The Switch and Zelda: A non-Nintendo View Point

I want to start off by making two points:

1. I have been a Nintendo fan but I am not a "diehard fan" and the last two consoles and several games have not been for me. In fact, I'd go so far as to label them as utter rubbish. What I'm saying is, I am not the type to support Nintendo, or anyone else, no matter what, so expect some brutal honesty here.

2. This is aimed at people who are genuinely on the fence about wanting to buy the Switch and whether or not Zelda: BOTW is worth it as an exclusive.

Let us begin with the Switch. There are plenty of hardware/console reviews out there so I'm not going to talk so much about the console itself, what I will mention is that as a piece of kit worth £280 it is really poor. The quality feels shabby (better than teh Wii mind but hey, everything's better than the Wii) and some of the basic problems are beyond comprehension in 2017: non-responsive joycons, dead pixels on the screen, the screen being scratched (wtf??? although I never experienced that on the Switch I played, I have seen plenty of scratched screens) and ultimately, the lack of power for a full priced piece of console hardware. Nintendo, that is just not on!

BUT and yes, this is a huge but, the portable aspect of the console is very good...heck, it could have been great if not for the flimsy feel of combining the joycons with the console and the utter crap of a battery life. However, that screen is colourful, beautiful, bright and in terms of portable graphics, the most powerful console of its type. Without sounding too cheesy, there's something just plain lovely about playing Zelda in bed...andn ow we get to the big part, Zelda.

I have said time and time again, Zelda as a series hit its absolute peak on the N64 from a gameplay perspective (never really had much of a story going for it). Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are two of the greatest action adventure games of the era. Everything that followed felt like the developers had hit a plataeu, from Wind Waker to Skyward Sword. Don't get me wrong Ninty diehard, they were good games, very good in places but far from the standouts of their predecessor. The series just didn't seem to go anywhere innovative with its design, it failed to take on board what other action adventure games had been doing for years. It was stuck and needed a right ol' kick up the jacksy. In 2017, it gets one.

Breath of the Wild is the best game Nintendo have put out there since Mario Galaxy. It's the best Zelda game in almost two decades. The open world elements of several other RPGs and action adventure games is combined with the environmental survival that is so in vogue but unlike the Fallout series for example, where it's the absurdities of radiation and contaminated water that may kill you, here its the mundanity of cold weather (over a long period of time mind lol it is Zelda after all and its a game aimed squarely at the young). What does that mean? Well resource management in Zelda has a whole new meaning - you have to cook the correct food, find the correct clothing and use torches at the most opportune moment. That's damn good Nintendo! Oh and then there's teh weapons...or lack of. You see, you don't have to have a giant blade and some sorcery to kill the baddies, you can improvise. Mix and match battle tactics, use the environment. This is where the fun lies in the new Zelda, this is where Nintendo get's their mojo back. The environment is both your friend and enemy, it's where you find the next dungeon, its where the story progresses...it is a truly open world experience. Go there, do that and most importantly, do it how you like. I shall repeat, it's a lot of fun!

That is however...al that there is. Once again, the story is uninvolving, or I feel it is anyway and the graphics seriously underwhelm. The art style is many years out of date (cartoonish, cell shade-ish in 2017? especially after two such titles already?), the draw distance is hard to ascertain as everything in the distance is pale (washedout colours we were told are part of the art style) and ultimately, the world is large but so so so empty even when compared to last gen open world games and that, well that is just bollocks. It's all well and good to have gently swaying grass stretch out to the horizon with enemies dotted about in the distance but when there's nothing else to it, what's the point? Much like the console itself, the game does a lot but it does not do any of it particularly well. This is an action adventure that feeds off a lot of other games of the sort, it even manages to polish up certain aspects but it adds nothing to the formula.

This ultimately leads me to question the scroes reviewers have given it, 10/10 left, right and center, meaning this is an essential purchase...it isn't. You could go your whole gaming life without having played BOTW and not have missed out on naything that is already present in so many other games. Maybe there's a reason for the large disparity between critics and users on metacritic? Food for thought.

Yet, if I owned a Switch, I would buy this game, only because it would be the only game worth having and the only game that shows off what the console can do. If I didn't have a switch and felt nostalgic for some Zelda and/or owned a WiiU, I'd get it too. Not an essential part of nay library and not an essential aspect of the Switch either but something worth playing for the hell of it. I repeat, it's a lot of fun but it is not an evolution of the genre, simply an evolution of the series...could the same be said about the Switch? It does not change console gaming but it does change where Nintendo were this time last year.

The 10/10 review score is arbitrary, it's up to you to decide how good the game is.

I would argue that this is one of the few open-world games I've played where I can walk a few steps and easily find something worth doing, so I already disagree with you that it feels like a lot of wasted open world. I have played lots of open world games that had nothing going on for whole areas, and I think this is one of the better open-world games in that respect. I would go so far as to say that BoTW, just about any Rockstar game, Crackdown, Dead Rising and maybe Souls are some of the games that handle things to do in a large environment best.

I personally love the art style, probably one of the best art styles in a game ever. But I am of the mind that the more realistic you make games, usually the less fun and believable they become. I really think it's a matter of preference there.

I do agree that the story is kind of un-involving, and so far doesn't seem to really do anything that outside-of-the-box for Zelda. But I think we can agree that the adventuring and the exploring and the resource management and whatnot are really the key parts of this game - the story didn't have to overwork itself for this game.

I will say that I appreciate you being real and unbiased here. I can definitely appreciate it. I probably am becoming a bit of a Ninty fanboy again, but anyway I'm really happy with the Switch and BotW so far. The Switch has certainly had a few downsides for me already, especially where online is concerned... But, for the most part I really can't complain - I've been having a blast with it. And, I hope the system will have games and features that appeal to you and other gamers just as much as it is looking to appeal to us Ninty fanboys.

But keep in mind, no game can ever really be another game. Not even a remake. Sometimes you gotta really look at those incremental differences to appreciate a game for what it is. And the slightest changes can mean a world of difference.

I get the impression that you don't own a Switch, and you haven't played Zelda.

Firstly, the Switch isn't poor quality. It doesn't feel like a cheap device by any means, and there is no evidence that the defects reported at launch are widespread issues. If anything, I have been impressed with how great the main device and all of the components feel and run. It's fast, it's quiet, it feels sturdy, and it is the most powerful handheld Nintendo has ever made (by a long shot).

Secondly, Zelda BotW doesn't feel empty. You'll find new things to do in every direction, even if you're 50 hours into the game (and the more you explore, the more you'll find very cool and unique things to do). There are environmental puzzles on every hill and flat surface, enemy camps and shrines every 3-5 minutes, a range of different environments/hazards to explore, and tons of unique mini-quests that are not marked on the map (like gliding through a temple full of lasers, being stranded without equipment on a desert island, etc.). It helps that the draw distances don't suck at all (you can make out distant parts of the environment in any direction), and that all of the movement and controls are mechanically perfect.

Anyway...yeah, some things you said struck a wrong chord with me. It feels like you're trying to bash Zelda while pretending to be neutral about it, and it also feels like you haven't played it on the Switch.

@Ovirew: I gotta agree, the art style is nice, I can't deny that at all. And I want to stress an important point that might have gotten lost in my blog but I did say it: I feel this is the best Zelda game since the two I playedo n the N64. That's saying a lot as I'm a fan of both Ocarina and Major and even objctively speaking, they are both often regarded as two of the best adventure games ever made.

But, a lot of what was in the 90s Zelda was pioneering, innovative even. A lot of what is in the current Zelda has been done before in many open world games and ultimately, done a lot better, a lot prettier and on much larger scale. That's my overall problem with it. Nintendo have only just caught up with what open world gaming has been doing for 10 or so years. It certainly IS NOT a bad game. I really enjoy it actually and if theres a price drop on the switch and Nintendo games are reasonably priced as well, I would have no problem in lapping it up.

@Planeforger: I dont appreciate you trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes. Each issue I reported, some which I experienced and others which I said I did not experience but many, many other people did are well documented. There are countless pictures and videos of these defects.

As for many new things to do, "even 50 hours in" can you please name me one new thing you started to do in your 51st hour, a new type of game play, a new story strand, a new enemy type etc, that was not apparent in the first 5 hours?