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

For my first review in quite some time, I'm going to talk about "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" for the Nintendo Switch.  I know it's on the Wii U, but I don't own one of those, so I'm not sure what, if any, differences there are between the versions.

Breath of the Wild is the first open world Legend of Zelda game in the franchise.  Because of that, once you get past the first portion of the main quest (which functions as a tutorial of sorts) the game is basically non-linear.  Once you are able to exit the first zone, you could potentially go straight to Ganon and defeat him, although I wouldn't advise it because you'll be woefully under-equipped and you'll miss a lot of story.

Let's go through the pros and cons of BotW.

Pros:
When you start the game, the area where you begin serves as a great tutorial.  The use of notifications, cutscenes, dialogue and tooltips gives you just enough to learn the mechanics without resorting to quicktime events.  Unlike previous Zelda games, the dialogue doesn't contain button commands when teaching you how to work the controls.  Instead, you get a tooltip and the option to see more detail in the pause menu.  This means that the dialogue doesn't break with the reality of the game world.

The game world is massive and incredibly detailed, with lots of beautiful landscapes to explore and loads of side quests from the numerous people you meet in the game.  With the jump and climb functions added to this installment of the franchise, if you see a location, you can get there.  The world is filled with shrines and dungeons that all function as puzzles that can be very difficult to solve, which I think is my favorite part of the game because it really made me have to think.  You'll battle monsters, collect weapons, armor, food and crafting materials, battle the elements with changing weather and temperatures all while trying to save Princess Zelda.

I particularly enjoy how the people in the game respond to the world.  If, for example, it starts to rain, the characters will run for cover so they don't get wet.  If you're wearing a particularly scary armor, they'll shudder with fear before interacting with you.

Cons:
Weapons, armor and shields have "durability" which means that they will eventually break and you'll have to replace them.  This is especially disappointing when you have a really good item that you don't want to give up, mostly because you had to fight a particularly difficult monster to obtain it in the first place.

Inventory for the breakable items is limited, so if you're full and you find something you really want, you have to figure out what you want to get rid of.  This can be a very hard decision to make once you're really used to having an inventory of very good equipment.  You can expand your inventory slots, but to do so is the single most tedious collection task I've ever played.

Upgrading armor, while very cool, is incredibly tedious.  Sometimes you have to wait through multiple lunar cycles in the game, farm difficult or rare monsters or hunt in specific zones for items to upgrade your gear.  If the world runs out of materials before you've collected enough for the upgrade, you need to wait for the respawn to happen.  Tedious farming is one of the biggest reasons I quit playing World of Warcraft.

Conclusion:
Breath of the Wild, while completely different from any Zelda game before, still feels like The Legend of Zelda.  This is my new favorite game in the franchise, and the cons are little nitpicks that don't take away from my enjoyment of the game.

TL;DR - Buy this game