Beat Zelda: ALBW - My Quick Overall Impression (NO SPOILERS)

Story

Largely weak and unoriginal, but is saved by an amazing ending

Visuals

Definitely among the better Zelda art styles

Sound

Good. Orchestrated, which is a plus (esp for portable game).

Wish there were less remixes and more original songs though.

Dungeons

Are quick, simple and short, with lots of clever puzzles and traps

Boss keys are obvious to find and puzzles are rarely difficult, but

it's still really fun

Items

Rental system works well, but as a corollary, dungeons are often single-item

Difficulty

Starts off regular; then gets very very easy. You're fed literally tons of rupees.

Non-linearity gives you more freedom, but takes away progressive increase in difficulty

Overworld

Best in the series. Lots of depth. Exploring it will make up most of your game time.

Replay Value

Took me about 25 hours to 100% (taking my time). Very easy to replay.

Greatest Strengths

It's balanced mechanics ; Open exploration ; Smooth pacing (no filler)

Greatest Weaknesses

Sometimes way too familiar to ALTTP for it's own good.

Rate from 1 to 10?

I'd say a 9 or 9.5 , Not sure about a 10, maybe, we'll see.

Legacy

Kind of takes away the magic from ALTTP and other 2D/Portable Zelda games.

But it's a good thing. It now let's the Zelda series move on and start from scratch

Hmm idk. I'll probably pick up the game and try it, but it sounds like everything is really quick and easy. I don't understand the need for making the 'rental' system and making everything non-linear, when it wasn't broke and didn't really need fixing to begin with. It sounds like it just made the game too easy and took away a lot of the cleverness of the puzzles.

Despite that, as I say, I will probably get the game sometime. I really like the art direction, and I think this is one of my favorite iterations of Link. And the Gameboy Color Zelda games were my favorites - I actually wish this would be more like them than ALTTP, but that's okay. And it will probably still be a pretty good game, even if it isn't great or a system-seller.

Do you unlock harder difficulty modes or anything like that after you complete the game? You say the replay value is high, so I'm curious if that's because you think the game is just fun enough to play multiple times, or if it's because there is also more content to look forward to.

How would you compare it to some other 3DS games on the market?

your review doesn't seem to match your score. you sound like you would give it more like an 8.

not really a review. just an amass of thoughts. last of us and gta v are my favorite games of the year (i give them both a 9.5).

ALBW feels like it could be almost on par with them.

Yet to play it.. just started off Pokemon X. Between that and SMT4 still waiting to be opened not likely gonna play it anytime soon :( Damn I need more than 24 hrs in a day

you have this game on 3ds naveed? I know you are a big Zelda fan..

this is the best handheld Zelda in years. maybe ever.

Nice overview and I agree for the most part.

I got the game 2 days ago. It's actually really fun. It's definitely going up there with one of my favorite Zeldas. The best thing about it really is the pacing. It doesn't hold your hold. You just set out in the world to do your thing. I like how items are just there, and ammo is free to use. It means I can have fun with them, and puzzles aren't immediately obvious on what item should be used. In fact, it seems a lot of puzzles don't require necessarily a specific item.

Anyway, there is hardly filler, the dungeons are short and sweet (perfectly suitable for a handheld Zelda). Overall, an awesome game.

I should mention, I haven't finished it yet. I'm about half way through.

The takeaways that I hope future Zeldas should consider is the infinite ammo dictated by a meter (allowing me to actually freely use and enjoy the items), the general freedom of the game (no tutorials), and potentially how dungeons don't obviously give you an item to use in the dungeon ("Oh look, I got a hookshot, who didn't see that coming?")..

I have been buying a ton of stuff for snowboarding and such, so my money is a bit tight. I asked for it for christmas. If I don't get it then, I will buy it soon after. I am excited and nervous. I hear mostly great things.

To me, it is simply the best Zelda ever. My only complaint is it's a touch on the easy side. Loved the rental system and the single item dungeons. In previous games, I'd always get stuck when I didn't think to try bombing the walls or whatever in a dungeon primarily besed on the hook shot. I thought keeping the puzzle solving simple made it less frustrating w/o being any less satisfying. I any case, it took me about 20 hours to beat in which 19 were very much fun and I never even had so much as an inkling to put it down and stop playing until I was done (unless, you know, I had to sleep or go to work or something dumb like that). That is just about right to me.

Its a great zelda. I usually do not finish zelda games but I couldnt put this one down until I beat it. Its hard to find depth in handhelds IMO, but this does it. Great game you wont be disappointed.

To me link's awakening is my fave top down zelda. Exploring an overworld that has secret places and lots of npc's interaction is what new zelda's need. Here is what I would ask those of you who have played both links awakening and the new 3ds one. Does it feel like Nintendo put as much effort into this new 3ds zelda as they did with links awakening for their different times taken into account? Links awakening was more than u could ask for a zelda game in 92 or 93 on the original gameboy, is that how you feel about this new one?

The Hero Quest is quite difficult if you're looking for a challenge. There are bosses with one-hit kills and most of them can kill you in 2-3 normal hits no matter how many hearts you have (and if you're still on one row of hearts then forget it). I had to figure out ways to cheese the game in order to stay alive for a lot of the boss fights.

Btw, the weak story is ideal for a handheld game. The whole game is bare bones and simple. It has tons of replayability and is easy to pick up and put down. Easily the best game on the system so far for me.

I wish it were available from the start. One of my only complaints on A Link Between Worlds is that it is a bit too easy.