As some of you may be aware, I don't allow myself to review a game until I beat it, and I don't allow myself to beat a game like this until I've had my fill of doing side quests and what not. Here is my review after beating this game as of tonight!
Originality: My goodness gracious, Nintendo went all friggin out on making this the single most unique Zelda game of all time. Talk about combining all the good stuff from RPGs, chopping out all the fat, and fusing in some new things (infinite spirit bombs made this game da bomb… see what I did there?). I seriously don’t know if I could tolerate (except top down like LBW) a Zelda game like all the other 3d ones at this point. This was such a unique and wonderful experience (normally I list the major ones in games, but this one has so many I don’t want to drone on). Perfectly original! Doesn’t feel stale in the slightest.
20/20
Graphics: Wow! I’m not sure how a game on the Switch can look better (the art style helped out tremendously).
10/10
Art Style: At first I was hesitant here (especially the launch trailer). Kind of like how I felt about Xenoblade X art style, except unlike x (whose character models still look a little off somehow) this game’s art style felt natural very quickly, especially as someone whose last two major Zelda experiences were Skyward Sword and WWHD.
15/15
Story: This is weird… The base of the game doesn’t exactly have the strongest story, but where the game makes up for that is all the little side bits of information you can learn about the world and the past by interacting with random people, engaging in past cinematics, and finding all those memories. I was a little disappointed with how the game ended, but then again maybe I’m just used to the amazing ending of Skyward Sword. With as many changes as this game made for the series, I was half expecting it to say we actually annihilated Ganon this time (he can’t come back period), or some other big twist, but it stayed conservative and didn’t even really have a “he will return” moment at the end. It was very open ended, I’m curious if the DLC will pick up right after this and make it a more interesting ending? Now sure, still a really good story, but not the best.
25/30
Game Interface: Annoying or not? No issues here, very easy to see everything.
5/5
Controls easy and fluid or difficult and rigid? I played on the Switch, making certain things difficult to do based on how the joy cons were designed. Occassionally I was limited, but not typically.
4/5
Is it fun? The most enjoyable Zelda game to date. It truly is so much fun to slay, cook, switch between items/armor, travel, etc. I’m honestly not sure how it can get more fun than this in Zelda.
15/15
Total –
94 / 100
Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition – 100 + 5 = 105
Shovel Knight – 95 + 10 = 105
Zelda Breath of the Wild - 104
Paper Mario – 90 +10 = 100
Shadow of Mordor = 95 + 5 = 100
Zelda Skyward Sword-98
Hyrule Warriors – 93 + 5 = 98
Overwatch – 90 + 5 = 95
Batman: Arkham Asylum - 93
Zelda Minish Cap – 92
Portal 2 – 87 + 5 = 92
Portal – 87 + 5 = 92
Assassin’s Creed 4 Wii U – 86 +5 = 91
Zelda Windwaker HD – 86 + 5 = 91
Bayonetta 2 = 91 NR
Bayonetta (Wii U) – 91 NR
Zelda Oracle of Ages – 91
Metroid Fusion – 91
Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story – 86 + 5 = 91
Zelda Twilight Princess – 90
Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon - 90
Guildwars 2 – 89
Mario and Luigi: Dream Team – 89
Animal Crossing New Leaf – 84 + 5 = 89
Pokemon X – 88
Zelda: A Link to the Past – 78 + 10 = 88
Kid Icarus Uprising – 88
Darksiders 2 - 88
Fire Emblem Awakening – 88
Mass Effect - 84
Super Mario Maker = 84*
Dishonored - 84
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark - 84
Paper Mario Sticker Star – 83
Rome 2: Total War - 83
Zelda: A Link Between Worlds-83
Mario and Luigi Paper Jam - 82
Super Mario 3d land – 72 + 10 = 82
Diablo 3 – 72 + 10 = 82
Batman Arkham Knight - 81
Batman: Arkham Origins – 81
Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga – 80
Trine – 80
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze* - 68 + 10 = 78
Mass Effect 3 - 77
Mass Effect 2 - 76
Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – 74
Black Ops 2 - 74
Rome: Total War-74
Yoshie’s Wolly World – 73*
Just Cause - 71
Paper Monster Uncut (Wii U) - 70
Red Alert 3 - 70
New Super Mario Bros. U – 66
New Super Mario Bros.Wii – 57 *
Assassins Creed 3 – 57 NR
Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition – 53*
Puzzles and Dragons Z: Mario Edition - 46
Kirby Squeak Squad – 43
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3d – 42
Yoshi’s New Island - 27
Project X Zone - 18
* Means it was more fun than the score indicates. Scores judge the overall quality of the game (how fun it is only counts for 15% in my reviews)
NR means Not Recommended based on inappropriateness.
^Charm is rewarded to games that have an undefinable quality to them that makes them amazing and have high replayability value.
Last edited by Dulfite - on 24 April 2019
