Mar 26, 2017

The Wild REALLY needs some Binaca.

Breath of the Wild... The game that has me (or will have me, since I wrote this a week before it was published) in a week WITHOUT Nintendo... So. let's review the game... (After 20 days of BOTW Gameplay, conquering the 4 Divine Beasts, completing 82 out of 120 Shrines, I think I can give a fair assessment of the game.)

So, like other Videogame reviews I'll be using a 10 point grading system, let's start:

Story:
A long time ago, the Kingdom of Hyrule was Super Hi-Tech. they even built some robot sentries and stuff. These were used to stop Ganon. OK, so a 100 years ago, Ganon came back. Hyrule tried to use the Ancient tech, but Surprise! Ganon took over the tech, nearly destroyed Hyrule, Mortally Wounded Link and only Zelda was able to keep him at bay...
100 Years Later: Link's Awakening... No, not that Awakening...

You wake Up from your Hundred Year Odinsleep. You meet an Old Man... Who kinda looks like Robin Williams in Jumanji but crossed with Santa Claus. You do a few things for him in a pseudo tutorial with almost zero hand holding in exchange for a paraglider. Then you're off to recover your memories, stop Ganon, and save Hyrule...
This is one of Link's memories...


Story has never Been Nintendo's forte, since Gameplay comes first to them. Many have found the Story to be lacking since the game is now more Open than past Zelda games. With that in mind, I was not expecting LoTR or ASoIaF here.
What I got was adequate for a Zelda Game returning to its Open World Roots.
The usual, beat the dungeons to stop Ganon. This time you get some bits and pieces of backstory from a 100 years ago and the Dynamic between This Zelda and Link kinda remind me a bit of...

(Here come the Pitchforks...)
8.0

Graphics:
What if Wind Waker had been made with an Adult Link and NO OCEAN!! (Also a more powerful console than a Gamecube)... I am aware that the WiiU is weaker than a PS4/XBOne. For a WiiU game, the graphics are pretty good. I've had no clipping issues. I've had a few issues of items appearing out of thin air, like trees on the Lost Woods (not sure if on purpose or not)
9.5

Sounds and Music:
There's plenty of music going around in this new Hyrule, but whenever some classic bits of music show up, it warms my heart... Riding a horse and suddenly hearing a faint hint of the Classic Zelda Theme is just majestic... One theme that will be stuck in your head is the Shrine themes, especially if you're mentally tired trying to solve the puzzles...

This game has... *gasp* Voices!! Sadly, they're only on cutscenes. Everything else you get a grunt, or yelp to get the feeling of the character's voice. I mean, I know it's not the first game to have voices, since others have had voices before...
9.5

Gameplay:
I kinda discussed this in my first thoughts and going through, but here we go again:
Skyrim + Portal + MGSV + Majora's Mask + Original Zelda + a dash of Wind Waker+ Ass. Creed and you kinda get a taste of Breath of the Wild. Damn the Achy Breaky Weapons!! Running out of weapons.
9.5

Controls:
They are rather easy to get into and it becomes second nature to control the Runes/switch weapons and the Techniques learned from the Champions. The only semi-awkward thing to control is the horse.
10.0

Overall:
Breath of the Wild gets a 9.3 score... Hold it! I know that Pitchforks are rising, but hear me out.
This is the closest thing to a PERFECT Zelda Game... Nintendo has a gigantic task in their laps now... Surpassing Breath of the Wild. I do have a few nitpicks... Mostly stemming from
easily broken weaponry, few kinks with the horses, some cheap deaths (damn those random Lynel encounters), the magically appearing stuff that I mentioned on Lost Woods... Other than that

That's almost as frustrating as this.
But luckily we have This:



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