Maybe Nintendo have been highlighting a bit too much how the next Zelda game is going to be open-world, as if this is a new concept and not one that's fuelled many of the most popular games of today. Maybe they're also making a mistake in launching it at around the same time as the Nintendo NX. But when that game is Zelda, it doesn't really matter what Nintendo do and say, and there are no signs to suggest that this won't be the best entry yet. Once again, Nintendo are keeping the series fresh by giving the latest game an artistic makeover, with its visual style this time being a vivid combination of Wind Waker-style cel-shading with character models that look almost anime-inspired (but not so much as to alienate non-anime fans). It looks stunning, and when you see Epona galloping through Hyrule Field aback Epona, with the swaying flower-filled grass blowing in the breeze and responding dynamically to the horse's hooves, it'll make you a believer. The familiar dodging, targeting and swordfighting gameplay returns, but now with the inclusion of a bullet-time mechanic that activates when Link jumps off his horse and can let off some shots from his bow while falling to the ground in slow-motion. The sailcloth also makes a return, as we saw when Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma demonstrated it by jumping off a vertiginous cliff and descending slowly over the world to some idyllic forest below. We've seen little of the game so far, but what is out there has been stunning, making it a very early frontrunner for Game of the Year - which would be a noble sendoff for the Wii U before it hands over the reins to the NX.
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
