Matthew Creighton

Probably four stars but we have to balance out the negative. Good whimsical fun. Made me feel like a child again. Don’t judge it by the full start

This game is great. But I’ll get the bad out the way before getting into what makes it so good. Co op is disappointing however they market this new type of co op and the game design isn’t suited to it really apart from occasionally Oatchi puzzles. The rewind feature can feel too easy but with the restart day feature removed from pikmin 3, this is just a more forgiving substitution. Also it messes up the canon. Now the good stuff. It looks fantastic. Some reviews say the graphics are a downgrade from 3. To that I say… HUH? Yeah, it’s a bit more cartoony and bright but the new perspective makes items look genuinely realistic. It’s the best looking game on the switch hands down bar Metroid Prime. The game enchances pikmin 2’s concepts that were dropped for 3. The caves look much better, have a bit more urgency in them and have plenty to do. The player character is a fun idea. At first I found it limited and you do lose on a protagonist with a backstory but just seeing a pink haired burly moustached man called Thaddeus ride a dog is hilarious. Oatchi adds more options in gameplay and is pretty much a very fleshed out new Pikmin type and secondary character. The castaway system is great. We see more characters of the series and unlock brand new features along the way. This adds a real sense of progression and accomplishment. 10/10 just as good as the new Zelda

In my opinion this game is a 10/10. That does not mean it is perfect but the good stuff was so good that it overshadowed the not so good stuff to a large degree. If you did not like breath of the wild at all then this game is not for you. However, if you could appreciate some aspects of breath of the wild but were turned off by other specific aspects (eg. No Dungeon variety, lacklustre bosses, lack of enemy variety) this game could address that and be everything you wanted breath of the wild to be. Many complain that it is simply “$70 DLC”. This is far from the truth. By that logic the fantastic god of war Ragnarok is also dlc. The game does reuse the map which did have me skeptical at first but it manages to essentially add double the area to explore by adding verticality and changes every major area on the surface. The new abilities allow complex puzzle solving and it overall has a wonderful charm to it amplified by the fact it is a sequel. This is the same world but that allows you to see how it evolved and changed which only complements the game. Other Zelda sequels like majoras mask, links awakening, phantom hourglass etc. don’t really allow this as they star a completely new set of characters which works in their respective purposes. But tears of the kingdom ingrains your connection to the world and makes you feel like Link has been away for half a decade and is coming home. Purah has aged 14 years. Paya has grown into a chief. Sidon is married. Tulin is growing into a warrior. Hudson has expanded the town you helped create and now has a daughter with the woman you helped him marry. It is delightful to see these changes and allows the world to feel the most lived in it has ever felt in a Zelda game (besides majoras mask, probably). Overall if it doesn’t click with you then that’s unfortunate but for me and the vast bulk of others, this should give you some enjoyment. Just look out for deals on Amazon.

Just a cgi showcase. I fell asleep in the cinema. Don’t bother with it