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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Review By Ars Technica (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fun-for-the-whole-family dept.

Kyle Orland writes via Ars Technica: At this point, the Legend of Zelda series operates on a rhythm so predictable you can practically set your watch to it. In a Zelda game, after an extremely slow-paced tutorial, you progress from puzzle-filled dungeon to puzzle-filled dungeon, finding in each one a key item that -- coincidentally -- is crucial to beating the dungeon boss and to finding the next dungeon. Between dungeons, you face perfunctory battles with simple enemies on a vast overworld map dotted with small towns and occasional mini-games and side-quests. Most of these give you rewards that are already so plentiful as to be practically worthless (oh, goodie, more rupees to fill my already full wallet). By the time you reach Ganon, your circuitous trip from point A to point B has given you a set of required powers that help you take on the big bad boss threatening the kingdom. Individual Zelda games each make slight variations to this formula, but the basic rhythm is there every time. And then there's the new Breath of the Wild (BotW), a Zelda game that throws off this established rhythm so quickly, and with such force, that it practically feels like a whole new genre. In doing so, Breath of the Wild offers a compelling take on a stagnating series, bringing a sense of wonder and excitement back to Zelda that hasn't been felt this strongly since the original NES game. "Breath of the Wild is my new favorite 3D Zelda game and in contention for the top spot in the series overall," Orland writes in ending. "Don't miss it." You can read his full review here

9 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Ars is not the only one by edx93 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At metacritic, BotW has a 98 score, second only to Ocarina of Time, with over 50 reviews. I, for one, cannot wait (and, yes, I'm buying the Switch for this).

    1. Re:Ars is not the only one by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

      Had this (and other) reviews even been *slightly* less positive, I probably would have not bothered with the Switch. This may change my mind, as Zelda is a long-time favorite of mine. I'll probably wait a while and see if there are at least a few other great games to pick up before I commit.

      I only ended up buying a couple of decent games on the Wii, and didn't feel like the WiiU was worth the upgrade. I *loathed* the motion control gimmick stuck to nearly every games on the Wii, and was worried about the gimmicky nature of this console as well (so far the console itself isn't reviewing all that well).

      Well, we'll see. I guess I remain on the fence.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    2. Re:Ars is not the only one by guises · · Score: 2

      I will buy a Switch for this as well... eventually. Unfortunately, Nintendo has finally gotten onto the DLC bandwagon, so buying the game at launch will net you only a partial experience. If you want the whole game you're going to have to wait probably a year or more for them to release the complete version.

      I don't blame Nintendo for this, players have pretty clearly shown that this is what they want to pay for, but it's still a sad day.

  2. Wow, it must be good if Ars can't slam it. by barc0001 · · Score: 2

    Seems everything Nintendo related on that site is dipped in a sour grape sauce.

  3. Re:There's one insurmountable downside for me. by Narcocide · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just as an FYI this game is also being released on the Wii-U. So you don't actually have to choose between buying a Switch or missing BotW. That's a false-choice dichotomy.

  4. Re:There's one insurmountable downside for me. by Narcocide · · Score: 2

    Did you miss the part about his whole post implying that BotW is indeed such a game? And note that he didn't even actually say whether he bought a Wii-U or not, he merely implied that it wasn't worth it. Guys like you and him spend so much time talking about how much they don't want to buy Nintendo stuff I''d really think it'd even eventually become obvious to even yourselves that you doth protest too much.

  5. Re:There's one insurmountable downside for me. by compro01 · · Score: 2

    Did you miss the part about not buying a WiiU because there was nothing in the catalogue to make it worth it? A single Zelda game, no matter how good, is not going to change that

    With a new console out, Wii Us are likely to come onto the used market, making it significantly cheaper to acquire, potentially enough so that it is worth it for the one game.

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  6. Fuck Ars Technica by Nyder · · Score: 2

    They bitch about the same old Zelda formula in the new game, but then praise Pokemon Sun & Moon for being the same old pokemon formula.

    --
    Be seeing you...
    1. Re:Fuck Ars Technica by Anubis+IV · · Score: 2

      They bitch about the same old Zelda formula in the new game

      So, you didn't even manage to make it to the end of the summary, I see? Directly from the summary:

      And then there's the new Breath of the Wild (BotW), a Zelda game that throws off this established rhythm so quickly, and with such force, that it practically feels like a whole new genre. In doing so, Breath of the Wild offers a compelling take on a stagnating series, bringing a sense of wonder and excitement back to Zelda that hasn't been felt this strongly since the original NES game.

      If you think that's complaining about the same old formula being played out again, you clearly need to work on your reading comprehension.