the building mechanics, while technically impressive, are completely irrelevant to botw's shortcomings. ultimately this game did nothing to actually improve on its predecessor, and it's worse in many ways. the boss combat design took a huge blow. the dungeons are somehow even worse and even smaller (this water temple ranks as one of the worst dungeons in the entire franchise). the world is messier, less coherent, and less fun to explore. the sky islands are tiny, the depths are empty, the story is held back by the same inane memory system that-- surprise-- sucks this time, too. one letdown after another. deeply formulaic, padded, and predictable. botw was magic, and this game buried that magic

driving the cars IS fun though.

chapters that fall woefully short of their potential; metric tons of dull, repetitive busywork; empty, boring areas made up of rectangular corridors and do-nothing dungeons

carried in its entirety by wonderful characters, engaging combat, and boatloads of charm.

surpasses the original game in some ways, falls WAY short in others. at the end of the day it's a lot of fun, but it could've been even better if they'd hired a single level designer or cut down on the time-wasters