"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" Review

Because of Nintendo's stupid artificial scarcity thing, it took until around a month ago to get my hands on a Switch. I could talk about how I think the controller is a little awkward, I could complain about modern consoles' apparent fear of traditional power buttons, and I could gush over how cool the switch technology actually is. But that isn't what you came here to see, is it, dear reader and/or Nintendo fanboy who hopes to be validated by this review? Let me say this upfront: I've never played a Zelda game, ever. Maybe that causes me to lose some of my credibility as a game critic, but I've just never really seen the appeal. However, at E3 a few years ago, Nintendo was showing off Breath of the Wild and I found myself intrigued. Fastforward a few years, and I (a man who has continuously ragged on Nintendo for its cookie cutter gameplay and lack of meaningful innovation) stand before you today to review their latest.  Earlier I made a jab at Nintendo fanboys requiring validation from online critics. In case you want the TL;DR version of this review, here it is: I loved this game. I loved it dearly. However, I'm sorry, it just isn't 10/10 material. If you can look past the many flaws Breath of the Wild has and you believe it's a 10/10, good on you. I hope you have an excellent time continuing to play it. I, however, have no nostalgia to block my view. I can only talk about what I noticed, and I hope that, for as much as I'm going to criticize some aspects of this game, you'll remember that I said I love it. If I didn't love this game, I wouldn't lay out what needs to be improved to make it better. To let you know how my playthrough went, I collected all memories,  liberated all the divine beasts, and obtained the master sword. So, lest you decide my opinion is unfounded because I didn't spend a lot of time in the game, let me assure you that is not the case. As I was getting started on the subject of my next review (Middle Earth: Shadow of War), I found myself thinking "I would much rather be playing Breath of the Wild right now," so don't try and tell me I didn't enjoy myself!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (hereafter referred to as BOTW for brevity) hardly needs an introduction, but I'll lay one out anyway. In the Kingdom of Hyrule, there is a legend concerning a dark force named "Calamity Gannon." It is said that two people: A Knight with the sword that seals the darkness, and a princess with the blood of the goddess, will clash with Calamity Gannon and save Hyrule. In this case, the knight and princess are none other than classic Nintendo characters Link and Zelda, respectively. I don't count that as a spoiler, because if you couldn't figure that out, you're a special kind of dense. 100 years ago, Link and Zelda fought against Calamity Gannon with the help of champions from each of the Hyrule races. Each champion piloted a "Divine Beast," an ancient machine with unmatched power. However, Gannon corrupted the divine beasts, slew the champions, and nearly killed Link as well. At the start of the game, you (playing as Link) wake up in the shrine of resurrection having lost your memory. After a lengthy but well-disguised tutorial section, you learn of your destiny. From there, you set out to either face Gannon directly or reclaim the Divine Beasts in preparation for battle. As you do so, you unlock more and more little story bits that do venture on spoiler territory. I've got to hand it to Nintendo, this story was really enjoyable to me. What's more, if you opt to travel the land in search of memories to reclaim, the plot thickens even further. These optional little story bits actually end up being quite touching, and it only served to further my investment in Link's quest.
Accompanying the stellar story is a compelling cast of characters. As can be expected of Nintendo, there isn't a lot of depth to the people you'll meet on your travels. However, they all manage to be endearing in their own right. They manage to be well-developed within the one note that their writing hits. It reminds me of Undertale, in a way. I would actually say that BOTW boasts Nintendo's greatest character development, and I realize that isn't much of a bar to raise, but there it is. The fact of the matter is that I came to care about nearly all of the characters I met, and that's quite a feat.
The fantastic world building doesn't stop at the story and characters, though. If you go looking for it, there's also a wealth of lore about each race to be found. Each race has a tangible culture, a feat not accomplished by Nintendo since the Chozo in the Metroid series. I remember coming across a bit of lore about the fish-like Zora race and wanting to learn more about them as a result. The lore I came across told the story of a peaceful king who had to go into battle. The queen, seeking to protect her husband, wove a single white scale into the king's armor. At the end of the battle, that one scale in the armor saved the king's life, and from that battle came the tradition of Zora women crafting armor for their future husbands. Compound that with tidbits of the Zora part of BOTW's story, and it makes for an interesting combination. I just loved how much extra story was lying around.

Beyond the story, lore, and characters, it's worth noting that Hyrule itself is quite compelling as a location. Gone are the days of more corridor-like levels sewn together with iMovie screen wipes (I may not have played a Zelda game before, but I've seen them played). Instead, we're treated to a completely seamless open world unlike any I've seen since Oblivion. The draw distance for things closer to you isn't incredible, but you can see clear across the map from just about any high point you can find. Much like how in Oblivion you could see the Imperial City's White Gold Tower from several places on the map, if there is a Divine Beast moving on the opposite side of the map, in many cases, you can see them moving from that distance. Likewise, once a divine beast is tamed, it takes a position where it can be seen from just about anywhere. It lends a sense of continuity to the world that makes Hyrule really feel like a self-contained world.
That is to say nothing of BOTW's striking aesthetic. BOTW's art style has the rare effect of accenting every kind of atmosphere it attempts. Sunsets over sweeping Hyrule plains are jaw-droppingly beautiful, while the grim and apocalyptic halls of Hyrule Castle give off a sense of true foreboding. Whenever it rained, I could practically smell the mud. When it snowed, I felt the need to turn off my air conditioner. In the heat of the desert sun, I needed a drink of water. The art of BOTW is unique, but ultimately effective in making the features of the world feel realistic. However, the accenting of Hyrule's environment isn't just accomplished through the art style.

In what I believe is a first for the saga, a part of BOTW's gameplay includes elements of survival. If the temperature gets too cold, Link needs to find a way to stay warm. If the temperature gets too hot, Link needs to find a way to cool down. If there's a thunderstorm, Link needs to make sure he isn't too high up and that he isn't conducting too much electricity. Most of the game world's climate doesn't pose a threat, so you aren't going to have to be on your toes all the time. However, three of the four locations that house the Divine Beasts are going to require preparation on your part. If you head into the scorching Gerudo desert without proper protection from the sun, you're going to find yourself dead before you know it. When you get to the major cities in these areas, you'll be able to purchase protective gear. If you purchase enough of it, you should be able to brave areas with the relevant climate easily. However, in every one of these cases, you're going to have to make it through the climate without protective gear first in order to reach the cities. This is where the other side of BOTW's survival system comes into play: cooking.
Scattered across Hyrule, you'll find all sorts of herbs, plants, and meats. In addition, you'll pick up plenty of insects, lizard, and pieces of monsters you kill. All of these items have their uses. At the bare minimum, plants, herbs, and meats give you as much as three hearts back if you eat them raw, but if you take the time to cook them, you can unlock additional benefits. Some examples are: resistance to cold, resistance to heat, resistance to intense sunlight, increased stamina, increased stealth, a temporary boost to your hearts, the list goes on and on. Cooking plants and herbs with meats creates food dishes that you can eat to both restore hearts and gain additional benefits, while cooking insects/lizard and monster parts yields elixirs with specific effects, but no healing power. These elixirs can come in handy if you want an increase to stamina, but you don't want to waste healing items. Whether through food or elixirs, cooking is how you're going to survive some of Hyrule's nastier climates until you can get your hands on protective clothing. If picking up every little thing you come across and thinking about the benefits doesn't sound appealing to you, then BOTW may not be for you. Unless you're freakishly good at the game, you simply will not survive without taking the time to cook every once in a while.
Given how integral cooking is to survival, I was surprised that Nintendo never put in a tutorial for it. Gaming experience might tell you that the secret to cooking is walking up to a cooking pot and activating it, causing a menu to pop up, right? Well, that isn't how it works. So, if you haven't purchased this game yet, let me spell it out for you right now so you don't spend too long trying to figure it out. You go into your inventory, select an item you want to cook, and select "hold." Then, you walk up to the cooking pot and activate it. It's pretty simple, but it isn't what comes to mind initially.

Of course, there's more to surviving in BOTW than prepping for mother nature. You'll also want to be able to tell where you are, and you'll want to get yourself some more hearts and stamina.
BOTW boasts a Ubisoft-esque tower system wherein you climb up a tall tower and activate a pedestal in order to generate the regional map. Much like a Ubisoft game, there are a number of these towers, each with their own climbing puzzles. They aren't incredible, and many times the slow climbing speed makes these towers a chore, but it's worth it to get your bearings and continue to piece together the full map of Hyrule.
When it comes to hearts and stamina, you will get these mainly by entering shrines and completing whatever challenge lies within. When you complete a shrine, you'll gain a spirit orb. When you have four spirit orbs, you can go to an altar of the Goddess and trade in the orbs for an extra heart or an addition to the stamina wheel. You can also gain an extra heart by taming a Divine Beast, but it's ultimately quicker to take on the shrines. I personally thought the shrines were pretty compelling a lot of the time. Some shrines test your combat skills, some test your critical thinking, some test your knowledge of your runes (more on those later), some even test your courage. No matter what, I always found the shrine challenges to be compelling, and I always felt like I'd earned my spirit orb afterwards. In addition, there are enough shrines to make it feel like four spirit orbs isn't too much of a hassle to get, and the shrines can be seen from pretty far away, so you shouldn't have to go hunting for them too often. As for whether you spend your spirit orbs on health or stamina, that's really going to be up to you. There's a case to be made for either option. In the end, the number of hearts you have will determine how difficult the battle against Calamity Gannon is (and there's also one other thing dependent on hearts, but I won't spoil it). However, the stamina wheel is just freaking terrible, so you may want to invest some in stamina as well. There's my first complaint that keeps this game from being 10/10 material: the stamina system. This is simply the worst stamina bar in the history of gaming. It doesn't matter if it was this way in previous games, it's just terrible. Link can run for a maximum of five seconds before being completely worn out. You need stamina to swim, and if you run out of stamina while swimming, you drown. You need stamina to climb, and if you run out of stamina while climbing, you fall. You also need stamina to paraglide. That's right, you need stamina to hold onto a parachute. And if you run out of stamina, you'll fall. Do you remember the stamina system in Half Life 2? Do you remember how stamina powered your oxygen, running, and flashlight? Well, imagine that, but poorly done, and you have BOTW's stamina system. It just seems like an unnecessary roadblock that makes doing things like climbing and swimming a chore. Link climbs and swims so slowly, and if you press the x button to speed things up, it eats up as much as a third of your total stamina, so like it or not, you're going to spend most of the game climbing and swimming at a snail's pace. Given how much I've ripped on this, the relatively small amount I'm going to take off because of it is probably going to be surprising. Here's the thing: It sucks, but you get used to it really quickly. It never quite stops being annoying, but I, at least, stopped being actively irritated by it at some point before I even got a stamina upgrade. So, long story short, whether you invest spirit orbs into hearts or stamina, it'll depend on your preferences. I would advise investing mostly in hearts, as that'll have a direct effect on your efficiency in combat.

Combat in BOTW isn't revolutionary, but it's fun and manages to stay fresh across the game's lengthy campaign. You'll have a number of tools at your disposal: melee weapons, shields, bows, arrows, and runes. In addition, after freeing a Divine Beast, you'll gain a completely game-changing ability that allows you to control the tide of combat more effectively. What I found refreshing about the melee side of the combat is how each weapon handles differently. It felt like each weapon had a slightly different attack speed and range, and it helped the combat to feel more organic. I could be completely wrong on that, but that's how it felt to me, at least. Essentially, what BOTW's combat boils down to is mashing the attack button while locked onto an enemy, with the occasional bit of archery and the occasional use of one of your runes. You have 6 runes: remote bomb (sphere), remote bomb (cube), magnesis, stasis, cryonis, and camera. The remote bombs are exactly what they sound like. Magnesis allows you to move metal objects, no matter how heavy they are. Stasis freezes things in place. Cyonis creates a pillar of ice in water (which can be used to cross wide rivers, foregoing the whole stamina debacle in the first place). Finally, take a guess at what the camera does. While it may seem like the remote bombs are the only runes with combat capabilities (and you're more or less right), the other runes (except the camera) occasionally have their combat uses. For instance, you could crush an enemy with a metal object using magnesis. In reality, though, you'll most likely only use the bombs when it comes to using runes in combat.
Now it's time to address the Vah Ruta in the room (hehehehehehe). If you've followed criticism of this game, you know what's coming, but if you don't know, let me spell it out for you. Weapon durability. It sucks. Badly. Each weapon lasts maybe two battles before breaking, and this made me want to never use my higher quality weapons. If you purchase this game, prepare yourself to see the words "Your <weapon name> is badly damaged!" and "Your <weapon name> broke!" You're going to see these words constantly, and it is such a pain. What's more, I could never find any shop that sold weapons. This means that, in order to keep a steady supply of weapons on you, you'll need to kill enemies, dulling the weapons you already have. As if that weren't enough, your inventory for each weapon type is minuscule, so a lot of times you'll have to drop what weapons you have, only to then have an empty spot in your inventory two minutes later because one of your weapons broke. This weapon durability system is BOTW's biggest flaw, and it's what is going to cause the most points to drop off. Of course, this being a Nintendo game, this travesty has its defenders who claim it's ok because Nintendo has never implemented a weapon durability system before. Well, these Nintendo apologists are wrong. It isn't ok, and the inexperience excuse falls flat when you consider that the developer is the single most successful video game giant in history. There are people who get really touchy about people bringing up this flaw, as if the fact that this game isn't flawless affects who they are as a person. I anticipate that this may be my most widely read review yet, just given the subject, so it's likely that one or two of these people will happen by and find themselves emotional at my defiance of Nintendo worship. These people may find themselves compelled to leave angry comments or send me death threats. I'd like to ask these people to look in the mirror and think about the fact that they're doing so because somebody didn't like a particular aspect of a video game that they adore. Then I'd like to ask these people to ponder how truly pathetic that is. I love video games. They're my hobby, and I tend to invest a lot in enjoying them, so I understand really loving a product and wanting people to love it as well. However, when you start attacking people who criticize certain aspects, people who admit that they do love it, isn't it time to admit that maybe you're kind of a toxic stain on this hobby? In any case, it isn't my problem if......

wait for it.....


your feelings are badly damaged!

Speaking of damage, what's the deal with the framerate in this game? I thought technical prowess was the company line that every Nintendo apologist toted? Now, don't get me wrong, the framerate stays pretty consistent throughout a lot of the game, but in certain areas, it drops to the kind of low framerate you might find in a Unity game. This is especially true in the Korok forest, where the framerate drops and pretty much never recovers until you leave. I just don't understand how the game's engine can render things miles and miles away with ease, but has so much trouble rendering more blades of grass in certain places. To be fair, this is the only technical problem present in this game. I never experienced any stutters or crashes, nor did I encounter any animation glitches or bugs. In addition, the drops in framerate don't tend to happen in combat, so they don't really interfere with the gameplay. However, in a Nintendo game, this kind of thing tends to stick out like a sore thumb.

Now, before I write my conclusion, there were a few other things I wanted to touch on to end this on a high note.
The first thing is the soundtrack. I've been listening through the OST the entire time I've been writing this review, and I just love it. From sweeping orchestral tunes to the brassier grooves that play in places like Goron city to the soprano-killing choral chords of Calamity Gannon's battle, the soundtrack is varied and fits every situation it's assigned to. I did feel like it was underutilized in the game, but it's a killer soundtrack nonetheless.
The second thing is the sense of adventure. My litmus test for any medieval RPG is this: Do I feel like a traveller when I enter a village? That may seem like an odd thing to focus on, but I've found that if I feel that way, the overall product is an excellent adventure game. The point is that I felt this way in BOTW.
The third thing is the climax. Simply put, BOTW has the single most epic climax since Mass Effect 2. I had goosebumps the whole time. If the entire game was just the climax, it would definitely be 10/10 material.

Well folks, we've reached the end of this review. It's been a rollercoaster, hasn't it? It's been a wild ride of ups and downs, of unadulterated praise and stinging criticism, but we made it. I'm sure everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see what the final verdict will be. Assuming you've been able to get your hands on a switch, if you get this game, you're in for a treat. It isn't without its flaws: the stamina meter is terrible, the weapon durability makes combat a hassle sometimes, and the framerate has a tendency to crap out, but it's a solid product that I personally loved. I don't know if this will be my Game of the Year this year or not, but I can tell you for sure that it will make the top 10, at least. Probably the top 5 as well, but let's wait and see.

So, with bated breath, let us review:

Terrible stamina wheel - 0.5
Weapon durability sucks -1.0
Framerate issues - 0.2

So, without further ado, the final score for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is...

8.3/10 - Good

Excellent work, Nintendo, excellent work.