The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of The Wild Review

The launch of the Nintendo Switch had to have an astounding game to show of its features, and Breath of the Wild is the perfect game for it. However does this great launch game make a great Zelda game?

Story

You, as Link, wake up 100 years after disaster has struck Hyrule, with Calamity Ganon being held by Princess Zelda in Hyrule Castle. You learn that the only way to save Zelda and Hyrule is to take back the Divine Beasts. The Divine Beasts are giant machines used to fight Ganon, piloted by the champions of each race in Hyrule, and you were the fifth champion, pointed personally to protect Princess Zelda. Now it’s up to you to go take back the Divine Beasts and save Zelda from Calamity Ganon.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Breath of The Wild keeps the basics of the standard Zelda formula, but also flips it on its head. Similar to Skyward Sword, Link has a stamina bar, but new in this game, Link can upgrade it to have more stamina. It is also used to run faster, swim faster, jump while climbing, and fly on your paraglider. One of the biggest ways the standard formula is changed is that weapons can break. This makes you have to be a lot more careful on who and what you fight, and what you fight them with. This makes fighting bosses that much more difficult, because you don’t want to use your good weapons, and be destroyed afterwards. Speaking of bosses, for once there are optional bosses scattered throughout the overworld. You also don’t even need to do anything story related, as you can go fight Calamity Ganon, the final boss, at the very beginning of the game. With dungeons, the standard formula has been replaced. There are now mini dungeons around the world called Shrines. These focus on one aspect of the game, and once you beat four of them, you’ll be able to upgrade your life or stamina.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are very interesting, as they are realistic, but they also feel slightly cartoonish. It is essentially a mix between the Windwaker and Twilight Princess game graphics. The large and vast environment feels realistic and alive, no matter how you’re traveling. Running and the ground or riding by horseback, the land feels real, like you could reach out and touch it, and when you soar through the air you can see just how expansive the land is. The characters also look great, with so many intricate details. The shrines and Divine Beasts also have a look different from everything else, but similar to themselves and the Guardians, which help show how they are from a long gone era.

Music

While this may seem like a weird category at first, any good Zelda game has at least one memorable track, and many have more. Ocarina of Time brought classics like Zelda’s Lullaby and the Song of Storms, but Breath of The Wild decides to do something different. Instead of trying to make tracks you can recognize, it makes very strong and atmospheric tracks, each one fitting the certain moment or character that they’re linked to. However many themes like Prince Sidon’s and the Guardians’ theme are very memorable, and well made. Another interesting thing Breath of The Wild does musically is take the melody from the memorable songs from Ocarina of Time, and expands on theme to make them new and different again.

Final Thoughts

I think that this is an amazing Zelda game, perhaps one of the best. The world feels realistic and large, while still keeping that same mystery and adventurous feeling that the original game established. The weapon durability is a complaint many have, but I think it works, and makes the game harder in a way that seems fair. But I’ve intentionally left a lot of features and the rest of the story off, because if needs to be experienced by yourself, not be reading some review online.

10/10

Pros

• Everything

Cons

• Wii U version is worse than Switch