So, since we are into July now, its time for another post and this one is a NEW one (I know!) and will be on a video game I recently played, which is the acclaimed Nintendo Switch action adventure, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
So, this game received multiple acclaim on its release for its open world design and general gameplay and given its the kind of game up my street and having never tried a Zelda game before, I figured I would start with this one.
So, does the game live up to the hype? Well, let's find out!
I will say about the plot below, so the usual warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!
STORY
So, I won't say too much about the story but I will start with the beginning where the main playable character and protagonist, Link, a young warrior from the Kingdom of Hyrule, awakes from a 100 year slumber to find himself in the Great Plateau. On exploring the area, Link soon finds a mysterious cloaked old man, who helps him out and gives him a few pointers on survival but also requests he find items called shrine orbs, which in return he will award Link his paraglider.
And on completing the task to find four shrine orbs, the old man soon reveals his true identity as Rhoam, the Kind of Hyrule's spirit. Rhoam tells Link that his memory has been lost due to his 100 year sleep and that Hyrule has been taken over by an evil malignant lifeform known as the Ganon, which has also corrupted four guardians of Hyrule once known as the Divine Beasts. Rhoam then tasks Link with locating and freeing the beasts from Ganon's control in order to weaken and destroy him as well as in an effort to also help Princess Zelda (who Link was the sworn protector to a 100 years ago) restore peace to Hyrule itself.
THOUGHTS
Well, this game often appears on the greatest video games of all times lists and even some say its the greatest game of all time and for the most its easy to see why it get's the love it received as BOTW is a highly enjoyable and engrossing adventure game, which has a truly open world and feels really expansive and fun
to explore. The game also has that typical Nintendo cartoonish charm as the characters all have a cute, cosy, charming look and feel to them, which is a welcome to change from the more gritty RPGs we are accustomed to these days. However, the exploration really is the big bonus here as the world is so big and it feels genuinely like you can really explore every inch of it. There are some drawbacks to be found here and there but I will get to them a bit later but overall this is definitely an excellent solid action adventure game.
GAMEPLAY
Moving onto the gameplay, this is is of course where I will split this section into sub-sections as below.
MOVEMENT
Starting with movement, your playable character Link is seen in a third person perspective and he has a mix of standard moves to be expected in these games. So, Link can run, jump, crouch and is also a very adept climber as he can traverse mountains, buildings and other structures to get to another area. Link can also use a paraglider to glide off high points to travel greater distances to reach his objectives or points of interest. The only issue here is to watch out for Link's stamina, which will drain as he runs or jumps and this is also notable when he swims, as Link will drown if his stamina wheel depletes.
COMBAT
As for the combat, Link can carry a variety of weapons such as swords, great swords, short swords, curved swords, hammers and spears as well as bows. Link doesn't have any stat requirement for the weapons, so he can pick up and use any weapon he finds without issue. The big issue however with weapons in the game is durability, as every weapon Link finds will break after so many attacks and if you want the same one, you need to find it elsewhere. There are a handful of weapons that can be repaired however, which are connected to the four main bosses in the game and another special weapon, the Master sword, which doesn't break but does require a lot of HP for Link to use.
WORLD MAP AND TOWERS
As for the world map of the game, BOTW's map similar to Elden Ring is split into sections but these sections can only be accessed by climbing tall towers found in different regions of the game. Link can use an item called the Sheikah slate to access points in these towers that opens up the sections of the map. The game map will also show names of places such as villages, stables, lakes, ruins or domains that Link can travel to. You can also make use of pins to mark places or points of interest while exploring as well as stamps that use different icons to differentiate between items you want.
HORSEBACK
Link can also travel the world (or parts of it) by riding horses but this does require finding wild horses out in the open fields and sneaking up on them to mount them before taming them to ride them. After this, Link will be able to ride the horse as his own and he can also pat it to calm it down should it get a bit agitated.
ENEMIES
As for enemies, Link will find plenty of them in the game and they can vary in levels of challenge with some being quite weak to very powerful ones that can literally one-shot Link. Some of the enemies Link will encounter include the Bokoblins, who are the standard field enemies who vary in strength. Then there are the Mobilins, who are a stronger more powerful enemy that can deal a lot of damage. Then there are the Chuchu, which are round blobs that come in different sizes, Keese, who are bat-like creatures that often fly in swarms. As for more powerful enemies there are the Lynel, who are minotaur like creatures that deal alot of damage with their bows and perhaps the most dangerous are the Guardians, who can deal devastating damage as they can track Link with their eye lasers.
NPCs
As for the NPCs in the game, there are plenty to be found in the game as Link will bump into many characters on his travels, most of which will look for favours, which result in a side mission for Link to complete. Some of these missions can also form as part of the main quest of the game but most of them will be side quests but they are worth doing as Link can stand gain some useful items and weapons.
SHRINES
Moving onto the shrines, as Link explores the world, he will find some shrines where on entering them, he will undergo trials in order to gain a key item, called a shrine orb and if you get four of these at a time, Link can either upgrade his health or his stamina. There are 120 shrines in total in the game, some of which features actual trials but others just require getting to them, which in itself can be a challenge.
SHEIKAH SLATE
Another key item in the game is the already mentioned Sheikah slate, which has multiple uses that Link can stand to benefit from. For starters, the slate can perform magic abilities such as remote bombs, which Link can throw and detonate at enemies or to blow up blocked passageways, Magensis, which can works as a magnet that can move objects as well as Stasis, which allows Link to freeze objects or enemies in time (temporarily) so he can attack or move them. The slate can also be used to capture photographs of items or points of interest, so they can be targetted for future use e.g., the sensor can be used to detect shrines and it will beep as Link get's nearer one but he can also use it to target other items such as ore deposits or mushrooms.
COOKING ITEMS & CONSUMABLES
Another key item in the game are consumables that can be cooked using various cooking pots that are found throughout the game. Link can use these pots to mix up items for food that will restore his health but can also have other properties as well that can boost his stamina, strength and his stealth abilities as well build up his physical defence and attack power. So, as an example Link can mix mushrooms together to create skewers that will boost his HP and in some cases beyond his actual health as he will have additional hearts. Link can also make elixirs that also provide resistances and enhancements to Link similar to the mushrooms but with longer lasting effects.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
One thing that is also quite important in the game are the changing weather conditions depending on the time of day but also the areas that Link will visit. In some regions such as Mount Hylia the weather is very cold and Link will need to either find armour that gives him cold resistance or mix some mushrooms or an elixir that increases his resistance. In others such as Goron city, the weather is incredibly hot and Link will need to find armour that can boost his heat resistance or again take consumables that will increase his resistance. There are also areas where there is heavy rain and thunder and lightning, which can prove lethal as Link can be struck by lightning if he wears any metallic armour and has any metal weapons equipped.
LINK'S MEMORIES (PLOT SPOILER WARNING!!)
Another key aspect of the game is to do with Link's memories, as he underwent a 100 year slumber, on reawakening he lost his memory, so there is a side mission where Link needs to rediscover key areas, which will trigger his memory of events from his past. So, if you want to complete this, there are 18 memories in total, which require a LOT of travel in order to reach them all.
GRAPHICS
Moving onto the graphics, BOTW like all the other Zelda games follows the same visual style with a painterly art quality that also mixes in aspects of Japanese anime and provides a very subdue colour palette compared to most other games. I actually admit to finding this a bit of an eye strain at first as I was not used to the Zelda series, however on upgrading to the Switch 2 version of the game, I was immediately more impressed by the game's graphics. The game's visual style is very pleasing to the eye in the upgrade with some nice fine details added in and the improved presentations allows for slightly more vivid colours than the Switch 1 version. The characters are also nicely rendered retaining their art style but with a higher resolution from the base 900p on Switch 1 to the 1440p on Switch 2.
Overall, the graphics are not world beating and won't best the best of today's AAA games but they're distinctive style works very well and look impressive.
MUSIC
Moving on the music, the score was composed by Manaka Katoaka and Yasuaki Iwata, which is excellent and heavily piano driven but also features moments of orchestration as well. The score features some standout moments such as the theme for Link travelling to Hyrule Castle, Link travelling to the stables, Link meeting the great fairy and of course the theme for Link travelling in the Lost Woods as well as the Goron city theme, which sounds like it belongs in a Crash Bandicoot game! So, its a very impressive and memorable score that is both charming and catchy in equal measure.
FLAWS
As for flaws...yes well BOTW isn't quite perfect and does have some.
For starters one of my biggest complaints is simply to do with weapon durability (or lack thereof!) as virtually every weapon Link picks up will break at some point, which can really suck. This is especially annoying if you get a later game weapon you really like and is effective damage wise and it suddenly breaks on you, there is no way to replace it unless you return to the same place you got it later on. There are a few special weapons that can be remade if they break however but that's about it, everything else permanently breaks, which is a real pain.
Another issue is to do with the fact that Link has a LOT of running and traversal to do on foot in the game as he travels between areas to get to his objectives. These however to an extent can be mitigated by finding a horse in the wild and taming it but even this can be a pain, as the horses can easily knock you off (unlike in Red Dead games!) and there are still areas where horseback riding is not recommended or practical.
I also discovered that there are some pretty complex and gruelling puzzles in the game, which can be really difficult to work on your own. In fact its safe to say I would not have got through this game without the help of Youtube videos because there are definitely puzzles that had me completely stumped as what to do. This is especially true of when Link has to navigate inside the divine beasts and need to rotate their bodies in different directions to access areas. So, yeah this game is definitely not easy to complete without a guide.
Another problem is to do with the nature of the fast travel as you can only use the shrines to travel between areas but it would have been nice if they added in further travel points in addition to the shrines. This is especially true to the final area of the game, where there is a brutal runback to the final boss if you did not grab the shrine within that area. So, for me this is where the game is bit backward and definitely not that forgiving.
Last of all is an issue I had with the menu system for items, weapons and armour as it can involve a lot of tedious scrolling to find an item or consumable you might want to use. Now, to be fair there is a quick access menu for weapons, shields and the slate magic abilities but everything requires a lot of scrolling to find what you need, which really breaks the flow of the game and can become annoying.
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, The Legend of Zelda: BOTW is undoubtedly an excellent game in my opinion and I can easily see why it get's the acclaim it does due to its fun and expansive open world exploration, not to mention its cute and likeable character designs. The game's art style is also very unique and works very well and the Switch 2 edition is a big upgrade over the original and the soundtrack is also excellent and very memorable.
There are some issues with the game of course such as the poor durability of weapons and lack of being able to repair nearly all of them, despite a few exceptions. The game also has quite a few complex puzzles, which really require a guide to get through them and the exploration on foot can get tedious at times when you don't have a fast travel point (or a horse!).
But that all aside, this is still a highly entertaining game with a great deal to enjoy and explore and its right up there with the very best adventure games of its kind.
So, with that I will rate BOTW:
9 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post and until then its bye for now!
