The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom opens (following the e3 cutscene) with a middling and lame tutorial section, introducing you to the new abilities in the same way as before in an area I quickly grew frustrated by and tired of exploring. Following this they drop you back into the world and tell you to go investigate four regions in the four corners of the map. Sound familiar? At these areas you go help out a race before entering a pseudo-zelda dungeon and acquiring a fun but not all that substantial power up. I'm starting to sense a trend here...
Of course, Zelda isn't exactly new to following beats from previous games and I admit I probably wouldn't have minded this structure again had I not felt so disappointed during these early hours (being a Zelda fan) of the game's refusal to bring back classic elements that I craved for for so long. The first two dungeons I did, the wind temple and the water temple were laughably terrible, some of the worst dungeons in the series. The other two were decent, though nothing outstanding. The lack of proper items that unlocked new parts of the game was disappointing as well.
Once I got past this, however, I did begin to enjoy the game for what it was and it did win me over a fair amount. The main story content is a fairly mixed bag with some parts being good and others being incredibly boring. However, when I appreciated this game the most was when doing the side content. The world (the overworld at least, I'll get to the other areas) was as addicting as ever to explore and the side content received a noticeable upgrade over botw, now featuring actually interesting and fun quests in the form of "side adventures" and optional main quests that were fun as well.
The new abilities are largely fun additions and there are some really good puzzles designed around them in the game's shrines (the combat version of which receiving a major upgrade). Unfortunately, a lot of these new additions really bog the game down. The fusing system, while fun, is a nightmare to use in combat and incredibly clunky. Fusing items to arrows is a pain as well, requiring you to scroll through your entire materials inventory to find something specific. For the most part, the new areas (especially the sky) are all kinds of lame and way overhyped with the sky just being a collection of small islands with some annoying shrine puzzles (yes this is coming from the guy who likes windwaker shut up) and the depths being borderline unplayable unless you're going to the few specific areas with quests.
It's frustrating because there's a skeleton of a truly amazing game here. There are some really great ideas and some really clunky execution. Some big improvements on the framework of breath of the wild while inheriting so many of its issues. It's far from amazing and it's not the direction I wanted the series to go in but I did ultimately have fun with it.
Of course, Zelda isn't exactly new to following beats from previous games and I admit I probably wouldn't have minded this structure again had I not felt so disappointed during these early hours (being a Zelda fan) of the game's refusal to bring back classic elements that I craved for for so long. The first two dungeons I did, the wind temple and the water temple were laughably terrible, some of the worst dungeons in the series. The other two were decent, though nothing outstanding. The lack of proper items that unlocked new parts of the game was disappointing as well.
Once I got past this, however, I did begin to enjoy the game for what it was and it did win me over a fair amount. The main story content is a fairly mixed bag with some parts being good and others being incredibly boring. However, when I appreciated this game the most was when doing the side content. The world (the overworld at least, I'll get to the other areas) was as addicting as ever to explore and the side content received a noticeable upgrade over botw, now featuring actually interesting and fun quests in the form of "side adventures" and optional main quests that were fun as well.
The new abilities are largely fun additions and there are some really good puzzles designed around them in the game's shrines (the combat version of which receiving a major upgrade). Unfortunately, a lot of these new additions really bog the game down. The fusing system, while fun, is a nightmare to use in combat and incredibly clunky. Fusing items to arrows is a pain as well, requiring you to scroll through your entire materials inventory to find something specific. For the most part, the new areas (especially the sky) are all kinds of lame and way overhyped with the sky just being a collection of small islands with some annoying shrine puzzles (yes this is coming from the guy who likes windwaker shut up) and the depths being borderline unplayable unless you're going to the few specific areas with quests.
It's frustrating because there's a skeleton of a truly amazing game here. There are some really great ideas and some really clunky execution. Some big improvements on the framework of breath of the wild while inheriting so many of its issues. It's far from amazing and it's not the direction I wanted the series to go in but I did ultimately have fun with it.