{"id":7757,"date":"2020-12-05T13:00:39","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playlab.uta.fi\/?p=7757"},"modified":"2020-12-05T13:00:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T11:00:39","slug":"link-or-youll-miss-it-a-breath-everyone-should-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/link-or-youll-miss-it-a-breath-everyone-should-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Link or You’ll Miss It – A Breath Everyone Should Take"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW) is an action adventure game developed and published by Nintendo. Following the epic shenanigans of the eponymous Princess Zelda, the tirelessly heroic player character Link, and the rest of the colourful denizens of Hyrule, Breath of the Wild is a minty breeze on the face of a long-running franchise. Whether or not you\u2019ve played Zelda games before and whether or not you\u2019ve enjoyed them, this one is too good to pass by. Have a Switch? Do yourself a fantastic favour. Get this game.<\/p>\n

The premise follows the trusted formula of the Zelda series, where the player takes control of the timeless protagonist Link and gets tasked with saving no less than the world. As a driving force it might sound a bit overused, but then BotW is not a game where the finale should be your goal. When I wound up finishing the main objective by defeating the big bad, I paused for a second. Then immediately went off doing something else again.<\/p>\n

At the cost of wallowing in clich\u00e9, from the very first steps BotW feels magical. Waking up in a dark cave and moments later stumbling to view a breathtaking vista is a scene that replays in my mind with reckless frequency. In fact, the opening minutes of the game manage to capture almost every aspect so terrific about it.<\/p>\n

\"Link<\/a>
\nGliding through the air is handy!<\/em><\/p>\n

First comes the music, amazing from the get-go. The composers present a touching build-up as you emerge from darkness into a bright world. Fitting like red on Rudolph\u2019s nose, it\u2019s mercilessly nostalgic. For what, though, I\u2019m not entirely sure. I can only say BotW is the only game that has managed to make me feel bittersweet just three minutes in. And while the rest of the soundtrack is filled with grandiose battle themes and haunting melodies to fit every mood and moment, I enjoyed the peaceful tunes the most.<\/p>\n

\"Link<\/a>
\nThe game looks like a pretty painting.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nintendo has always handled stylized graphics better than many, and BotW is no misstep. The massively open world of Hyrule is painted with some of the most vibrant colours I\u2019ve encountered in gaming. Riding your horse through lush green grass; fighting a pack of snarling enemies; skating on your shield down a snowy hill; diving into a deep blue lake; flying above it all with your glider\u2026 The world is seamlessly diverse and truly invites you to explore everywhere, something that seems to be missing in many open world games lately. The open world of beautiful Hyrule seethes with opportunity which the player is given every tool to seize.<\/p>\n

The impressive presentation comes with a cost\u2014or so one would think. I encountered a single spot on the map with noticeable stuttering, which I think is notable for a game of such scale on the Switch. The rest of the game\u2019s shortcomings have to do with a somewhat repeating cast of enemies and side activities, plus some hassle with maintaining combat equipment, but they are so mountainously overshadowed by the successes I can\u2019t with good conscience dig deeper in.<\/p>\n

BotW is a game built of good feeling. Masterfully crafted from the very stuff of imagination, the worst of it is this: I can\u2019t play it again for the first time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Publisher: Nintendo
\nDeveloper: Nintendo EPD
\nPlatforms: Nintendo Switch, Wii U
\nRelease Date: March 3, 2017
\nGenres: Action adventure
\nPEGI: 12<\/p>\n

Header image: promotional picture of the game, https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/games\/detail\/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-switch\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Other pictures: screenshots taken by the author<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deeply atmospheric, remarkably innovative, and wondrously exhilarating, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most memorable gaming adventures one can undertake, and none should overlook. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":7761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1213,223,919,1212],"class_list":["post-7757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","tag-botw","tag-nintendo","tag-nintendo-switch","tag-zelda","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}