make, there is loads of content and if you like open world exploration or puzzle games you certainly should check it out.
This is by far, my favorite Zelda game. I hope you liked reading my thoughts about it.
