The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Is Officially One Of The Best Games Of All Time

The metacritic score for users is like an 80.

Don't have it yet as Official Nintendo Store has been pants and not sent it out for release day, with my Switch

this is nice actually ... nintendo didnt have such a score since years !!!

Glad to see it's turned out so well! There were times, particularly during last E3 where I must admit I feared the worst. Hyrule looked so bland and empty, and this was coming 6 months after Xenoblade Chronicles X which IMO had done a pretty poor job at the open world under Nintendo's supervision.

Too bad media outlets are 100% untrustworthy. Playing it (Switch version because the WiiU version can diaf) now though, an hour in so far. Not bad.

@-Green- For the game that is only out today?

Don't trust them over at Push Square. A right shifty lot and no mistake.
They're probably planning some willy-waving antics.

Praise be to Zebus!

Still waiting on Amazon to ship my order even though they were supposed to post it yesterday.

@-Green- They're trolls like some of the posters on this site.

@-Green- Impossible for users to have formed a coherent opinion this early on. It's a game that takes weeks, months to play through properly.

@JohnSReid Yeah. You should read some of the reviews. They're hilarious.

Not finding it that great at the moment, the script and dialogue have been pretty woeful so far

Wow, best rated game in the past decade (pretty much). Hopefully that'll shift a few Switches.

@-Green- how many of those actually played it seeing as it's only out today? Very few. Wait for the thousands/millions of actual real user reviews then judge.

only a few hours in but its def a 10/10 from me

@-Green- yeah and containg a lot of 0s and 1s.
Reliable testimonies there, I'm sure.

I guess I'm more relieved than happy that it lived up to the hype. Talk of empty world and frame rate issues, combined with delay after delay, had me nervous for a while.

...GTA4, really? That was literally the worst one of the bunch. Must've been during the "paid reviews" phase

@Menchi187 Jeez, someone's been drinking a little too much of the Donald Trumpalump kool-aid.

Looking forward to getting home after work tonight and ripping it open. Got a pile of Haribo and Coke Zero to keep me awake throughout the night (although knowing me I'll probably crash at midnight lol)

It should arrive in the mail any minute now! COME ON I WANT TO FEEL YOUNG AGAIN

I would say THE best, but that's just my personal consideration

Oh not only do I believe it's warranted (half these reviewers don't even really play Nintendo game, and even they are handing out perfect scores like candy on Halloween). I believe it deserves top spot. But it's hard to beat older games which at the time were much more impressive, like the first 3D Zelda. It's also much harder to score that high now that there are 70 some odd review sites. Ocarina only had to deal with 22.

I've been watching gameplay left and right and it was more than evident this was no ordinary game. I truly believe this is one of the best, if not the best video games ever made. I'll be able to confirm those beliefs soon enough

100 years from now on, Ocarina of Time will still on top. But how nice is see a new entry in the top 5.
That said, while I agree that GTAIV was huge years ago, it hardly deserve a place on the top 5, the other games through are really masterpieces.

@beazlen1 I'd imagine very few as well. Many seem to be blantant trolls.

@Kid_Sickarus That's the funniest part to me. They're basically done to plummet the game's score.

I have literally just received my Amazon order for BOTW on Wii U and the Uk Limited Edition version for the Switch, as well as the Hardcover guide. The Ltd Edition Switch version is in a massive box! Looks awesome.

Shame I don't have a Switch, yes I bought the game for the Switch without owning the console. I will be firing up the Wii U version this evening. Can't wait.

Breath of the Wild is higher rated than Ocarina of Time and everything else according to GameRankings

Wow !

1# on gamerankings which I personally look at more then meta critic.

Has there ever been a game that's managed to live up to its hype as much as this one has? Not only live up to it but far exceed it. Incredible stuff.

Wow. Just wow.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE My Wii U version from Amazon was supposed to arrive today. I phoned their Customer Service yesterday but they couldn't tell me anything, couldn't even say if they had it in stock. I've now had an email saying that it's due to arrive 7th March. But wouldn't be surprised if it slips or they don't deliver at all.

I'm a bit concerned because it's been showing as unavailable on their website for ages now. I really hope they deliver as I got it for £32 using a voucher code. Everywhere else is £45+, and if I wait too long to order elsewhere it will be out of stock.

Got it for WiiU yesterday, 4 hours into it and I can unanimously and unequivocally say "YES! It is that good!"

What's more you don't even need to spend £/$100s on a Switch to play it. WiiU FTW!!! Plenty of life in the old girl yet.

@JaxonH

That's just you buying into the hype. No way you can make the statement that a game being reviewed as the best of all time is warranted without you playing it. I fully expect it to be great, but I also knew it was very likely to get perfect review scores across the board. The media buys into the hype train just like consumers. The last game that got near universal perfect scores GTA 5 didn't deserve it's perfect scores. It's just that once the first perfect came out everyone wanted to show their perfect show.

Again, not a criticism of BotW which I haven't played yet. It's just saying that perfect scores are warranted before playing isn't possible. I'm also curious, while it's Nintendo's first go at open world there are bunches of other open world games that are great. What did Nintendo do in the genre that's so revolutionary that it deserves a perfect score?

I can't comment, since I haven't picked up my copy yet. I should have it by noon, and I think my whole weekend will consist of nothing but Breath Of The Wild (my guitars are going to be jealous). However, from what I've seen, it looks like the best Zelda game of all time (and may end up knocking Twilight Princess from my personal favorite Zelda game).

@-Green-
Yep, from folks like ih8nintend0 (seriously) and from a guy who's played it for 15 hours and gotten bored – even though the game hasn't even been out for 15 hours.

Here's a good selection of the 0's and 1's.
http://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/user-reviews?dist=negative

@Musashiden Actually many GTA fans now will agree that GTA4 was more innovative and has a better story than GTA5.

After playing it for roughly 2 hours, i still don't quite see where these scores come from.
Since im generally not the biggest open world fan, much less sandbox games, the last 2 hours where basically filled with the exact kind of gameplay i don't really like.
Its "Ok", but my personal first impression of it certainly is nothing to write home about.
Again, im not the biggest fan of the genre. People who actually like running around in an open field, looking for stuff to do might have a field day with it.

@ClockworkMario Many are just trolls. It's why I find several so amusing to read.

Very excited!! My switch and BoTW will be arriving in the mail tonight!

@-Green- trollers got to troll 0 is a perfect score for a completely unplayable game.

Anyone can see this is something else.

@-Green- And you know one of the biggest reasons is people who've never played it going out to trash it because they think it's being given a pass.

@Einherjar The opening section of the game is a bit open and empty-- it picks up after that.

@cleveland124
No, it's me buying into believing what I see with my own eyes after countless hours of gameplay, and trusting that mediocre games don't top Metacritic, games don't break records for no reason, and also trusting that I've played Zelda games before and many open world games and can form a pretty solid opinion when I combine all of those together

And then, here it is, I'll be able to confirm those beliefs soon enough is what I said. So that is what I believe based on everything I've seen and experienced and I will be able to confirm that in a few hours.

You're not wrong about me buying into the hype because I absolutely am, but that doesn't mean my judgment is skewed here. Reason I'm buying into the hype is because I like what I see. If the game didn't look good I wouldn't buy into the hype. I wasn't even really excited for this game (no more than any other big game) until I started seeing the first videos of gameplay go live. But once I saw it for myself that's when I realized this is no ordinary game

@CrazedCavalier Im far from done with it The overall premise is intriguing enough to keep me hooked for a little longer.
But the way the game tries to show you the ropes is a bit...yeah, "meh" overall.

@cleveland124
And to add to that, there is no rule that says a game has to do something revolutionary to score 10. So that logic is flawed right out the gate.

That said I think reviewer's all across-the-board have made it abundantly clear that it's not so much a revolution as it is finally nailing the formula that other developers have been dancing around for the better part of 10 years. Iteration after iteration of open world game and here comes Nintendo in their very first try does what others couldn't.

@Einherjar So you're playing a game genre you do not like, and you are surprised you don't like the game? What were you expecting haha.

Tony Hawks 2 at number 2? Are you kidding me!? I mean it's a good game but not THAT good!

Also think GTA 5 deserves 4's spot but I suppose these were reviews from a long time ago.

Well done to BoTW though can't wait to play it!

Imagine if they released Super Mario Odeysey at the same time and it had the same reviews as the SMGs.... The trailer has tens of millions of views... Mario and Zelda can produce unique special results that really no company can imitate with this success. I imagine it can be very frustrating for Nintendo's competitors trying to figure out the "secret" formulae for decades.

I picked up my switch and zelda before work. Now it's just sitting in my bag teasing me. Should have called in sick.

@Nintendoforlife I was expecting nothing really. A little more "Zelda" maybe. What i got was a little "Dawn of Mana" with even less structure.
Not the worst game by far, but perfect scores almost across the board ? Im not convinced quite yet.

To make things clear: remember my "Xbox-loving doppleganger", my friend I always told you about? He's genuinely interested in a Zelda game.

I can already see a clickbait, troll review coming (either from Ben Croshaw or Jim Sterling; @ThomasBW84, @Damo, @ThanosReXXX, @rjejr, you heard it here first!) but other than that it's really refreshing to see the likes of IGN, Destructoid and Gamespot pulling a 180° from their usual habits for a change.

From what ive seen and played its meh. Different from other zelda's more of a cheep skyrim clone and to be honest a very half arsed for zelda game.

its not Majora's Mask or ocarina of time and dosen't pretend to be Its easily forgettable good story a nice try but not the zelda we deserve.

Then there's the issues of reviews:
Nintendo is paying youtubers and/or reviewers to give good reviews. Like, has anyone counted all the youtubers and reviewers who got switch and botw for free? after-all you don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Graphics look weak. Not that interested. How about some shading and detail Nintendo.

@GravyThief
Hahahaha....
Me too. I will buy Switch games first while waiting for best color variation, price drops and more games to buy. I'm patience enough not to play Switch games until I buy Nintendo Switch with heart desired color bundle (I want White or Blue color).

@-Green- Metacritic is notorious for users being trolls and purposely giving out low scores (like a 0 ),despite never touching the game.

@Sionyn Would you not have to first prove that they were lying about their review? It could be possible that they got free stuff and the free stuff was something they liked, right?

@Switch81tch How do you know Nintendo did not put any effort into those games?

@-Green- Likely Xbox and PS fanboys being bitter as it isn't on their console.

@Switch81tch It sounds like you're saying "If a bunch of people agree, must be true".

Not saying you're wrong but unless you were there as the games were being worked on, wouldn''t it be hard to say that developers were lazy? It could be possible to work really hard at something that fails, right?

@-Green-

Metacritic user scores are useless because it has absolutely no standards for you to post. You can type one sentence and give a game a zero and get posted almost instantly.

There are literally reviews that reads as follow

"Like the other people giving this game low ratings, I have not played it, nor will I ever. However, I do not like Nintendo so I am giving this a zero. Haha"

"I'm from a Sony fanboy site named a9vg, they say this game is trash, so I give it a 0, since I can't give minus score.
There are so many gamers in a9 has no consoles but still see themselves as Sony fanboy and keep saying that Nintendo is trash."

"Of course it's not a bad game, but all the 10/10 reviews are totally overrated. The game becomes rather repetive after a couple of hours, the console made for this game can't even provide 30fps in the age of 60fps. The graphics look like it's a 2008 game at best, so how the hell can this be 10/10? Especially since we know games like Fallout 3, Mass Effect 2, The Witcher 3, etc. The usual nintendo hype train arrived and probably paid most of the magazine... "

"Horrible game!

Soundtrack: boring ambience and weird classic music, very annoying to listen to and hurts your ears! 0/10
Gameplay: Boring! There are old Atari games more fun than this garbage, absolutely no innovation! 0/10
Graphics/artstyle: This game is so ugly! Looks like a Nintendo 64 game! Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Madden look so much better! 0/10
Story: Link is a boring bland character, and one of the worst characters in video game history. The story is boring and not at all cinematic, unlike Call of Duty and Halo. I fell asleep watching the cutscenes! 0/10
Optimization: Horrible. The game came on this weird card thing instead of a disk which wouldn't work on my Xbox One S or PS4 Pro, so I was forced to play it on this weird thing called the Nintendo Switch. The Switch is an awful children's console that's all clunky and weird, not recommended! The graphics are already terrible, and it has a bad framerate! 0/10 Horrible game!"

Overall score: 0/10! I couldn't recommend this game to anybody! Do yourself a favor and skip this game at all costs! It wouldn't even be worth it if it was free. If you want a fun and better cinematic experience I recommend Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare or Madden NFL 17 for the Xbox One."

Basically there are a ton of troll reviews and people deliberately lowering the score. Look for user reviews in a place with some basic submission standards like gamefaqs.

You don't have the agree that it's the best game ever but giving a game a zero almost always means your opinion is not worth listening to. A game needs to be fundamentally broken and unenjoyable on every level to to garner such a score and being notable below the the general consensus you really need to give a good detailed explanation as to why if you want to be taken seriously instead of going "5/10 it sucks cuz it's overrated"

@Kalmaro @Switch81tch Star Fox was the only title that seemed like they put any thought into it, and there is no denying that.

AC was a flat out Mario Party clone, Mario Tennis was as barebones as it gets and Color Splash was based on the least liked entry in the franchise probably because the groundwork for it was already done.
A good Paper Mario is a money printer and would have been an excellent swan song.

None of these games even remotely left any comfort zones.
Switch's comparison is pretty on point. BotW completely ditched series conventions and reinvented itself. Something that doesn't happen by accident. Compare that to the mentioned titles, which were all based on existing games / formulas.

@Sionyn
"Not the Zelda we deserve"

And what, pray tell, would be the Zelda we "deserve"? I think the series producer has a far better idea of that. It was pretty well know this wasn't going to be a second Ocarina of Time - they said everywhere they were breaking almost all conventions.

Plus, if we want to play Ocarina of Time.... We have OoT 3D instead of needing a new game with the same formula, don't you agree?

@-Green- Obviously I've only played the game for about 3 hours so far, but I have to say, I'm impressed. My guess is some of the low user scores just come from the people that think it's cool to hate Nintendo now days... to be fair, Nintendo does make it easy to hate them at times. So far, I'm loving my purchase though and can't wait to play more.

I was going to say what an achievement until I saw a couple of the other games on that list. However everyone seems to think it's great, I've only played a few minutes so far so I don't have anything meaningful to add other than I will be playing this as a handheld. I had a quick go on my 4K TV and it looked dreadful, though this my have had something to do with me playing Horizon on my Pro a few minutes earlier, I will say it looks gorgeous on its own screen though

If Nintendo Power was here, it'll be an instant 10/10.

I think it's worth noting Nintendolife, this game is currently the #1 game of all time on gamerankings.com.

Excellent! I'll get it someday. I can't be bothered to dust off my Wii U yet, so the game will have to wait.

I love metacritic

@Sionyn Youtuber Projared said to Reggie's face that he did not enjoy Phantom Hourglass and said Other M was a bad game. Still got a Switch and the game afer that. lol.

Ocarina of Time, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, and Soul Calibur 1 were all revelations and trend setters among a sea of new and exciting things that the late 90s brought to the world. Arguably, that veil of... legend, so to speak, has not been cracked since then. (GTA4 is overrated.)

Hopefully, with titles like Breath of the Wild and (eventually) Star Citizen reshaping expectations of open world games, we will see another renaissance in the gaming industry as a whole. It could sure use a shot of the inspiration that was so common 12-20 years ago...

@BinaryFragger Yeah, it's funny or actually even sad to see that executives of the three companies are treating each other better than a lot of the so-called "fans" of their systems.

Although Sony do stay a bit cheeky at times, such as in your example: they do congratulate Nintendo, but sneak in a picture of Horizon Zero Dawn to partially turn the congratulation into a commercial for their own goods at the same time...

Oh, well. Always better than the idiots that are giving zero scores on MetaCritic...

@-Green- User review aggregates on Metacritic are possibly the worst scoring metric one can possibly use, due to the nature of the site. Sometimes, the content of certain posts is worth considering, but most people don't know how to score products properly.

User reviews especially are always untrustworthy. People just throw scores out there willy-nilly.

@retro_player_22 Nah... 9.8 or 9.9/10 at best, classic Nintendo Power never even once gave an aggregate 10/10. They used a consensus rating system based on several metrics, rather than using only a single reviewer for each game with an isolated "overall score."

@JaxonH

Watching video is not the same as playing orherwise there is no reason to ever buy a game just watch youtube.

I mean I disagree on the concept of a perfect game. I think a perfect game does need to be revolutuonary to an extent. But the question still stands on your definition. What does BotW do better than every other open world game out there and what does it do worse? And at the end of the day is that enough to rate the game as perfect.

I tend to be against review scores in general. First open world Zelda, new hybrid system, the hype is immense. But after the hype dies down how likely are you to revisit the game? Different people have different favorite Zelda's whether it's Ocarina, Windwaker, LttP or whatever. My guess is for many Zelda fans this will not be their favorite Zelda 5 years from now. That's not to say it won't be a great game and a need to play. It's just the "best game ever" is overblown hype.

@Musashiden Yep, GTA4 got paid high scores, it wasn't even as good as GTA3/Vice City were for their time.

@Switch81tch Well I do agree with you for the most part. I think the actual people working on the titles put a lot of effort into what they did. Nintendo as a whole... I don't feel as confident claiming the same.

I really want another Thousand Year Door

@PlywoodStick I agree. I just love how purposely ridiculous people are being this case especially. It's the most obvious trolling I've seen in a while on Metacritic.

@Einherjar Well I think they actually did try with colors plush, just that at some point after TTYD they seemed to think that we don't want Paper Mario games with stories and would rather like bite sized paper Mario games. I think the writing on the wall for that series was Super Paper Mario for the Wii.

I'll get it used on the Wii U
In no rush to play it. I'm so over Eiji Aonuma's Zelda games.

@cleveland124
No, it's not, which is why I said I will have the opportunity to confirm my beliefs shortly, when I play it. But until I do confirm them, that doesn't mean I can't hold a certain belief or view or opinion. It just means I form an opinion now based on what I see and observe and know from past experiences, and then when I play it it will confirm or deny.

When ocarina released it did absolutely nothing revolutionary. It wasn't the first 3-D game ever invented. It was just the first 3-D Zelda game, and likewise here this is not the first open world game, but it is the first open world Zelda game.

I also think if there were ever a Zelda game that would have replayability, this would be it in spades. In fact I would almost say if there were any game period that had replayability, this would be in that camp. And all too often, when reviews aren't as good as people hoped, they say "oh well reviewers just don't like Nintendo" then when reviews are excellent it becomes "oh they're just all giving Zelda a pass". Maybe reviewers just call it how they see it, and what they see here across the board unanimously... is a masterpiece, in the truest sense of the word.

edit
And if you want to know why it's so highly favored, just read some of the reviews. They explain in great detail exactly why they give this game such a high score. I didn't need to read a review to tell me that though. I know it's a masterpiece just by watching it. I fell in love with Metroid Prime by watching my brother play- by the time I actually bought the game I already knew it was one of the best video games I've ever seen. If you watch enough gameplay of Zelda- beyond the Great Plateau, you start realizing just how incredible this game is and just how different the formula is from other open world games. I've played more open world games than I care to count- Dragon Age, Far Cry, Horizon, GTAV, Skyrim, Fallout... all the major players. And not a single one of them were half as awesome as Zelda. And I don't need to play Zelda to say that.

Seeing with my own eyes what you can do- twirling pitchforks on horseback with enemies chasing you then getting struck by lightning and rolling down a cliff, enemies knocking trees over then picking them up and using as a blunt weapon, coaxing a Guardian into hitting another enemy, starting a forest fire then using the rising heat to wind sail 100ft in the air and glide to safety... the physics of the game is astounding. The fun you can have just messing with the physics could reach into hundreds of hours. And the AI is smart- really smart. Flanking you while you're distracted, throwing rocks when you're out of range of their weapon, attacking in packs... Also added a hunting/gathering/crafting system like in Monster Hunter (one of my favorite games of all time), getting certain buffs to withstand the cold or the heat... The complexities and details of this game is just nuts. You can strafe... with your horse... for goodness sake. What other game let's you do that sort of thing??? The list of awesome details just goes on and on and on and on

My Wii U preorder from Amazon won't get here till next Wednesday , suffice to say I am not impressed, and not sure I'll preorder games from Amazon again...

@AlexSora89 I still can't believe IGN gave it a 10. I really can't. No matter how good it is I can't believe they didn't give it a 9 for some reason. It's almost enough to make me go out and get it.

haha went to the user reviews and someone posted this:
"I'm a Sony fanboy. Last night I couldn't sleep. I'm still bitter that a game much better than everything I own on my ps4 exists. I can't get over it, it hurts so much. **** you Nintendo for being the best."

Another user also said:
"I want this game to fail
Because I want Nintendo to fail,

and I can rate it Zero,
without even playing it,
and get away with it.

So here I am, doing my part, giving my zero.

Hey at least I'm honest about it ;^)"

Well my UK Amazon preorder won't reach me till mid March because I'm in Greece

@KappaBeta didn't public have the switch in Greece?

@cleveland124 There's no such thing as a perfect game, only games that change how we think about the current landscape, and how to move forward from there.

That said, I think the gaming focused sites' critical reviews have been extremely forgiving of BotW's technical flaws. The Wii U version required render filtering tricks that reduce load on the anemic Wii U, but decrease the awe of the settings; while the NS version has been noted to somewhat frequently encounter very noticeable frame drops below 30 FPS while docked even at only 900p, which is ironically solved by taking the NS out of the dock and playing at 720p. Tech-focused sites reviewing BotW are honing in on this point, and giving BotW scores closer to 9/10 than 10/10. So I do think the aggregated score is being inflated due to the lower standards that gaming focused publications adhere to now compared to the past.

Not surprised at all. Nintendo's unspoken motto is "Quality over Quantity" since the SNES days. IIRC the last game to receive such praise on a Nintendo system was Bayonetta 2.

@ScorpionMG Of course you can find everything in Greece (I guess every major retailer has it), but I'd found BotW for 40 £ on Amazon, so preordered it to save some €.

@rjejr

They gave the Wii U Windwaker a 9.8.

@KappaBeta ah well you are right, over here in Cyprus it's a bit expensive at 350 euros, I'll probably wait until more games come out before getting the switch, might even have a bundle until then

@PlywoodStick
If you remember when GTAIV released, it was actually bricking some consoles, and yet still rated as one of the best games of all time. In fact I think every game on that list had worst performance issues than this game.

Makes a few frame drops in the Switch version seem negligible. I am a firm believer that unless the performance is so dire that it actually impedes your ability to enjoy the game... it should not be counted against it in the score. It should be noted separately. So that people see how good the game is but then they also see in a separate analysis how well it runs and can make an informed decision with both in mind.

@JaxonH

I just think it's odd that you are arguing so strongly that in your opinion it's the best game ever before even playing it. And I've never seen a mainline Mario, Zelda, or Metroid ever reviewed poirly by mainstream press. If anything those games benefit from a Nintendo bias bump. I mean Windwaker (a great game) was a 9.6 on IGN 15 years ago. Almost a direct port in HD is a 9.8 now?

@OneBagTravel I'm waiting for Cemu support, myself...

@Kalmaro Then again, you already had Sticker Star, which sold like hot buns because it was called "Paper Mario" and many people consider it to be the most boring game they played.
Even Color Splash, while upping the game on the level design front, still offers next to no actual gameplay.

That was, at least for me, a clear indicator that Color Splash was a last ditch effort to get some assets out there, but that they didn't care enough to make a proper game out of it.

And honestly, how could you blame 'em ? The WiiU was pretty much dead in the water, the Switch was finally announced. Who would put much effort into this title if they could make a quick copycat job and start production on Switch related software ASAP ?

Everyone is entitled to their own tastes. No one is blaming anyone for liking or disliking a certain game. But in all honestly, i find it more than obvious that the last few 1st party titles on the WiiU screamed desperation and discontent on the devs side.
I mean, lets be perfectly honest, the Animal Crossing Mario Party was a cry for help.
Animal Crossing itself isn't an overly complex game. Heck, they could have gotten away with releasing only one season of content, buying themselves some time to finish the rest and no one would have noticed.
Making it a Mario Party...calling it wasted potential would be one of the biggest understatements.

I, too, think it was more than obvious that they simply didn't care anymore. That they lost hope and interest in doing major projects for a system that simply couldn't be saved anymore, so why bother ?

BotW and its delay to get it also onto the switch payed off big time if you look at the scores. That's a project they put thought and effort into. They could very well have made another Skyward Sword. Few assets, tiny world, selling point based on gimmicks and called it a day.

Lets hope that after the wave of ports like Mario Kart and Co. we will see some Nintendo creativity again.
The official death of the WiiU lifted a LOT of pressure from them, both financially and creatively. Maybe now we'll see more fleshed out Mario Sports RPG's, Mario&Luigi with more gameplay and less tutorials etc.
Just a return to form overall. Fingers crossed

Wow...that's impressive. A perfect score on a Nintendo game from IGN, VG24/7 and flipping POLYGON?!

Hold on, I have to swat at some of these darned pigs that keep buzzing by my....

I think we need to add an extra point to the score tally for the "neither Polygon nor IGN managed to find something to gripe about Nintendo at all" bonus round, yielding a tie with Ocarina

It's hard comparing "all time scores" though, in that a game that's objectively better today can never live up to the nostalgia of a game changing game in its own time, even if it has obvious flaws today.

Mine's still riding around waiting for delivery....can't wait....it's like being 6 and waiting for Santa.

Regardless, Merry Switchmas, one and all!

@PlywoodStick @JaxonH

I know there is no such thing as a perfect game and I struggle with a 10 rating on any game. If the game is revolutionary enough I can understand overlooking a few problems and calling it a 10. I would say the problems with GTA just show that game was undeserving a 10, not that technical issues should be overlooked when rating a game.

Its basically joint first on metacritic, look at how many reviews occarina and Tony Hawks actually have, I dont thunk metacritic even existed back then

@cleveland124
I shouldn't harve to argue my opinion. It's my opinion and it's what I believe. Seems to be you that are taking issue with me having an opinion, simply because you don't agree with it. No disrespect intended but yeah, I'm not arguing anything, I'm just voicing how I feel. I am very well-informed on this game- and in my informed opinion I have no doubt and no question it's one of the best, maybe the best game ever made. And yet again, I will confirm that shortly in about two hours when I'm playing it for myself.

And you're right, a mainline Zelda and Mario have never reviewed badly... because mainline Zelda and Mario games are always excellent games. That's why they have such a sterling reputation. Precisely because every single release is golden.

@shaneoh I have heard that other characters are voiced much better later in the game.

Chuck Norris made this game.

@Einherjar Going to disagree on Color Splash. I managed to not finish out the last level because it got too frustrating, even though I really wanted to. But I don't think it was a quick dump of assets, it's clear they took tons of time on that game and creatively made the game they really wanted to make. I think they're just fixated on a battle system they're very proud of and really want to work, and are shutting out any contrary opinions that say it's fundamentally flawed. It's clear the game was lovingly crafted and was really what they believed was good. I just don't know why Intelligent Systems is so bent on that battle system and I hope they snap out of it without a touch screen. They're great at Fire Emblem, but I think they get out of their element when told not to make an RPG. They try to RPG-ify it in a way that isn't an RPG system and you end up with the boring battle system with giant holes in it. But that's a failing of the design team. Honestly if they kept the battles simple it would still be fine. But they try these ever increasingly complex battles like an RPG with ever stronger/more numerous enemies, and since you never get more powerful, it becomes a drag. If they like their battle system they should keep the enemies easy from beginning to end and make it just a flourish on what is otherwise "stomping on Goombas" up to 8-8.

Sticker Star, though, yeah, boring game, start to end, but with a handful of memorable bright spots in Wiggler's forest, and the ghost house.

@ScorpionMG Yeah Switch is a bit pricey (340 € over here), so I haven't bought it either. I was talkning about the Wii U version of BotW. I'll wait until more games come out and the price drops before I pick it up.

@JaxonH Nope, I played them all at release. Ocarina of Time very rarely experienced frame drops below 30 FPS, and only when lots of particle effects went off after hitting something in a certain way, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 had virtually no frame drops at all, and Soul Calibur had some crazy technical wizardry going on that kept the frame rates hovering around 60 FPS no matter what.

Whereas the NS version of BotW has easily replicated instances of frame dropping below 30 FPS when docked at 900p, that are not encountered when undocked at 720p. So basically, the supposedly technically inferior Wii U version is ironically smoother to play on a TV under the same conditions, render filtering techniques notwithstanding.

@-Green- A lot of the negative reviews are mostly poopposts or from Sony trolls based on what I have seen

Hey, everyone, there was another huge big budget AAA open world game launched this week called Horizon.....anybody remember that? Anyone?

Poor Guerilla, they picked the 4th worst possible launch date in the history of gaming to launch a game that even has a similar vibe to the one every critic is raving about.....

@PlywoodStick
Actually no, Wii U version drops into the teens, where Switch version only drops 5 frames or so, and even less often post-patch.

That's.... not a big deal unless you're really trying to make it one.

You say Ocarina rarely drops below 30, but even reviews here say the switch version of breath of the wild rarely drops- usually only when you're in tall grass at certain spots, and even then only when docked.

Nobody saying it's perfect. Just saying it's no different than 99% of the other games out there and all of a sudden it's only a big deal for this game? People are looking for a reason to find fault. At least on the Wii U version I can understand with the drops to the teens, even if they are seldom, but the Switch version?

@NEStalgia Horizon what now? Oh, an Event Horizon? Is that how far away that game is from BotW?

@JaxonH

You don't have to argue your opinion, I never said you did. So you can stop arguing with your text walls anytime you want.

@cleveland124
My "text walls" are no longer than a paragraph or two and are well thought out explanations in response to your own replies. I see you're going out of your way to be rude now, so maybe just don't respond to me and then you won't have to deal with my "text walls"

@rjejr
I know, right? Those sites usually deny Nintendo games perfect scores almost out of spite (because anything less than a ten out of ten for, say, A Link Between Worlds is otherwise unexplainable), so such a score from them is shocking.

But, as said: I'm totally expecting some wise guy to give the game a negative review for those good clicks.

@AlexSora89
Even troll reviewers can't knock this game.

Even they're like, "nope, can't do it, it's just too good" lol

@JaxonH

I'm not going out of my way to be rude. 98% of the discussions on here are on people supporting their opinions and the differences in opinions. If you don't feel the need to support your opinion then don't. But don't act like I'm a terrible person for questioning how you could develop an opinion on something ypu haven't experienced.

I don't actually have an opinion on BotW yet because I haven't played it yet. I don't believe you are well informed if you haven't played the game yet. I would never trust a review that said haven't played the game, but best game ever.

The world has truly gone mad for Breath of the Wild! The wait has been well worth it.

@Einherjar We can only hope. I loved my WiiU but I'm ready for the next thing. Nintendo moving on is a good thing in my book, no need to be held back.

@JaxonH It's not a big deal, BotW still seems to be one of the best games of all time, regardless. It's just that when deciding on a perfect 10/10 or a nearly perfect 9.0-9.9/10, the sea of good points often cover for any tiny bad points. So a laser focus has to be applied to find and identify any. Not something most people would do, but still traditionally an important consideration for the critical review when it comes to admitting an entry into the pantheon of classics, which BotW seems destined for.

I didn't know about the heavier frame drop potential in the Wii U version, thank you for informing me! It seems they're just related to the physics engine, though- in other words, during certain heavy combat sequences where a lot is going on at once. Otherwise, it runs fine. So there should be ways around that, by learning how to utilize the physics to your advantage. I'll be getting the Wii U version, so that helps me prepare for it.

It's also worth noting that the NS version's 1.1 patch reportedly resolves the frame drop issues in the NS version, and I suspect more updates will be coming to further smooth out any issues from 1.0. So Nintendo thankfully seems to be learning how to resolve such things very quickly for NS.

@JaxonH
Never underestimate Ben Croshaw. His Zero Punctuation review will most likely tear into the game's flaws, which won't exceed how much he can count on his fingers.

Just got my stuff this morning...dang, it really does live up to the hype. Cheers to all, and I pray that this starts a new chapter that lifts Nintendo to new heights!

@PlywoodStick
For sure, and I know everyone has different standards and criteria. Idk about you but I'm ready to play. Backing out of driveway as I type this. Gotta go, it's Switch time!

@cleveland124
Ok, I don't think you're a terrible person. But the whole text wall comment was rude. I'm trying to have a civil discussion and that makes me feel insulted, as if what I have to say is an annoyance to you.

You are free to wait and form an opinion upon playing it. I'm not telling you to do othetwise. I know I'll definitely be forming a solid opinion when I play. Until then, my opinion is based on what I have seen, observed and experienced.

But enough of this. Stores are open, let's go enjoy this game finally.

@JaxonH

Sorry to be fair my phone is small so it did seem like alot of text but the comment was unnecassary. I guess my point is it's out now. Stop what you are doing, go play the game and tell me how awesome it is from your experience so you can build my hype. My copy from amazon should be waiting when I get home.

Edit: My package has been delivered. I think I'm staring to feel sick. Nothing a little R&R won't cure.

@JaxonH Have a good one, let us know your experience when you get it! And don't forget to DL the 1.1 patch on BotW.

@AlexSora89 After the 1.1 patch, an enigmatic gravitational force will possibly hold down any fingers he raises. Does half finger raising count?

@PlywoodStick "Horizon: It's almost like Zelda if you're too Hipster to buy a Nintendo". What's H:IAlZiytHtbN's metacritic rating again? 88? Oh, that's nice....

I think they considered "Horizon: We Even Used the Same Color Palette!" but that didn't test well in western focus groups. IGN: 8/10, not enough blades of grass.

I kid, it actually looks like a pretty good game (I have my sealed copy which will remain sealed for the next 100+ hours of gaming time minimum...) but how dismal is it to have a samey game with a similar color palate, and similar core gameplay concept a similar looking world launch the very same week as the one years in the making that was E3 GOTY, and launches as "one of the best games of all time." That's the last 4 years of your work tossed away in a flash. Second party or not they should sue Sony for putting them through this humiliation Their big exclusive launch graph will look like Aliens: Colonial Marines but with higher figures due to exclusivity.

Maybe Horizon 2 will be cell shaded?

Wait, GameSpot actually gave a Nintendo game a 10?

@NEStalgia Woah, what was that acronym? Horizon:ItsaPHHHHBBHGGHHthing.

Sony should have known better. Those devs are probably banging their heads against a wall, wondering just how deep their promised luxury yacht just sank into the ocean. Choice is nice for the customer, but simultaneous genre releases can be a killer.

@N-Gage Wait... What? I'm so confused...

@tamantayoshi meta critic itself doesn't do reviews they collect multiple reviews from multiple trusted reviewers

@-Green- Yeah but most of them are 260 emotional teenagers or the kind, that gave 0's actually. Some of them are giving without reasoning, others for the sakes of being hipsters, and others simly because. There is almost none mediocre rating. That means it brings down the big number of praise ratings. read into them.

@chiefeagle02

@-Green- NEVER trust the metascore of users on high profile Nintendo games. Just check out the bad reviews, all zeroes that blatantly state never having played the game, that copy-paste other negative reviews, and that even more childishly just say they hate Nintendo and want them to fail. This is the internet at its lowest.

@NEStalgia My copy of horizon is still sealed. It will be my "hey there are no new games out!" lull game. While I work on Zelda and my obnoxious WiiU backlog.

@NEStalgia "They try to RPG-ify it in a way that isn't an RPG system and you end up with the boring battle system with giant holes in it. But that's a failing of the design team. Honestly if they kept the battles simple it would still be fine. But they try these ever increasingly complex battles like an RPG with ever stronger/more numerous enemies, and since you never get more powerful, it becomes a drag. If they like their battle system they should keep the enemies easy from beginning to end and make it just a flourish on what is otherwise "stomping on Goombas" up to 8-8."

You see, and exactly that is the issue here.
"Gameplay" in the broadest sense of the term is an incentive to do something to achieve a goal.
And both, Sticker Star and Color Splash lack exactly that in their core elements: The battle system.
The battle system and Item collecting is entirely superficial. There is no reward from battles. You use up attacks to get coins to buy attacks.
The core gameplay of these games pretty much nullifies itself.

It would have been a different story if it was meant to be a simple "Point and Click"-esque adventure game.
But then the lack of a proper story and character would come into play.

Both games are a prime example of a thorough design flaw.
Again, no one says you can't enjoy that, but in no way are they well designed and thought out games.

Either do a fleshed out adventure game or an RPG, don't half a*s both. Putting effort into a sequel does not mean repeating its core issue again. Level design, atmosphere etc were never Sticker Stars problems, it was the non existing core gameplay and the lack of incentive in engaging in what was there.
And they repeated that, they didn't improve it at all. It's nice to hear they enhanced the rest of the game, sure, but if the core mechanic is busted, it can't be called a "good game" in my opinion, but rather a nice demonstration of the art department.

Super Paper Mario was proof that the RPG mechanics of Paper Mario work even in a purely platformer setting. There is just no reason it wouldn't have worked in Sticker Star as well.

Just a few bonuses from battles, heck, even cosmetic stickers to patch onto Mario would have elevated the core gameplay by miles, because you had a reason to engage in combat.

But enough of that, i think this topic has been discussed to death on here
Consensus: You either love it or you hate it. The middle ground is the obvious minority here. And that twice in a row doesn't really scream "thought process" to me...

@apoqalypse I know. I just thought it was funny how crazy it was.

Finally, I'm getting deep into Zelda(don't get it wrong). This is fascinating.

No idea how GTA IV is rated that high. My least favorite of all GTAs I've played

@N-Gage "Finally, I'm getting deep into Zelda."

@PlywoodStick Yeah. Seriously, depending on the terms of their contract (and it's Sony so we know it's about as jagged a blade as we could imagine and then some. It's a law firm that also makes electronics and bad movies), it might be a law suit in the happening.

If I were to guess, Guerilla did not schedule the launch date to coincide with Zelda. I knew that was going to be a disaster in June when they announced the March launch date at E3, and I thought "uhm, right when Switch and Zelda are (likely) releasing?"

I'm guessing Sony scheduled it then to attract attention and with a similar game steer some Switch eyeballs over to Playstation. They used Guerilla as a buffer for the Playstation brand against Nintendo's launch, because that was the best buffering option they had available. It was a dismal idea at the start, and shorted Guerilla on their numbers, but it wouldn't' have been as dismal if Zelda hadn't seriously delivered the goods. Since it did, they sent one of their platforms top exclusives out to die, and the 2nd party with it. If I were Sony, I'd offer a very fat production bonus tell everyone at Guerilla they did a great job, and the game's a success in their eyes, and keep my mouth shut after that.

But for Guerilla this is a pattern. Sony shorted them with KZ4 at PS4 launch. Shorted them with KZ on Vita. They're the beating post Sony has been using to close their market holes, at the expense of the studio. You might find Guerilla looking to part ways.

Looks like a cool game on its own...I did my part and supported it (one of the few PS4 games that's been enticing so far)...might not play it for ages...but it'll help with the BotW completion depression

I've played it on the Switch almost the whole day, and I can confirm that the reviewers are right.

@Ryu_Niiyama Haha ditto almost verbatim. I just wonder if the "there are no games out" backlog will happen. I have this fear that Horizon, like XBCX will be that wrapped game left behind after the console is done. (Finally DID open XBCX but didn't delve too far.) I mean Zelda will take me a good long while. P5 will be out on PS4 by then and that takes major priority over Horizon. And by the time that's wrapped up the flood of Switch games will begin. And I'm pretty sure I'd rather play Switch than PS4 most of the time due to the hybridization.

And that doesn't even account for my obscene 3DS backlog. DQ7 is still shrinkwrapped. How depressing is that?

@NEStalgia I still have The Last Story Special Edition and Ys Seven Premium Edition shrink wrapped. The backlog is real.

@Einherjar Well you're judging on Sticker Star which is a special sort of fail You have to judge Color Splash on its own without making it out to be part of the "Sticker Star Universe" despite similarities in the battle system. It's really not the same game at all.

I think my second time around I started to "get" it more. Part of the problem is me. I approached the game like an RPG, trying to battle all the monsters. I think the game is intended more as a 3D platform adventure and you're supposed to AVOID the battles. I started noticing the movements are timing based and realized the point was to avoid the obstacles as though they're thwomps and chomp chains. Until the last 2 levels, the game plays a whole lot smoother like a more proper adventure that way.

But I won't disagree that IS is stuck so heavily on RPG mentality that when they say they set out to make it an adventure instead of RPG you can tell their mindset is still that of an RPG designer and that hurts the game. Personally I think IS is the wrong studio for Paper Mario if Paper Mario is not to be an RPG. Who gives an adventure game to a studio lauded for 30 years of RPGs?

Very nice that it scores that high! Hopefully I'll like it as much to (so far I am pretty happy with the game)!

I usually don't give a darn about metascores, but it's pleasing to see that it's so high on the list. Definitely an outstanding game!

@Grez Well that's where people's tastes are different, GTA IV is my second favourite GTA of all time (right after GTA V). It had even better story-DLCs than its successor (which had none).

@PlywoodStick
It depends. I can think of exactly one finger that Yahtzee is quick to half-raise when it comes to Nintendo in general.

And my order is delayed 😭 Stupid Amazon

@PlywoodStick LOL, my backlog is ugly. XBCX which I popped open a few days ago just to see the beginning before I unplug the WiiU (can decide if I buy a rerelease on switch if they do it), rayman (will rebuy on switch, sell the WiiU one maybe...still wrapped.) PS4...W_D2...still have Dragon Age....probably never will get to it. Some other random 3rd party games I shockingly no longer care about. Horizon, and P5 will definitely go on that list and then I probably will hold off on PS4 purchases if Switch stays interesting.

But my 3DS backlog...oh dear. Still have Sun&Moon! DQ7, DQ8 (how DARE they release both within 6 months?!) , Barely touched SMTIV:A (wont' get to it before SMT5 I bet!) Robobot...been saving it for early summer... Stella Glow! sigh I think I'm forgetting something....

I am really happy it turned out to be great. I can't wait to play it on my wiiU (what a great swan song) once I'll finish Horizon.

And with long waited Mass Effect it will be one of the greatest triptic ever!

Is a trully great time to be a gamer!

@arnoldlayne83 Oh that's right...one more to add to my PS4 backlog, Mass Effect

I think I have to start putting my foot down and limiting buys to Switch, the backlog is getting too crazy. After P5. Must have P5.

@NEStalgia don t even start please. I am already going with horizon and Nioh together, hope to finish them in time for Zelda and Mass effect, skipping Nier and Toukiden 2 for now, while I am still trying to git gud in For Honor. And I have Metal gear V waiting for me to be finally started. A lot of this is PSN sales's fault. Damn, too much sales too often! How can we resist to all this? 🤣

@BiasedSonyFan

Well it is freezing here . I think one of the crazy things to me was either the GTA4 or 5 review. Gamespot ran a 9.5 then the perfect reviews started coming and they changed their score to a 10. I didn't see the point because 9.5 is still a great score. But for whatever reason they didn't want to be the only big site to not give it a 10.

@arnoldlayne83 Haha, I know. For me it's the Amazon Prime preorder bonus (all physical buyer myself). It's not really more expensive to buy it day 1 than buy it down the line unless a game bombs..... So I have this stack of wrapped games sitting there!

Only OCD gamers could turn a hobby into a project management effort....

@NEStalgia true, but now sony started with this gamebof the month thing.... This month is Tomb raider.... It looks good.... I am tempted... (takes out his wallet and picks his credit card)....

Come on, Amazon...ship my copy darn it.

@NEStalgia I am at the point that my backlog is so bad that I am buying games twice by accident. Did that for Ryu ga Gotoku 5, and both, BOTH of the Nobunaga's ambition games. To make matters worse I just moved, so 80 percent of my collection is in boxes, so I'm not buying anything other than a few new releases until I can take inventory. I refuse to buy any Japanese games that aren't on the Switch because I'm afraid I'll double buy and I can't return those easily. Most of those will sit in a box too just like horizon. I can't figure it out. Am I a gamer or just an impulsive buyer? Ugh I need a drink, anyone got a can of root beer?

Wow! it's a game that has so much depth and I haven't really started it yet properly, I kinda struggle with games like this but I bought a guide book and I might see if people posted walkthroughs on you-tube. I killed Link by jumping off a cliff, instant Game Over!

I'll return to this soon.

Guys,
Can I ask for some advice.
I am a bit of a novice when it comes to Zelda. When text appears on the screen it displays a down arrow, I press 'down' nothing happens. time to consult the G B.

@arnoldlayne83 The perk of physical is you don't get tempted by things such as that! The negative of physical is that you DO get tempted by the $80-100 versions with plushies and keychains and metal boxes...

Not to fuel the fire, but, is it Tomb Raider (the reboot) or Rise of the TR (the sequel of the reboot)? I haven't played the second (is that still XBO exclusive?), but I do have to say, the first was very good.....not saying you should spend the money.....heh...ehehe.....

@Ryu_Niiyama Haha, I haven't become so bad that I accidentally double buy (yet), but I'm bad enough that I intentionally double buy. Rayman legends. Still wrapped.....never got to it on WiiU and it's coming to Switch...so yeah...I'll double buy. I've done that a few other times too. Or the lost disc of doom forcing me to rebuy. It's in ONE of those cases somewhere....

Ouch, forgot about the move....even not moving I have half the stuff in boxes. Loaded my original WiiU box filled with the games I already beat. Cartons everywhere...what's in them? Nobody knows. But I'm betting it's whatever game I'm looking everywhere else for!

Gamer, impulsive buyer...OCD collector and hoarder. Is there a distinction? There's a reason they make most games about collecting as much as possible and managing the inventory after all The digital buyers don't have this problem....or so they think. Then they manage their hard drive space and shuffle files around like managing inventory in an Elder Scrolls game....

@Pj1 Haven't received my copy yet (it's on its way, I can make it...it'll be all right....I just need to hang on...deep breaths...) but I'm guessing that problem means "press A to scroll to the next text block"?

@Ryu_Niiyama Wow, Amazon didn't ship it yet? That was the special edition, right? Wonder if those were delayed at all in shipping. They shipped my regular edition yesterday, but maybe the special they didn't get in for shipping until release day? If so, they're known to ship things, especially games, as late as midnight EST...somehow they still get there on time.

@NEStalgia They have shipped day of before and I've still gotten my package on time. Plus, I am in driving distance from CA (where I think it will ship from) so I'm not too worried. I've only had an issue with one game shipment from them (the limited edition of zero time dilemma but that was due to the watch issue). However, Zelda is sacred to me...so I'm being uncharacteristically impatient. Worst case they will overnight it tomorrow I'm sure, but I'll be a bundle of nerves until then. Either way I'll have something to play tonight as Bomberman and the system shipped on time and are out for delivery. (Plus the backlog from heck) UGH is it 7 yet (two hour commute. don't ask.) ? At least I had enough sense not to take the day off. I'd be a wreck otherwise. At least I have to fake like I'm fine and actually do some work here.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE - Those trolls are the worst, aren't they? Hovering over a fan site and jamming F5 so they can be first to urinate in the punch bowl. Deep down, I actually feel sorry for them. They must be very miserable, lonely people.

@NIN10DOXD
I hope that's the case, but it still doesn't negate the poor VA so far. Hopefully the dialogue improves as well.

Amazing!

Absolutely amazing scores. This franchise continues to be legendary.

I guess this is the point where Switch marketing = Zelda marketing.
The advertising could literally write itself..."Buy a Switch to play one of the best rated games of all time..."

For me it's perfect and I'm loving it more than any game in quite some time.

Also I must praise GAME for sending all my items on time. They really pulled through~

BOTW is a masterpiece. One of Nintendo's finest games and their best since Super Mario Galaxy 2. A game worth buying a console for. Seriously.

What did it edge out

Let them get carried away it's good for us.

I agree with the critics. This game is amazing.

Breath of the Wild has spawned a ton of Nintendo haters. That's a good thing. It shows Nintendo is not being ignored. At least for now

Does this well and truly matter? I'm not arguing the game's quality, it's undeniably great, but so many games come out to absolute acclaim and hype, and then people start showing their REAL feelings about it six months later. There's too many examples to count, but a recent one is Fallout 4 - praised to high heaven at release, panned months later.

Let's see what people say six months down the line, shall we? And I won't even comment on the relevance of scumbags like metacritic.

amazon reception is very good — just remember to filter to see only verified purchases. also i wonder whether they will eventually release a game of the decade edition, or would that sound too arrogant?

Metacritic gave Cory in the House DS an 9.6. Are they REALLY that trustworthy?

Joking aside, I am beyond hyped for this game. I've been waiting for a new Zelda on a console since 2012. I will say, I have full confidence that this will not only live up to my expectations, but also top my Top Ten Games list. I can't wait to play this!!!!!

@JaxonH

I am just 3hrs in and amazed. I almost cried it is such a thing of beauty. Think about the leap this represent for N in game deisgn and scope. Now bring this same more modern approach to Metroid and I will die a happy man.

So far, and this is going to sound like a cliche, but I'm BLOWN AWAY by this game. Nintendo may not be able to top this for a few more decades. They delivered a map that is not only impossibly huge, like add up all the 3D Zeldas that came before it and it wouldn't come close, but there's a ton of stuff to do! I have to wonder how people could make such a detailed map and keep track of all the stuff they put in this game, was there any procedural generation used? It sure doesn't feel like it, as the map has a ton of personality behind it. I was worried I'd get bored with a huge map, but all of that fear was gone after about an hour or two of exploring.

Oh, and I'm playing this game blind, baby. No guide will spoil this masterpiece, let me tell you. I really recommend all adults not depend on a guide with this game, you'll be glad you didn't ruin the experience by looking up where to go and where certain weapons or equipment can be found early.

One day down, still not seeing it at all.
For me personally, its still a solid 7 or 8. The lack of a proper soundtrack and the heavy reliance on physics puzzles (although with a rather robust engine) are holding it back for me quite heavily.
On top of that, the weapon system is extremely irritating, since pretty much everything seems to be made of paper mache. So yeah, overall "Ok" but for me, FAR from a 10.

@dronesplitter Im pretty sure they used conventional map making tools while handcrafting landmarks by hand. The world certainly doesn't seem generated by chance.

@Einherjar
Yeah, like I said, I'd be surprised if it wasn't all handcrafted, but then I look at this game, then look over at Wind Waker, and I say to myself - Zelda is in far better hands with these younger devs who seem to have mastered the open world and all of the demands that go with it. I don't want to just keep praising this game so much until I have finished it completely, but it's hard to contain my initial reactions.

@dronesplitter Yeah, i have a slightly different opinion about it, but its "Level design" certainly is the least of its problems
It is by far one of the more interesting open world settings.

Take Skyrim for instance. While much stronger in terms of individual set pieces, those are strung together by vast amounts of emptiness. Or a better "in-series" comparison: Ocarina of Time.
One giant landfill of nothing connecting several smaller set pieces.

BotW manages to create a believable, logically interconnected world with enough variety to take in on long travels.
I think what helps most in this are its "themed locations".

Whenever you come past a forest, you know you can enter it to go hunting, mountains invite you to go climbing which comes with its own set of challenges, open fields have you on the lookout for Bokblin raider camps etc.

Every stretch of land has a "purpose" so to speak. Its not just there for the sake of being big. They all have their distinct characteristics.

Still, as mentioned above, i personally still prefer a more condensed overworld with a bigger focus on dungeons. Its what Zelda does best in my opinion. So im missing that quite a big.
But as far as open world scenarios are considered, it certainly is on top of them all.

It certainly reminded me of the design philosophy Xenoblade took, where the map itself was used as a medium to set the tone. But where Xenoblade put you at awe whenever you found out on which part of the titan you are currently on, BotW tells a story with its locations.
What parts were war torn, where did nature reclaim territory, which locations where completely untouched etc.

I hope Eiji Aonuma is taking a nice long break after this materpiece

Legend of the legend of the legend!!!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE So, like you.

@Ryu_Niiyama Haha I know what you mean. I had tracking numbers on my stuff yesterday but the console had NO tracking status....I couldn't get to sleep, it was like 1:00AM and I still had no tracking and I kept thinking they must have not shipped in time and it missed the plane. But it arrived! Zelda (from Amazon, normal edition) did arrive on time as well. But I was almost distraught with impatience all yesterday and last night (and waiting for it today.) I was stalking the mailman I think Bad memories of when he "delivered" ACNL yet it was nowhere to be found and they "found" it on the truck the next day....

I'll probably give Bomberman a go tomorrow. Spent the night rewiring, cleaning out dust balls from corners of cable nests I didn't remember existed. Vita's living on the floor on TOP of the cable nest at the moment....Switch had to go somewhere and the power cable won't reach the other end. Got some good game time in with it though. This system is spectacular!

But yeah, I was the same way all day....if I wasn't pretending to be able to focus on work, I'd have been in the fetal position all day.

Any luck with Zelda shipping with, hopefully a Saturday delivery?

I've only got to play it for two hours so far cos I'm constantly doing other crap this weekend but it's all I can think about! It's incredible 11/10

@Einherjar Nice writeup. Personally I look toward it as this sort of retro-take on gaming brought into modern gaming. Everything about it's nature, decision making, pacing reminds me of not just the first Zelda, but some of the computer sims/rpgs that came before it. There's an 80's game at the heart of BotW, and it's a format that hasn't been seen in a long long time.

As for dungeons, I think Aonuma has taken the AlttP formula and run a little too far with it in most modern games, where the overworld doesn't exists, it's just there to link narrative exposition with the next dungeon and the real game is just jumping from dungeon to dungeon in assigned order. Maybe this game goes back the other way too far for some tastes, but it's the first REAL overworld since at least ALttP, and arguably, since Zelda 1. That alone makes it worth the price of admission in my book!

@NEStalgia I can definitely see that, but for me personally, it does away with the one thing i liked the most about the entire series.
I truly hate the term and the analogy, but for me, Zelda worked best as a "Metroidvania".
Basically the "Reverse Puzzle" approach, where you are handed the tools to solve it first and you have to find the puzzle for it.

BotW lacks both, the puzzles and the tools.
And for me, that's the thing that pretty much kills it for me. Granted, i never liked the original either, so maybe there's the issue.

Ironically enough, BotW does the same thing that also killed Darksiders 2 for me now that i think about it.
Darksiders 1 was a Zelda clone to the core. Every item was unique and had its purpose both in combat as well as in puzzle solving.
Darksiders 2 ditched that in favor of an open world and random loot.

The thing that irks me the most though, is how BotW handles its equipment. While i cherish the fact that you know have a full range of gear, the weapons are all made of paper mache.
When a Zweihänder breaks after smashing in two Bokblin skulls, its just silly.

A smithing system would have REALLY helped here.
And weapon casting molds would have made for amazing dungeon rewards. Collect random crappy weapons, smelt them in and cast a sword from the mold you got in one of the mini dungeons. That way, you could manage your weapons much more easily.

Though i have to say, i really like its freeform cooking. That certainly is a welcome addition.

Like i said, overall an OK game, but for me personally, far from a GOTY. For that, there are simply way too many things i miss and which could have easily been made better.

Should they keep that style though ?
Well, it certainly has sheer unlimited potential. But Nintendo recently showed the tendency to dwell on problems without fixing them. So im a little torn. But in general, if they iron out a few things, this formula could very well lead to (almost) perfection.

I think it's far better than all the other games in the top 5.

I can't digest that user score...there's too much salt.

For once, I am lucky to live in a country where people don't care about Nintendo. Buying Zelda and Switch now would be an easy task over here.

@Menchi187 Just curious... if media is 100% untrustworthy, then what'cha doing on NintendoLife?

@JaxonH (sacasticly) It Better get a 10 after all the waiting we've done LOL.
Waiting sometimes brings the best results.

@jaymacx
No doubt.

They had lots of time to keep adding stuff, and you can see it in the end result.

It's even better than I'd hoped. This game is so good, deserving of every last ounce of perfect scores

@AlexSora89 to be fair, Ben, jim and Polygon find problems and give bad scores to almost every game.

@-Green-
Yup because people keep on posting 0 lol

Finished downloading 9:30pm last night on Switch, started playing, after what I thought was couple hours in, looked at the time, it was 4:30am, I am totally cream crackered now.
Fantastic game, only done 8 shrines, 2 towers, found 9 seeds, lost count how many times I have died.
This deserves all the praise it is getting

@Einherjar
How many shrines have you been to? Some of the puzzles I've played already are legit some of the best I've played in a Zelda game. (Then again I have had it since Wednesday so I may have done a bit more exploring than most)

Breath of the wild is THE best game of all time. What we need to remember is scores like ocarina on metacritic was based on only like 11 critics review scores as it was the 90s. Breath of the wild is based on 70 critic reviews and has already landed more than 36 100% reviews

@starman292 I'd say around 15 and so far, nothing short of tutorial stuff, with the ball maze taking the cake.
Then again, i only had it since yesterday, so nothing really happened so far. That said, "slow start" is the name of the game here.

Again, not bad per se, but there have been (Zelda) games that hooked me in way faster
Ive yet to give up, maybe down the road i get the "best game ever" vibe as well.

My experience with BOTW so far, is like a twelve-course 5 Michelin star meal.
It's presented flawlessly, you can't wait to get your hands on it, the thing most pertinent on your mind is gobbling it up as soon as possible -while on the other hand wanting to savior every bite.

@Senpai_Bruh Dude. Senpai. Notice... I mean... Cory in the House is a modern classic! Don't diss it!

For me, I knew BotW was something special when I was trying to describe it to friends. It's actually really hard to put into words because, beyond the amazing gameplay and aesthetic beauty, it's the way the game makes you feel. Every encounter is special, and the sense of freedom and discovery is genuine. I haven't had that feeling since vanilla World of Warcraft. I truly believe it will be an all-time classic.

@Einherjar
Yeah I would agree with the slow start. I'm just taking my time with it and taking it all in. My guess is that it's one of those stories that gets better the further you get into it. I have had some really fun side-quests so far though and there's nothing like how you feel when you find a really nice piece of gear, gives you a great sense of accomplishment! All I'm going to say without too much spoilers is there is a really fun shrine hidden in the area to the east that makes really great use of the motion controls XD check it out if you haven't already.

I'll be f****d if ABOTW isn't better than 2 games (at least) in that list. Also, SMG 1 & 2 anybody?

I have to concur. I'm only 15 minutes played, but, that 15 minutes alone is better than 99.9% of anything I have played this gen.

Even the Wii U version is amazing. The load times are fast and the graphics are identical in most cases. I've heard the sound effects are the biggest difference.

@Einherjar I'll keep the writing a little shorter than usual....because Zelda.... The laptop feels so unwanted next to the Switch....

Anyway, I can see all your points and I imagine a whole LOT of Zelda fans will feel the same as you on one level or another. But I think it's best summarized that you never really liked the first one. This one is very expressly a "proper sequel" if you will to the first one, so if you didn't like that, yeah this one will have the same problems in a lot of areas. For me personally, starting with the first one, I tend to define the series by that one, first, and by ALttP second. And while I tended to like ALttP best because it struck a perfect balance, they really did latch onto the formula a little too hard after that (specifically Aonuma did after Miyamoto removed himself from it a little.) Personally, to me, OoT through SS have felt like the "weird" ones. I love the games dearly, they're among my favorites, but there was always this "oh, it's new-wave Zelda again" vibe for me, always a little dissapointed that it was following that linear, closed in narrative route again instead of the open exploration idea.

And interesting you'd mention Darksiders II. I haven't played the first yet, but i absolutely LOVED the second, as well. Though IMO that was still the ALttP/OoT/TP formula mostly, much more than BotW is.

But yeah if you're coming at it from the angle of "OoT is Zelda, and Z1 was an experiment" and many people will, I can see the disappointment here. If you're coming at it from never having played Zelda, of from the "Geeze Nintendo, why not a proper zelda 2 in 3-0 years? Angle, it's the greatest thing ever

Crafting/repairing/smithing would have been cool. I agree. I think they wanted to avoid the Monster Hunter comparisons from running too deep, and the game is already REALLY complicated for first time players, so adding that kind of stuff would have pushed it down a niche RPG path, possibly they didn't want to take (Elder Scrolls Nerds unite!)

@starfox007
Which means one of them is out of the equation for this one Zelda; two to go. And it's Ben and Jim that worry me the most.
With "worry" meaning I'm totally expecting them to tear into the game for the heck of it.

@-Green- Yea, If you look at the scores from users it's mainly 10's some 9's and then a few Zero... yes ... ZERO scores, from salty's that just want to hate on it... you know...because... how dare everyone. *rolls eyes
I mean seriously, if you can post a review on this game and give it a Zero, a one or something like that, it's just a good thing you're not a game reviewer because you don't know what you're doing.

In addition, when you read the rediculous bad reviews (I wont post spoilers) they are often moaning about something that actually is intentional to begin with and changes shortly into the game, which proves only that so many people who want to hate on it, either didn't play at all, or didn't play more than an hour or so. Why do they even bother.

@NEStalgia haha I don't envy your clean up effort one bit. I am currently building new furniture so I've forced myself to keep most of my systems boxed up until I design and build my entertainment center. I did spend last weekend untangling the nest of snakes that is my cord chest. So many cables. Took a day and a half.

Also, I think you cursed me. So after you declined my offer to give you my second special edition I canceled it. After all I'd told you countless times how I trusted Amazon. So I get home. No UPS. So I went outside and started weeding my yard. UPS shows an hour later. So that gets me my system and bomberman. No change on Zelda's shipping. So still happy I decide to call Amazon just to find out when it shipped. Now I worked for Apple and GSK in a call center for four years and I have held numerous roles including coaching and call monitoring. So I am very sensitive to call center customer service but I have a better idea than the average Jane of what they can and can't do. So I am usually chill. I call amazon and get an obvious outsourced call center and the guy can't position to save his life. I you have bad news then delivery will make or break the call. He broke it. First he tells me Zelda is unavailable and that they don't know if they will get a restock. Then he tells me the same thing for another switch related order. He isn't even trying to de-escalate the situation. So i ask to speak to the next person on the escalation path. 15 min hold. He doesn't check back in so I get to stew in my dissatisfaction. Not good. I get to the "supervisor" (who is usually just a higher tiered person in the call queue and not a supervisor) and he has even less empathy. If this was apple two people would be getting fired by end of shift. At one point i flat out tell him that I'm not hanging up until I receive some form of compensation. I got ten bucks back. I end the call and for kicks call around even though I know the game is sold out. So finally Gamestop has the regular edition. I go down there and the store is poorly run. So now I'm mad again because I am seeing all the customer service fails that would have gotten you written up in a store I've run. So Finally I get the game but I'm so annoyed I go to bed. At 8 pm. Everything still sealed. I get up today and lo and behold my zelda SE has shipped now. ... so I'll open everything next weekend. Sigh. All's well that ends well i guess.

@DonBugen Not for their reviews, that's for sure

Of course the people's opinions count, but they should be "legitimate" opinions! If you played 5 minutes, you can't give a proper opinion/review. Lots of the user-reviewers have barely played the game, or are just trolling around.

I have played the game 5 (or so) hours so far. I can't give a review yet, but feel like its definitely more then a 7 (so far its great)!

In the end a 10 means a great game, but not necesarily the best game! Its all opinion afterl all. Tony hawk on 2, very strange. And Soul calibur?! Its as if you give your own home-made movie a 10 and call it the best movie ever, just because you had so much fun making it. People should keep a clear view, and respect that other people may think differently (gamers and people of the press are different enough, of course).

Take Skyward sword for example: It got a lot of 10's too, but many Zelda fans aren't that fond of the game and its controls. Me? It definitely was a fun game with cool moments, but absolutely not the best in the series. Still very happy that I played it though, and might play it again someday.

Wich reminds me of the Switch: If Skyward sword will be on the Switch, would they improve the motion-controls? Probably not, but I heard several times that the Switch has much better motion-controls.

"and then a few Zero... yes ... ZERO scores, from salty's that just want to hate on it..."

People can be so evil! Reviews are a blessing and a curse. How often has a restaurant been heavily damaged, just because some people wanted them to fail for several reasons? Or what to think of people who positively review their own goods on online-shops, to boost the sales. Bad habits for sure!

Nintendo has definitely done a superb job of listening to what is actually hot right now, instead of what they wish was. I'm not personally sold on it, but then I've never been a big Zelda fan, but I think this bodes well for future releases on the Switch.

@NEStalgia Ultra tired, so just to add a tidbit to the discussion:
Im not really disappointed. Not in the slightest. The "Hype" was never there to begin with. It was the first story trailer that got me intrigued actually.

So yeah, my baseline opinion was "Meh" which turned out to be my first impression of it as well. So im fine with what i got ^^
Its not bad, its not totally boring but it will certainly be a one time thing or even ditched once something hits the switch that steals my attention. We'll see

@Einherjar I suppose that's the down side with a REALLY old series. It can't stay stagnant forever and remain formulaic and predictable, it wears out its welcome, and yet then it ends up with different eras of fan bases who want the game to be one way or the other and ends up segmenting its own fan base. Most series have their 4 sequels over a 10 year period until they wear out the formula and move on! It's amazing that we've only had 2 really different formulas in a 30 year old series and it still sells like crazy and gets critical praise.

PERSONALLY, this game is the sequel I've waited for since the 80's and the disappointment that was Link's Adventure

Edit: Funny thing was I'd skipped OoT, MM, and WW, played the handheld 2D ones and my last console one had been ALttP, I knew old style exploration zelda mostly still until the Wii came out. I picked up with TP and though "ewww, what the heck did they do to Zelda? They ruined it!" I now love TP of course, and had to ease into WW and OoT 3D.....I love them all now (still kinda meh on WW...it's too small and too rushed), but those linear single path Zeldas felt SO weird to me for a decade there! This one feels like home. It's also the art style of the original manual which is a nice touch.

Funny thing is I don't even like boring sandbox games. Love Elder Scrolls, loved Morrowind and Oblivion, but Skyrim felt so empty and boring (I'm going to give it another try on Switch...I barely even made my wan into it last time.) I won't even touch the new Fallouts anymore. But this game is somehow working for me. It keeps surprising me in unexpected ways.

It's been a long time since I've played a game like this. It might be the best game I've played.

@Ryu_Niiyama A part of me envies the boxed cables. This is the result of many years of the same cables existing, then devices being changed out but not being able to get to the cable so just leaving it there then adding new devices and doing the same.... I'm to the point I can't get to the plugs so I just run different power strips out when adding new stuff The layers of dust are amazing. It's like grey snow!

That's....an awful story I'm sure glad I declined, I'd feel sooooo guilty right now! I generally put zero credibility into ANY CS for ANY company at this point. What you said about Amazon is just what I expect from Amazon....granted, Bezos once said that the best CS is the one you never need to use, and generally they've built a great model around that....but those cases when you need it I go into it with the expectation of zero knowledge. It's all automation. If something doesn't ship, it's because it didn't ship. There's no one that will ever know or be able to tell you why it didn't, or when (or if) it will. You just trust the machines to sort it out. And usually it works out. But if it doesn't, "oh well" is the only valid answer. Not that I expect more from BB or GS.... To be fair to Amazon, they generally error on the side of eating the cost of almost any mixup rather than make you go through any CS hoops, they'll usually just reship, expedite, take the loss, etc. no questions asked. But for items like this where availability from the mfr is suspect....yeah...I suppose errors go badly.

OTOH I'm glad to hear they really sorted it out and got your your limited set!! Super frustrating not to play this weekend But better to get the limited a day late with the hassle being for nothing than not!

And THAT hassle (and that kind of luck) is precisely why I declined to being with I'd have been a complete wreck with ANY question in shipping (of which I did have for a while...no tracking update until the day of delivery!) had that been thrown in the mix! Sounds like you're luck is like mine!

There's still time today...you can still open everything up for bomberman! I finally opened it yesterday night....it's really good, even single player. First entry into the series for me...I'm surprised how addictive it is!

I haven't had this much fun with a game in years really. This game seriously, living, breathing, alive everywhere. Do anything go anywhere anytime. 10 out of 10 heck yes! Now I've seen some reviewers say there is no slow down on switch. Well there is actually quite a bit but it's nothing to ruin the game. But it is there. The game is remarkable though. I haven't bought a home console in over 10 years. I was apprehensive about switch. But I'm so glad I got it. I love it. I love Zelda. And can't wait till next year to see what else is in store for us

Well deserved, from what I have played at my brother's house. Spent a good five hours with it and loved every minute of it. Especially dodging the guardians. A brutal but fun game.

There have been so many 'Oh!' moments for me so far. True smiles of joy creeping across my face. It takes everything I want in an open-world game and adds the fine-tuned combat and puzzles of a level / dungeon based adventure. I have not been this struck with wonder since 1998 when a slammed that gold cartridge into my N64.

Breath of the Wild is very disappointing to me! We should be able to start the game playing as Zelda and meet Link later and Ganon shouldn't be the final boss AGAIN!

@Bunkerneath
I guess you were using the word "pants" to mean "ridiculous" while criticizing the store you had mentioned.

@Mario500 yup its one of the words I use instead of swearing at work and on message boards

Im truly disappointed about this game
Im a huge Zelda fan and yes my expectations were very high
But really no dungeons?
Unbelievable
And please most shrines are done in 30 seconds. And I already found 5 that you just get in and get a chest. You dont even have to hit a switch to open a door...
I can belive people giving this 10s and saying is better than OOT
Any mini dungeons on other Zelda games are bigger and better.
Those 4 so called dungeons can be done in under 15 minutes
A huge empty world, after 10 minutes walking and theres only a Korok seed to be found under a rock