The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo Switch Release: 2017 Genre: RPG / Sandbox Rating: 9.4 \ 10.0: Excellent
Above is Link raiding a Bokoblin camp.
For years, the Legend of Zelda series has remained one of the most celebrated and respected franchises in gaming. The 3D entries in the saga have all been nearly universally acclaimed by critics (although 2011's Skyward Sword had a mixed reception by fans), but these games have fallen into a predictable pattern over the years. The plots may be original, but the progression has always involved travelling from linear dungeon to linear dungeon to acquire items that are only useful in several specific areas. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild aims to break this cycle, and it has done so excellently.
Breath of the Wild presents an interesting new story that complicates the Zelda timeline further by having evidence to suggest that it could be part of any of any of the three post-Ocarina of Time timelines. It begins with Link being told to awaken by a disembodied voice. He arises from a chamber, unarmed and unarmored. He then retrieves a tablet that resembles a Switch console from a pedestal and exits the chamber. He spots an hooded man nearby. He leads Link to the top of a massive tower, then instructs him to visit the four shrines scattered throughout valley which happens to be located atop a massive wall. Each of these shrines introduces one of the four abilities that can be used by the Shiekah Slate, the aforementioned tablet. These are the ability to use manually detonated sphere or cube-shaped bombs; magnesis, which allows you to move metal objects with ease; stasis, which can be used to temporarily freeze objects in place and repeatedly hit them in order to build up potential energy that will become kinetic energy once the effect expires; and cryonis, which allows you to generate pillars of ice on the surface of bodies of water.
After doing this, the old man will grant you his paraglider and reveal that he is actually the ghost of the previous king of Hyrule. He explains that Link was gravely wounded when Calamity Ganon awoke and wreaked havoc upon Hyrule, and had to be revived by being frozen in time inside the Shrine of Resurrection, which wiped his memory completely, has been asleep for 100 years. He has been awoken to defeat Calamity Ganon, an evil force that has been contained inside the ruins of Hyrule Castle by Zelda ever since he took control of the many robotic Guardians that once defended Hyrule. Calamity Ganon's four elemental forms also possessed the four Divine Beasts, massive mechanical animals that were created in preparation for Ganon's return, and trapped the spirits of their pilots within. Ganon has nearly broken free from the barrier surrounding the castle, and the consequences of his escape would be catastrophic. It's up to Link to free the Divine Beasts from Ganon's influence and recover his memories -- or you could just head straight to Hyrule Castle. Sure, you'll get killed in a single hit by every occupant of the castle and break a full inventory's worth of the weapons that you'll have at the time before even coming close to killing several of those enemies, but the game won't stop you. Every other activity is entirely optional and only serves to prepare you for your confrontation with Calamity Ganon. Liberating the Divine Beasts will allow their pilots to assist you in the final battle; completing shrines will earn you Spirit Orbs that can be exchanged for health and stamina upgrades; and collecting Korok seeds will allow you to increase your weapon, bow, and shield storage.
If these activities sound too plentiful for a traditional Zelda world, that's because they are; Breath of the Wild is the first fully open-world title in the series. Discovering every shrine will be the main goal of adventurous players as they explore the overworld. Each of them serves as a mini-dungeon with either a puzzle or combat trial. These ramp up in difficulty as you travel further from where you started, and although there is a intended manner in which each puzzle is meant to be completed, there are often multiple unintended solutions and shortcuts that brought a grin to my face when I discovered them (Tip: Metal weapons and yellow Chu Chu jelly can be used to complete circuits). There are 120 of these scattered throughout the world. Most can be found just by exploring thanks to a handy shrine detector on your HUD, but some appear after completing a riddle or side quest. A handful of the game's side quests are fantastic and tell small but memorable stories, but a large number are sadly generic fetch quests, and some even simply involve giving a character a certain number of an item that you are very likely to already have on hand.
One of the strongest aspects of Breath of the Wild is its combat. It still retains the targeting and dodging system that has been present in every mainline 3D Zelda title, but has tweaked it to emphasize proper timing when the action is intense and makes stealth a viable option for players who want to slowly and carefully raid camps and rewards thinking outside the box. There are two major additions to melee combat: Parrying is performed by pressing A while holding a shield, and doing this the moment an enemy attacks will cause them to stumble, leaving them open for a beating; dodging right before an enemy's melee attack hits you will cause time to slow down, and you'll be prompted to execute a flurried rush, an uninterruptible string of attacks that lasts several seconds; and if you silently approach an enemy from behind, you can deal a devastating blow that deals eight times the normal damage of the weapon you use, and careful players can wipe out an entire enemy camp one single-hit kill at a time without anyone knowing you were ever there. Mastering these moves is essential for taking down some of Link's tougher foes. BotW also boasts the most expansive arsenal of weapons in the Zelda series to date; there are boomerangs, bows, claymores, clubs, magic staffs, spears, swords, and more, and each weapon type has a unique charged attack. Link's archery abilities have been expanded as well; you're no longer restricted to standing still while taking aim, and he can even slow down time temporarily by drawing his bow in midair.
The swordplay itself is fantastic, but it is involved in one of the game's most controversial features: weapon durability. After landing a certain number of hits with a weapon, you will be notified that it is badly damaged, meaning that a handful of hits more will shatter it. I remember being excited as I discovered powerful new weapons early in my adventure only to realize that they would soon be gone. Because I exchanged most of the Korok seeds I discovered for weapon storage upgrades, I eventually ended up with so many Royal Claymores and elemental blades that they became expendable, but this took far too many hours to be worth the disappointment that breaking powerful weapons caused early on.
As you explore Hyrule you'll inevitably encounter Guardians, the aforementioned automatons that have been possessed by Ganon. These mechanical beasts can shoot an incredibly powerful laser from their one eye that can kill even the . They pose a massive threat a first, and new players will learn either to run from them or, without ruining the surprise of finding out, how to make great use of a pot lid. One of the most satisfying parts of my experience was gaining the courage to face a Guardian and severing the metal giant's legs one by then and finishing off its immobilized body.
In terms of presentation, Breath of the Wild is stellar in some areas but inconsistent overall. The game's art style is a massive positive; like Skyward Sword before it, it strikes a perfect balance between Wind Waker's cartoonishness and Twilight Princess's realism while having an incredible attention to detail that wasn't possible on the Wii. Blades or grass are pushed apart by Link's footsteps, clusters of fallen leaves shift around as Link swims through ponds, and wind pushes the sparks from fire; this comes at a cost however, as the framerate will often drop significantly, albeit briefly, when there are large amounts of fire onscreen, but experiences constant low framerates in certain areas such as deep in the Faron jungles and in the heart of the Lost Woods. Additionally, this is is the only first party Switch title thus far to run at a locked 30 FPS, although this is most likely due to the Switch being a quickly made port of a game that was originally made to be an exclusive for significantly weaker hardware. The soundtrack is incredible for the most part, but disappointing at times. The subtle piano tracks that play during exploration in combination with the ambient sounds sometimes alleviates the atmosphere to great heights, but these tracks simply cannot compete with the likes of Twilight Princess's Hyrule Field Theme and Wind Waker's sailing theme. Outside of exploration, however, the soundtracks shines. The themes for each town as well as the various combat themes elevate the soundtrack to the quality standard set by the rest of the series.
Aside form the fully open world structure, the most notable deviation from the Zelda series' traditions is the addition of voice acting. Text boxes with sound effects are still used during gameplay, but important cutscenes are now fully voiced. Some of the voice performances are good, but many are of questionable quality (most notably Princess Mipha). This is a step in the right direction for this series, but compared to past acting acting in Nintendo games such as Kid Icarus: Uprising and the Fire Emblem games, BotW is disappointing.
Overall, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an incredible game. It has a handful of insignificant flaws, but those do little to detract from its engaging exploration, interesting story, and stunning presentation. It's a must have for anyone seeking a fresh Zelda experience or exciting opne world antics and is a great reason to get your hands on a Switch.
Incredible art style and soundtrack
Subtle references to past Zelda games
Immersive exploration
Flexible puzzle solutions
Numerous secrets and easter eggs
Incredible sense of freedom
Downs
Weapon durability devalues loot
Some boring and uninteresting side quests
Some underwhelming voice acting performances
Occasional framerate drops
Also available on Wii U
The System Difference: In terms of gameplay and visuals, both versions of BotW are identical. The added portability of the Switch version made my wait to get the console well worth it.
ESRB: E10+ Content: Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, and Use of Alcohol Price: $59.99 (Retail / Download)
