Back in 2017, the world of gaming was a different place than what it is now. COVID hadn't been here and we was still playing our PS4 and the Xbox One. Nintendo was on the precipice of releasing a new console after the disastrous calamity which was the Wii U. As the Wii U came to it's end of life, we knew we was getting a new Zelda game.
That game was Breath of the Wild. Released on Wii U and also as a launch title for the now legendary and highly successful Nintendo Switch. BOTW was considered a revolutionary title in the Zelda franchise. It was the first Zelda title to break away from the linear tradition of making your way from dungeon to dungeon, acquiring new weapons along the way to aid you in your quest to save Hyrule from Ganondorf in some shape or form. It was an open world adventure where the player could choose what they wanted to do, when they wanted to do it and offered many ways how to get to the goals at the end. Breakable weapons, a new recipe system, and use of physics based powers such as Magnesis were a joy to behold. If there was one criticism of Breath of the Wild, it was the plot. It was paper thin at best, but the gameplay more than made up for any lacklustre story. Fast forward to 2023 and after a delay in development we were given the release of ToTK. Anticipation was rightly high, especially after the trailers we saw featuring Link and his new powers such as Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend and Recall. Agreed Nintendo were using the same engine as BOTW but that didn't matter. We knew TOTK was a direct sequel so all we needed was a better plot and more things to do. It was revealed that not only did we have the land of Hyrule to explore, but also the Sky Islands and The Depths as well, essentially tripling the world we could explore. What could possibly go wrong. It seems as though Nintendo were onto a sure fire hit here. For me I feel Nintendo have produced a good game, but not a great game, not a 10/10 experience by all means. I have finished the game, by finished I say I have completed the main story of the game. In that process which took me I'd say close to 60/70 hours. I managed to complete 112 out of 152 Shrines. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but I did not have the buzz or the desire to do everything like I did in Breath of the Wild.
I just want to say before I go on, that this isn't a bashing of Zelda, Eiji Ounuma or Nintendo, it's more or a frustrating experience which really hampered my gaming.
Let's start at the beginning, we've all seen the start of the story as Zelda and Link are exploring the depths of Hyrule only fine the mummified corpse of The Demon King. We see an amazing cut scene with Link and Zelda coming away from each other. Zelda plummeting away to impending doom and Link losing a million hearts going back to 3, all his gear, the Master Sword, practically everything. He revives into the Sky Islands with a new arm and the voice of Rauru ringing in his ears. Rauru is the old king of Hyrule many many years ago. Rauru directs Link to Four Shrines across the Sky Islands to collect his new powers Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend and Recall. This is similar to the Great Plateau in BOTW where you obtained Bombs, Magnesis, Cryonosis and Stasis. This is where my problems started with this game. Zelda games tend to have a really really long introduction to their games, but the Sky Islands in my opinion took the piss. Four Hours to obtain your four new powers is beyond frustrating for me. It almost got to the point where I stopped playing the game. I knew that there would be better things ahead, but even so. Can you think of ANY other video game, where the tutorial was four hours long ? Not in my living memory. Anyhow. I digress. After the laborious task of getting the four new powers and leaving the Temple of Time that's when the game finally opens up and you can explore that open world at your hearts content. This is the beauty of TOTK and BOTW before it. The Freedom. The Freedom to do what you want, when you want and also with the powers you have at your disposal. ANY way you want. It's still refreshing to have this open world Hyrule. I still think this is the way for Zelda as a franchise going forward. What needs to change is the main story line gameplay. It was almost the same as BOTW. Go to the same regions Rito Village, Zora's Domain, Goron City and Gerudo Desert and investigate "Regional Phenomena" where Princess Zelda has been sighted. Rinse and Repeat beat each temple, gain ability from said person from that region and then move onto the next one. I also felt as though the temples were boring and tedious. I don't feel that they are as intricate or designed as well as the old school dungeons. Yes I know we have 152 Shrines which act as mini dungeons and have the traditional puzzle solving and so on, but this feels lazy. I did enjoy the extra quests in the mainline story before you go to Ganondorf as that added an extra layer to the storyline in general. Now. The storyline is MUCH better than BOTW. There is some actual substance to this, you need to find the Dragon Tear pools which are scattered across Hyrule. Again, not too different from the "memories" in BOTW. However these feel much meatier in content and really get you involved in the cast of characters such as Rauru, Mineru and so on. But there is one massive oversight here. You don't feel as though you have a connection to Link. After all this time, I feel as though he needs to start speaking in games now. His limited emotions and noises he makes aren't enough for me any more. I need to be invested in Link. For decades, we got to name the hero, but for BOTW and TOTK he is named as Link. Let's have a bit of depth into his character next time, let him speak, let him show some happiness, sadness, pain, anguish, grief. Whatever it may be. Please Nintendo make it happen. Let's talk about the music shall we. This is something I cannot fault whatsoever. It's beautiful and just really sets the scene wherever you are. Granted there are some tracks which are repeated from BOTW, but that's to be expected 8 suppose.
As far as our new abilities go. I like them, or should I say the idea of them. They are all genius in their own unique ways. Ultrahand gives you the ability to manipulate objects and stick them to other objects to craft things to help on your way, whether that be an extra platform, a vehicle, moving a Korok. My gripe with Ultrahand is it takes a while to get familiar with moving the object under your control, and if you don't get the sticking correct it can delay what you are trying to achieve.
Ascend is great. Probably the most user friendly of them all. It gives Link the ability to move up through surfaces to gain access to platforms, and you can raise to the surface if you are in caves or in the depths. Truly a great asset to have in your arsenal. As is Recall. Recall gives you the ability to rewind time. It makes the player think too, Recall could probably have been used more times by myself in combat or situations where you need to craft a moving platform. Simply genius. Then we have Fuse. Fuse gives the player the ability to make stronger weapons, stronger shield and arrows with things attached which gives Link the advantage against stronger foes which he will encounter through the game. My gripe with Fuse and this ties in with the combat in general is that nothing is seamless or smooth. By that I mean in combat if you want to shoot an arrow with something attached it's scrolling all the time through the items scroll bar to find what you want. If you want to use your weapons and attach things to them, it's not a simple process. You have to go to the item screen, hold said item, drop said item and then fuse. It's not simple at all. Surely it could have been done in a different way to make the process a little stream lined. So after you make your way through the main story of the game, you finally get to Ganondorf. I would strongly advise, getting a LOT of hearts, great weapons, great armour, a lot of food (especially ones that get rid of gloom)and a travel medallion. If you don't. You will have to have the gaming skills of the six people in ten world who beat that manic level made in Super Mario Maker. I have to say the ending of the game was fulfilling and rounded the story off nicely. There is so much more to do in TOTK such as side quests, collecting all armour, weapons stuff like that if you want to do it, but time is precious to me. If I did all that, I'd still be playing TOTK months later. After reading what I've written about the game. It does seem as though I'm bashing it a lot. I did enjoy the game, it's much better than most stuff that's been put out there and if you enjoyed BOTW, you will definitely enjoy this. My gripes here may not matter to any of you out there. I just feel Nintendo have been lazy in some areas, and in others generally not thought about how the constant menu access contributed to a stop start experience, especially in combat. Nevertheless, it's still a game you should play. Overall I give Tears of the Kingdom an 8 out of 10. Good but certainly not great. Nintendo really need to pull their fingers out with the next installment of Zelda. They need to try something new. How do they do that though. That's the £64 million question. In the meantime. Keep Gaming and I'll be here again soon with my Spider-Man 2 review. Guest Blog post by Adam Foster @AngelicWiganer / @snoopfozziefozz
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Back in 2017 The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild was coined Video Game of the Year based on the people’s choice. Super Mario Odyssey secured the second spot. The Nintendo Switch had an amazing launch year in 2017 and at the time of writing this the Nintendo Switch sold over ten million consoles world wide. For a video games console that hasn’t one been out for 12 months that figure makes my head spin. 2018 is set to be just as good of a year for the Nintendo Switch with some prominent Nintendo Wii U games launching on the console within the first six months.
Having spent a lot of time with Super Mario Odyssey over the last couple of months I feel I’ve got a lot to say about Mario’s latest adventure. In fact I would go as far to say that Super Mario Odyssey should have taken him the title of Video Game of the year (2017). You might not agree but I urge you to read the remainder of this blog then let me know your final thoughts in the comments. Now before we go any further we have to note the Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece. I am a huge fan of it despite initially feeling sceptical. In fact I was also sceptical about Super Mario Odyssey. Some of the earliest footage I saw was with Mario running around a city approaching business men! “This is not a Super Mario game!” Fast forward to now and I can honestly say that I was wrong to judge. Super Mario Odyssey serves up a beautiful 3D experience of ploughing through bustling kingdoms and moon hunts. Odyssey offers up a tasty menu of new characters too with Cappy being the most notable. Cappy amplifies Super Mario’s abilities within the kingdom’s enabling him to jump higher, morph in to enemies and leap to the highest ledges. Super Mario feels more super than ever before. Again I was apprehensive about Mario’s new top man but Happy really does add a lot of value in to Super Mario Odyssey.
Guest Blog by Edd @The Game Booth / Gamebooth.co.uk
So, another year, another Pokemon game. How does this one stack up to previous entries in the series? Given all that was shown off on the run up to the launch, is it all just fan service? I plan on answering these questions and more during the course of this review and I’ll also try to remain as spoiler-free as I can.
Pokéballs at the ready... The game starts off by first asking which language setting you want and then warning you that you can’t change this after this point. After that you receive a video message from the new professor for this generation who gives you a short introduction to the game. Fans of the series will recognise this sort of intro as what we’ve always had but on a much prettier level this time. The Professor shows you a map of the new Alola region in this sequence, showcasing the islands that you will see on your journey throughout the region. As we all know, Alola is based off of real-world Hawaii and features lots of scenery and other elements that display this inspiration. After the map, you’re introduced to one of the new Pokemon for this region, a Rockruff, who seems to be quite the playful little character. Next you get asked which photo you want to use for your Trainer Passport. This is the part where you get to select the gender of your trainer, as well as skin tone and hair colour, from eight possible options. After selecting your look and your name, you then see a glimpse of another new Pokemon for the region (a Pikipek) and then the video call ends. You’re then called by your mother to help with some boxes and another cutscene begins. You see a girl escaping from some guards, her bag fires out a large blue blast and then the camera pans up. Here is where you see the first difference between the two games as, in Sun this will show the Pokemon Sun title card and be during the daytime, and, in Moon you will notice that it is nighttime and you’ll see the Pokemon Moon title card. From here the game follows some of the familiar processes from every previous generation, introducing you to some of the key characters that will follow you through the game, your home and the battle and catching systems. You also get to see that there is a mixture of both new and old Pokemon in this region from the outset and the first of many references to the Kanto region of the Red and Blue games. While showing off some of the new environments in this intro, by panning the camera around your room in particular, it does show that the Nintendo 3DS XL and New 3DS XL systems having larger screens will show more jagged edges to the textures and character models through the game. The walking animations in this game can take a bit of getting used to too. The standard animation has your arms hang a little far out from your hips but when walking in tall grass, especially when walking slowly, you’ll notice your character moves a lot more deliberately which is a nice touch. Once you’ve been introduced to a couple of key characters and been involved in a sequence reminiscent of the original anime episode you will be able to pick your starter Pokemon. Those of you that have played previous generations may notice this is one of the longest introductions up to the point of getting your starter. As usual, the choices are grass, fire and water or Rowlet, Litten or Popplio respectively.
By Gemma @Juicy Game Reviews
Eurogamer is the UK's largest video game expo. On September 24th through to September 27th (inclusive) I had the pleasure of attending two of those days and got the chance to sample some of the gaming industries finest future AAA titles. To name a few; Star Wars Battlefront, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Starfox Zero were worth well over an hours stand in line. Before we unpick the details of this unbelievable gaming expo let's tap in to the opportunities on offer at EGX.
For the last seven years Eurogamer had been held in the nations capital, London. This year The NEC in Birmingham played host to the likes of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo and not to mention the undeniably passionate indie community. 75,000 people attended the Eurogamer this year which is a testament to the gaming community as a whole. Me personally? I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I couldn't wait to get my hands on that Xbox One controller and start playing the demo of Rise of the Tomb Raider. We'll come back to this one later in the article. Not only is Eurogamer for the players but Gamesindustry.biz always have a strong presence to help recruit the next budding game designer. I've attended the last three EGX events and I've always found this area to be a real asset to the expo. It says 'we want this industry to continue to grow' and that makes me fill up with pride. Long live the gaming community. By now we should all know that Hyrule Warriors is not a typical Zelda game in the sense that there is no dungeon crawling. This is a spin off game that mimics the Dynasty Warrior franchise, an awesome, tactical, fast paced action series. The aim is to take over points of the map, thus eliminating enemy lines. Hyrule Warriors adds in all of the familiar characters and scenery that I have loved since discovering Link in the 90s. Hyrule field, Epona and a stack of characters that I love. Hyrule Warriors is a refreshing break for the Wii U. A break that I have longed for since the start of the console. So what is great about this game? Hyrule Warriors is top heavy with nostalgia from previous Zelda titles. My personal favourites were the Deku Tree and Gohma. When I saw the Deku Tree it reminded me of the first time I saw this mammoth tree in Ocarina Of Time. Oh what a quality moment of my gaming history. The Deku Tree looked just as gorgeous as it did back in Ocarina; mystical, grand and peaceful. The developers did a great job in conveying the nostalgia. Hyrule Warriors currently has 13 playable characters with a further three confirmed as playable in future free DLC. This breaks down as 10 characters from the Hero category and 3 from the enemies. Naturally, my favourite was Link. I found Link to be posses a better range of weapons and abilities. The magic Fire Rod in particular felt powerful. Other hero characters were active on the battlefield alongside me. I'm usually skeptical of a team approach but I felt indifferent about it in Hyrule Warriors. I was annoyed to learn that if one of your characters died then the game ended and I had to start form the last save. That's a definite pain in the backside aspect of the game that forced me to change my tactics. My team seemed to do the exact same thing if I had to repeat a part of a mission. As soon as I changed my tactic (for example back tracked to an area to help other characters) I was able to proceed. That made me question the point of being part of a team? On the plus side, the other characters proved to be an asset at times. You guys may hold a different view. Battle mechanics. Oh battle mechanics! I used the game pad to play Hyrule Warriors which is never my preferred choice. I think I would have preferred the standard controller (must purchase one). As soon as I learnt each move I felt more confident. Battles were not as simple as button mashing at first but I felt as though I'd evolved to this after the second mission. Having returned to the game over and over, I found myself having to relearn the controls each time. This may seem trivial to you and I suppose it varies from person to person. However, I'm nit usually as forgetful. I would have preferred a button mashing approach of that in Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls. This was a minor hiccup from my Hyrule experience which has left me wanting to try it with a standard controller. Other cool aspects of Hyrule Warriors can be found in the mini quests of collecting the gold Skulltula's. Skultula's popped up randomly during play. Again, I liked this slice of nostalgia. The developers did a great job in delivering this. Hyrule Warriors was a satisfying journey through familiar ground. The best parts are the cross overs to previous Zelda games. Despite this, I am looking forward to dragging my Master Sword back through the dungeons when The Legend of Zelda is released in 2015. I'd rate Hyrule Warriors an 8 out of 10. Don't forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel and check out some awesome affiliates for all of your gaming and Zelda merchandise essentials. With a 20 year presence in our gaming world Mario Kart now makes it eighth appearance in the series and whilst it holds the eighth crown, the game is the first of its kind to be in full High Definition. Is this game worth the hype though? The hype soon died for me as my delivery was almost two days late but as soon as the front door rattled, I ran down to greet that courier so quickly that no banana skin could have stopped me in my tracks. Having spent around six hours on the game, I am happy to report a pleasing experience. Naturally, the environments within the tracks are as aesthetically pleasing as one could expect. The vibrancy of the green hills in Moo Moo Meadows, the radiant warmth of the yellow sand in Dry Dry Desert and the boastful coloured blocks donning Donut Plains 3 all helped to provide me a truly warming experience. And what better way to help us glide through these tracks than with a total of 30 playable characters, 14 of which must be unlocked. I noticed that each character has a completely unique feel. I started with Yoshi, as he has always been my favourite in the MK series. He felt somewhat 'average' in his speed, handling, cornering and general fierceness. I soon switched to Ludwig, one of the earlier unlockable characters. Ludwig completely improved my game with a MUCH quicker speed boost from the start line, higher agility and surprised me with his likability from the get go. YES.... that is important. Ludwig had a likability factor that created a more immersive experience as I continued to race through Twisted Mansions and Rainbow Road. My advice is to 'branch out' Branch out with your characters. I have been guilty, on previous Mario Kart Games, of sticking with the same character of which I now recognise as a bad decision if I was going to progress with Mario Kart. Musical appeal?? Hmmmm.... This is an easy one. The music in Mario Kart 8 is less than tasteful. Allow me to paint a picture. Think back to 80s game show, The Generation Game, The Price is Right and other shit like that. Remember? Now go and play Mario Kart 8 and you may notice that the music almost mirrors these shows. It is dated. It is disappointing. Does this take the edge off from the gameplay? In my opinion, yes it does. There are so many fantastic games that are defined and recongised by a strong soundtrack and this game IS NOT one of those games. Which brings us on to the tracks. Most now know that there are 16 new tracks and 16 re-made tracks from previous Mario Kart games. I'll be blunt here: I prefer the re-made tracks. I almost screamed when I first started to drift around the cautious corners of the Donut Plains 3 from the Snes. As I continued to tear up the tarmac GBA Mario Circuit and the DS's Cheep Cheep Beach I realised something CRUCIAL. I am not playing Mario Kart 8 for a 'new' experience. I am LOVING and PLAYING Mario Kart 8 for the nostalgic experiences. I may be slammed here but hear me out..... I would love to see a FULL HD re-make of the first Mario Kart. Multiplayer modes are a fantastic experience whether you are playing locally or against the fast fueled action from gamers worldwide. Typically, I have always found all multiplayer modes to provide a much faster platform in which to showcase your shell shoving accuracy. Jessica and I are safely addicted to Mario Kart Multplayer, not only on our Wii U but on our Nintendo 3DS handhelds too. Overall, Mario Kart 8 is fun fueled experience and I would highly recommend gamers both old and new to give Mario and his friends a place on their gaming shelf. Watch my unboxing of Mario Kart 8 on YouTube here. Interested in buying this game? It helps to maintain this blog site if you purchase Mario Kart 8 here or by clicking the banner below. |
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