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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Reviews by The Walrus: Zelda BoTW Switch

 

What do you want for the next Zelda?

Link Between World Sequel on switch 2 4.88%
 
Link Between World Sequel on 3ds 0 0%
 
Direct sequel to BOTW 21 51.22%
 
Remaster of Ocarina 4 9.76%
 
Remaster of Majoras 0 0%
 
Remaster of Skyward Sword 7 17.07%
 
HD FREAKING REMASTER OF O... 4 9.76%
 
NUMBER 7!!! 2 4.88%
 
OH YEA BABY NUMBER 7!!!!!!! 1 2.44%
 
Is there anything else BUT number 7?!?!? 0 0%
 
Total:41

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

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I would love to see a Zelda game like BOTW taking place in Termina with similar atmosphere to MM.



Seeing Project X zone get 18 reminds me why I bought it for $2



Great review, again. I always enjoy reading your reviews and how you rate certain aspects.



just out of curiosity, how did the design of the Joy-Cons make it difficult for certain things? it has the same button layout as the Pro Controller so wouldnt those be general control issues rather than issues with the Joy-Cons?



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

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Hope the next game nintedo allows Zelda to star in her legend instead of Link.



Coincidentally, I finished it last night. My own review:

I took my time with this game and finally finished it last night, complete with all shrines and memories. While a great game, its shortcomings are too significant to receive the utmost praise.

Its open world design is a bold step for the series. Hyrule is vast, varied, and filled with little secrets and treasures, but follows industry formula more than ardent fans would have you believe, complete with watchtowers to unlock the map and outposts to clear. The survival elements are substantial and incorporation with your gear impressive, but can also be more hassle than fun when you sometimes spend nearly as much time in the menus as playing live. Speaking of hassles, there's nothing mixed about the weapon 'fragility' system, as it's been coined; it's just a pain for weapons not to last even one big battle, pause midfight to swap gear, discard prized items because there is no proper locker in the game, have to hang up and never use unique weapons if you don't want to lose them, or have no way of even maintaining weapons before they break. Combat is serviceable; there's lots of ways to play around but the meat is simple and getting a handle on your dodges and parries is all you really need.

The puzzles, I think, suffer from quantity over quality. The shrines will keep you busy for hours but are breakable via the physics and the numerous strength trials are painfully repetitive. The koroks all over the world are fun to spot and unearth but end up recycling the same handful of tasks some hundred times each. Shrine quests are good fun but most side missions are extremely unremarkable. Completing all of any of these can eventually become a drag, and with all of these in the game the main 'dungeons' have suffered, being smaller and less memorable than past entries.

Presentation is good but has its rough spots. At one point the visuals can dazzle with beautiful plains, rich color, lovely shading, effects, physics, and art, the next it can grate with inconsistent textures, chugging performance (I've even had 0fps spikes), and bad image quality. Sound is nice, but I've heard better. Still, it's impressive what they've been able to pack into relatively low power hardware.

Finally, there's the storytelling, which has never been Nintendo's strong suit. Most of the story is entirely optional and must be hunted down. That could be a benefit for those who just want to play but create a very fragmented and piecemeal narrative for those interested. What little voice acting there is is mediocre. Characters run the gamut from forgettable to one dimensional to amusing, while a handful rise up to be delightful or even well written. One thing I must credit though is some of the unexpected chuckles that pop up in the dialogue menus, even from our laconic hero. Taken as a whole the story is passable.

I've been critical, but over all, Breath of the Wild is a great game. It's vast and detailed and lots of bang for your buck, I just don't think it's quite worthy of all the perfect scores critics and consumers alike have been tripping over themselves to give it - or of being called the best Zelda game.

P.S.: It's not as hard as some make it out to be, either.

9.25/10



Loved it. A 10/10 game that I can't stop playing, even though I've beaten it. It's not perfect, though. I hate the weapon select option and having to go through clunky menus to drop bows. Plus no smooth way to go between categories. If I'm on shields, I have to scroll through every bow, sword, ingredient, etc to get to meals. No quick way to discard meals when I've reached my limit and have full hearts.

I have more minor complaints though. The game is so good at what it does, I don't even care!



KLXVER said:
I would love to see a Zelda game like BOTW taking place in Termina with similar atmosphere to MM.

Hah, that would be hella cool. It's the thing I keep thinking the most everytime I see Hyrule in Breath of the Wild.



d21lewis said:

Loved it. A 10/10 game that I can't stop playing, even though I've beaten it. It's not perfect, though. I hate the weapon select option and having to go through clunky menus to drop bows. Plus no smooth way to go between categories. If I'm on shields, I have to scroll through every bow, sword, ingredient, etc to get to meals. No quick way to discard meals when I've reached my limit and have full hearts.

I have more minor complaints though. The game is so good at what it does, I don't even care!

Use the right anologue to scroll through Inventory not the left :)