Liyo kikon
Zelda has always been close to my heart since I remember playing it around 20 years back on my old Nintendo console and I can say that Zelda was the game which ignited my imagination into the fascinating world of Video Games. So far, all the sequels to Zelda have never been able to live up to the original but all that is about to change with the latest Zelda, Breath of the Wild. You can be assured that this game is indeed a masterpiece since IGN, Gamespot and all the biggest names in game review sites have all given this game a 10/10 rating! I mean, only a handful of games ever got such high ratings and I gotta say, it makes a Zelda fan like me so darn happy to see that Nintendo finally did it.
The game starts off with Link waking up to the mysteries of Hyrule, and this time the game takes an open world approach, where you can go literally anywhere without any map limitations. You can climb any surface and travel at any direction to explore the vast and beautiful land of Hyrule. At the beginning of the game, you only get a tree branch to defend yourself but you quickly build up your arsenal since weapons can be found in and around the world and every enemy carries a weapon which you can acquire once you defeat them. Unlike most role playing games where you get attached to a single weapon for a long period of time, the weapons you get in this game wear down and eventually break and you have to get new weapons to replace them. But the great thing is that the game is so well developed that there will never be a time when you think you need one particular weapon since a better one is just around the corner. Another thing about weapons is that even the enemies can use your weapons! If you leave a weapon lying on the ground, it is shocking to see an enemy run up to it and pick it up to attack you with it. This just shows how clever the artificial intelligence in this game can be. And it is never a good thing to underestimate an enemy since they can actually kill you in one hit, which can sound frustrating, but as you play along, you will quickly learn that this is in fact a good thing simply because it gives you a sense of realism. During a battle with an enemy, you will need to quickly dodge the attack and enter a slo-mo mode which gives you the opportunity to attack them with several blows at once.
The environment in this game is absolutely breathtaking, it is beautiful and surreal and challenging and realistic all at the same time. The open world system of this game works like a charm and being able to explore the entire world is just as rewarding as catching a beautiful view from a mountaintop. There are hidden treasures, shrines with puzzles inside and lots of places to explore in this game. It is estimated that an average player will take around 200 hours of gameplay just to be able to explore it all and even after that, I’m sure that there will be more places to see and things to do in this game. The weather effects in this game can actually affect your gameplay, if it is raining, you will find it hard to climb a mountain since it can be slippery and during a thunderstorm, you might get struck by lightning. As you play this game, you will quickly learn to keep an eye out on the sky, just like the real world.
This game does not follow a conventional linear storyline where you have to follow a certain path to finish the game, but making great use of the open world of Hyrule, you can choose to follow the main quest or do any of the hundreds of side quests. The main quest is to find Link’s memory about princess Zelda after the apocalyptic event which left Hyrule in ruins and this main quest can be easily finished in just a few hours but it is obvious that the main quest is more like a nudge to get you to experience the world of Zelda and you are guaranteed to keep playing and exploring the game even after you finish the main quest.
Everything about this game holds up to the original Legend of Zelda and it has certainly lived up to the hype and expectation of the title. With so much detail in this masterpiece, it is now considered as the sole reason why one should buy a Nintendo Switch. Sure, it is expensive for those of us here, but the Nintendo switch has certainly taken console gaming to a whole new level and with The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild being the face of the console, we can only expect greater things from this console in the future. Breath of the Wild is available only on Nintendo Switch and Wii-U.
