The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Wii U

So I finished Breath of the Wild today and thought I should write a review. I realize that most people have already made up their minds about it at this point, but some people might still be on the fence about it so a well thought out review can always be helpful. First of all, let's address the elephant in the room, is this a Zelda game? I have seen many, many people gripe online that it is a Zelda game in name only. It doesn't have [insert beloved item name here] in it or another item they love, or traditional dungeons they say so it can't be a true Legend of Zelda game. Let's go back to the roots of the series, the original Legend of Zelda game. What did it have? It had Link, searching for Zelda, and the Triforce so he could defeat Ganon and save Hyrule. So does Breath of the Wild have Link? Yes. Does it have Zelda? Yes. Does it have dungeons? Yes it does actually. Only 5 of them but it has them. Does it have Ganon? Yes. Does it have the Triforce? No it doesn't. It has pictures of it and symbols depicting it, but that's all. The Triforce actually does not factor into the story or the game at all. In that way, and only that way would I say this game does not measure up as a "true" Legend of Zelda game. Even the original Legend of Zelda game does not have the Master Sword, although I always thought of the Magic Sword as the Master Sword since you have to master using it before the old man will give it to you. But its technical name is the Magic Sword. So, once and for all, Breath of the Wild IS a true Legend of Zelda game.Now, how does it measure up? Is this the perfect game that all the professional reviewers are claiming it to be? Of course not. But it is a wonderful game. It is fun. Waking up in the resurrection game with nothing at all reminded me a lot of turning on the original Legend of Zelda 30 years ago for the first time and having absolutely nothing in my inventory, not even a sword to my name. This time though I was blown away by the wonderful graphics. I will admit that I spent a good five minutes just climbing trees picking apples and tree branches before I found the old man. For those who complained that the game doesn't tell you what to do or where to go, again I point back to the original Zelda game which did not hold your hand at all. You turned it on and were faced with a cave which would give you a sword if you were smart enough to go inside. Afterwards, you did not even get a little yellow glowing dot to help you find dungeon one. At least Breath of the Wild gives you the Shiekah Slate that if you really want the help you can turn on the quest icon to point you in the right direction.But honestly the lack of hand holding is one of the best things about this game. It gives you some brief direction and then sets you free to accomplish your goals in anyway you like. This leads to an experience with Breath of the Wild that will be unique to each player. I personally went on a quest to find all the shrines and recover Link's memories. Others might forgo that in order to face Ganon and restore Hyrule right away. Still others might want to just tame a wild horse and roam Hyrule without a care in the world. Nintendo has left it completely up to the player. And there are few enemies that are so powerful that they will kill even the weakest of players in just a few hits so even if you wander into a dangerous area you should be able to extricate yourself relatively easily.If you are a completionist there is plenty for you to do in this game too. There are dozens of side quests. Some ranging from taking a picture and showing it to the person all the way to building a new town. By far the most time consuming activities in Breath of the Wild will be upgrading your many outfits that you find as rewards or that you purchase on your adventures. Great Fairies are your method of improving your outfits and most of the time you just need to find the appropriate bug, lizard or monster parts to upgrade that new tunic you found, but occasionally you will need to be more creative search high and low to find that elusive part. That is where the game can be a little frustrating. While it tries to help you by upgrading your Shiekah slate which allows you to search for any item you have taken a picture of and added to your Hyrule Compendium, far too many of the later outfits require Star Fragments, or pieces of a falling star. These only fall at night and as best I can tell only on nights with a full moon. And what is even more annoying, they disappear as soon as dawn comes along. So if you have been climbing a mountain trying to get to the spot where the star is and you reach it just as dawn happens, it will disappear right before your very eyes. Hunting the Star Fragments truly was my #1 pet peeve of Breath of the Wild.If I had a second pet peeve of the game it would have to be how Link falls when he gets hit in combat. Combat is very fluid in BOTW and is very well done. But when Link gets hit, more often than not he goes flying into the air and will roll around on the ground for a good 3 - 5 seconds and you cannot make him get up. While this is somewhat realistic if you had just taken an arrow to the face, it is also very frustrating when you have a Lynel charging at you. It is honestly this flaw in the combat and the frustration of the Star Fragments that keeps me from giving this game a perfect score. The good news though is you don't really need very many Star Fragments as you will not find armor better than your Champions tunic and so you don't need to upgrade very much unless you are a completionist, just enough to help you in your fight against Guardians.The final verdict is this game is absolutely worth getting. Even without the upcoming DLC this game has immense replayability. There is so much to do, so much to see. Nintendo has created a wonderful world and it is a shame not to explore it and immerse yourself in it. Is it perfect? No. The framerates do occasionally drop and I have mentioned my two issues that I have with the game, but they are not enough to stop me from playing the game again, and again, and again. And again when the DLC comes out. If you ever enjoyed a Legend of Zelda game even once, you owe it to yourself to play this game.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Wii UThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild...Those who are reading this might think that I am just another person writing a review because Amazon "asked me." Well, for your information, this game is so good that I couldn't help writing this review. I have played various Zelda games like Skyward Sword, Minish Cap, Windwaker, Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask, and other titles that you might (or might not) be familiar with. I am an over the top Zelda fan and I cant get enough of the series. I research, play, and watch videos of the game because they are so good! But when I found out about Breath of the Wild, I was astonished that it was even a part of the series...I first found out about the game about 7-8 months ago while browsing on the web. I stumbled upon it and was surprised that I didn't know about its upcoming release. From there on, I did extensive research on the game and I immediately fell in love with it. I even have to admit that I developed a slight obsession for the game. From just the videos, the game was so astonishing. The graphics, animation, and even world made me loose my breath. The trailer blew me away and all of the footage from the demos made me loose my train of thought for around 2 days (not joking, I could NOT think at all.) As time went on, more footage was released and more trailers were published by Nintendo. Each one blew me away and I became even more excited to receive the game. I pre-orderd the game on September 23rd of 2016. I didn't care about the money, I didn't even care that its release date hadn't been set yet. I just wanted the game! When I'ts release date came, I flipped out. I went BALLISTIC. I couldn't wait, I just wanted the game. For 6 and a half months I waited for Breath of the Wild and now here I am, playing the game. When I received the game, I nearly crashed my car driving home from the mailbox because I was so excited. I couldn't breath, I couldn't think, all I wanted to do was to play the game. When I opened the package, I was even blown away by the case. It seemed to sparkle and shine. I ripped (CAREFULLY RIPPED) the package open and took out the disk. The disk was enough alone. It seemed to be something from heaven. It was GLORIOUS. I then proceeded to insert the game into the WiiU and from there on, my whole life changed. Soon, the beginning title appeared and the game began. I was astonished by everything, I cant even express how suppressed I was by what Nintendo had accomplished. I cant spoil anything but I can tell you that the game was worth it. Every second I have played was worth it. Every minute and hour was worth it. I still haven't finished the game but here I am writing a review of the game. Nevertheless, I hope you buy it, not because I told you to, but for the experience.When I started the game, I knew it was going to be amazing but I was awe struck. The graphics blew me right off the couch and I couldn't look away from the screen. Why you ask? Because of the animations and graphics. Below are even reasons why they are so bizarre and different.-When it is windy, Links (the main character) hair blows in the wind. Not in any direction though, it blows in the direction the wind is blowing.-The grass, bushes, and trees move in the direction of the wind as well-Links movements1. Walking: Link doesn't just "walk." His movements are actually accurate and they portray an accurate depiction of a real person. It isn't just some stiff legged animated character.2. Running: Link actually "runs." It actually looks like he is putting in some effort and his body movement are once again accurate.3. Climbing: Yes, link CAN climb. This is not a spoiler, it is in the trailer. Even though is hands might go through rock walls in some instances, it looks as though it is a real person.4. Crouching: When Link crouches, he actually does it "right." Nintendo did a good job with this feature because Link actually bends down, and walks as though he is a normal person trying to be "sneaky."5. Jumping: Since Nintendo decided to take off the auto jump, you can now control when Link jumps. When he does though, he doesn't look like a dork/idiot trying to do gymnastics. (sorry for the criticism, I'm just trying to give a decent depiction for visualization) He actually jumps like a person would jump-The ocean has tides (yes, it has tides. There is a high tide, low tide, and medium tide)-Link gets wet: Often in video games, after a person leaves water (swimming pool, ocean, source of water, etc) they are dry. They look as though they never entered water. In Breath of the Wild though, link doesn't look "wet" but if you look closely, he drips for a while and leaves "water footsteps."-Lighting: The lighting is amazing. The sunrise, sunset, daytime, and nighttime just BLEW me off my feet. I was awestruck when I first saw them for the first time-Environment: The environment alone would be enough to make me satisfied. The clouds move, the grass sways, when clouds pass over the sun, it blocks out the sun. The shadows are spot on, the lighting from torches, lamps, and fires are amazing, and I am still amazed with Nintendo's excellent job.Now for the good parts. The world of Breath of the Wild. I am only going to say some things because it would leave spoilers.-Weather: The weather is just not for "aesthetics." The environment effects everything in this game but mainly link. When it is raining, Link slips when trying to climb. When it is raining, fires go out. When there are thunderstorms, Lighting will strike metal objects so link cant have metallic objects equipped or he will be struck by lighting. He has to switch to wooden materials. I am only going to say these things so lets move on.-Voice acting- THANK YOU NINTENDO! To my knowledge (correct me if I am wrong), this is the first Zelda game (besides the CDI once which are excluded for reasons that all Zelda fans know) with voice acting. It is extremely well done and so far, it is flawless.-Combat- I was so amazed throughout the game because of these simple things.-When you throw a bomb at an enemy, they try to kick it away-You can manipulate the environment to hurt enemies. EX: you can cut down trees and push the logs down cliffs to smash enemies. You can also use boulders!-Enemies can see and hear you.-Enemies just don't "magically" have weapons on them. They have to go and retrieve them.-AI's: They are amazing. When they are walking, if you go in front of them, they will actually go around you, not just stop. They will also chart different courses if their paths are blocked. I also noticed that their pupils follow you when you are near you. Not just their heads or body. They also will react to things you do. If you take out a weapon around them, they will react and will become defensive. They also do other things but I will also leave that to you to find out.-Weapons: Yes, you can find and use many, many different weapons. From boomerangs, short swords, fire swords, spears, bows, multiple different arrows with different abilities, battle axes, normal axes, battle hammers, clubs, and so many more weapons. There are even shields that you can obtain through various methods. Not only that, they break. Now, the game is actually challenging! Another amazing aspects on the subject is the fact that they all have different stats. Some are weaker, others more powerful. Some do more damage to specific types of enemies and others don't. Some can be found, some can be fought for. All weapons can also be thrown making the game have more battle tactics and strategies.-Food: No more hearts and potions! Link now has to either buy or find food. Not only that, he can cook food and there are (to my knowledge) so many different combinations for recipes. There are so many materials to find from Mushrooms, apples, and meat to Monster guts and horns. You can find food or hunt and kill wild animals for it. So many combinations make the game more challenging to play.-Potions: In this game, you have to make your potions and there are so many more stats.-The environment can hurt link: Link has to adjust his clothing to different environments. If he is too cold, he looses life. If he is too hot, he looses life. You either have to change his clothing or use different "methods" to create a warm/cold environment so Link can survive.That is all I am going to say but I want to end with this: This is the best game I have ever played. I left out so many things that I waned to say but this review would have turned into an essay. I would like to apologize if my spelling was off (I went through it to check for errors) but I'm assuming that you can still understand it. This game is so amazing and I forgot to say that the world is "open." Somebody did an estimate of how large the world was (I'm assuming they are accurate) and the math added up to 300 kilometers. The world was not randomly generated but carefully designed by a team of master designers and programmers. There are so many things to explore and discover and the world is filled with so many different enemies. In conclusion, BUY THIS GAME NOW. It is better than so many games and I have to say that is is too good to be true. I don't know how Nintendo can top this but they always find a way.