Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Switch GS review: 8/10

GameSpot has recently posted its outlier review of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awkening Switch and gave it an 8/10. Other review outlets have given the game a higher score than GameSpot.

IGN – 9.4 / 10

GameSpot – 8 / 10

Game Informer – 9 / 10

USgamer – 5 / 5

GamesRadar – 4.5 / 5

GamesBeat – 95 / 100

Eurogamer – “Essential”

GameXplain – “Liked-a-Lot”

Polygon – N/A

Kotaku – N/A

I know Link's Awakening was one of the best Zelda game on a handheld, but it's the least my favorite Zelda of all times and I never finish the Gameboy version back then and never will. Nevertheless, this is unsurprising, but I'm glad to see it receiving praise from reviewers and for those who are looking forward to playing it. That said, I do hope Nintendo makes Oracle of Ages/Seasons and give'em the remake treatment they deserves cause those were my all time favorite handheld Zelda games on Gameboy Color.

(Gonna be a quiet day for the haters here in SW)

I don't know if I would call it an outlier review, 8/10 is a good score. Maybe not the reviewers cup of tea.

And in my opinion the Zelda bias needs to stop with game reviews. Just because it says Zelda in the title, does not mean the game should automatically get 9's or 10's.

Case in point, Skyward Sword, a 7 out of 10 AT BEST!

And Twilight princess. An 8 out of 10 at BEST!!!!

I'm sorry but those two Zelda games had a bias going on. They are not perfect games, they are average to good.

And I'm not changing my mind.

Another Zelda game given a free pass.

It's a nice looking remake but that frame rate looks nauseating.

Nintendo is doing great this year, I can't wait to play through this superb game again tomorrow :)

As a humongous Zelda fan, agreed. SS was a 7/10 at most. TP is a solid 8/10.

About the framerate of Link's Awakening, Nintendo will probably fix that with a patch. They're usually really picky with performance.

Its so refreshing to see Nintendo release new IPs instead of rehashing the same games like some companies. Go Nintendo. :)

Remember when a Zelda game last scored in the 8 range (8.8, to be exact)? Pepperidge Farm members.

Funnily enough the outrage was far less when SS scored 7.5.

@Pedro: “Its so refreshing to see Nintendo release new IPs instead of rehashing the same games like some companies. Go Nintendo. :)”

Lol

I love Link's Awakening! This was my most favorite gameboy game back when it came out in '93.

That said, I'll probably regret not just replaying the DX version on GBC given the price and the supposed frame rate issues. Oh well I've held off replaying it for this long I might as well go for full buyer's remorse.

I do appreciate the extra detail they added to the scenes though.

Link's Awakening is now 88 Metascore, it possibly could go 89-90. Skyward Sword wasn't the best Zelda game nor was my favorite, that Wii version was just done very badly. You can tell most of the reviewers are coming from longtime Zelda gamers, would be nice if they branch out more reviewers who aren't true hardcore Zelda fans.

Looks great. If I was not so busy with all of my other games I would consider this, but I simply have too much to play right now so I will have to pass.

I know you love handheld games, so this fits right up in your alley :)

That's a load of bias when everyone else is creaming over Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy 7 remakes, treating them like "GOTY contenders."

But hey, who am I to say. Nintendo released one of the most refreshing new IP's this year that you slept on - Astral Chain - and I've been beyond happy with that release as it will probably end up being my GOTY or high up on that list.

Cannot say I take Zelda reviews seriously to be honest, played more or less all of them and they are merely good games.

Agreed,

Sometime the nostalgia glasses need to be taken off. Skyward Sword is not a 9 or 10 but plenty of review sites gave it those scores.

This doesn't help the consumer nor does it help the developer learn from mistakes

Another great game for the Switch. I have the DX version on my 3DS and played some of it there and really enjoyed it but I’ll get this new Switch version and play through the whole game that way. Really looking forward to picking this up.

Looks good but review says it’s kinda short so I might just rent for a week.

Why is this $60 when other remakes like Crash and Spyro has 3 games each for $40 and the MediEvil remake is only $30? The $60 price tag of Zelda Links Awakening is really high

Another overrated Zelda game because reviewers are too scared of being blacklisted by Nintendo to give it a fair score.

The Nintendo bias continues. Remember to minus 2 full points to get the true score of Nintendo games.

On GS, this would be a 6/10 then which makes a hell of a lot more sense because this is a port of one of the worst Zelda games from a handheld.

Reviewers need to stop being fanboys of Nintendo and grow some balls and give honest reviews.

A zelda title always a 7 for me. Never got the hype with zelda, okami is a much better zelda game. BoTW is a solid 9 though

I semi-agree with you. Although I've never played Oracles or Spirit Tracks. Other than Zelda 2, I found Link's Awakening to be the worst. Some of my issues with it:

1. Sword, shield, gloves, and boots all having to be equipped and unequipped. So much pausing!

2. An overworld that is almost never fun to explore, get lost easily. So many times I would be lost, try everywhere, and could never find where I had to go.

3. Trading sequence gates progression.

This is looking better though. Definitely with the equips. I hope the game can do a better job of leading you to where you need to go without holding your hand the whole way through.

@jaydan: I was being facetious.

For real though, why you sleeping on Astral Chain?

I know you're not the biggest Switch fan but you are open to playing games on it since you own the system. If there's one Switch game in all of 2019 I think you should give a chance, I think you should give Astral Chain that chance.

Do not like what they have done with the graphics. This is far and away my fave zelda game but would have preferred a different look that tried to emulate the original better.

@jaydan: I didn’t care for Nier Automata or the Bayonetta games. Highly doubt I’d like Astral Chain

So Arkham Origins gets low score for being 'more of the same' (more of the best Batman game ever) and that gets a 6. But remakes, remasters, yearly updates and full priced sports updates often score high?

Still salty about this logic.

Then I would. :)

I do not want to be one to potentially mislead your expectations, but I find Astral Chain to be a slight departure of the expected Platinum Games formula.

While sure, Astral Chain will ultimately do the Platinum thing by throwing absurdly large enemy encounters your way, the game also does a lot of new things for the studio that defines a greater sense of being an adventure game as well.

It has superior combat mechanics to Nier: Automata and it is more fleshed out as an adventure game than Bayonetta.

I am pretty sure once the Switch's lifespan is all said and done - and we can reflect on its library of games - I'm pretty sure Astral Chain will become one of those gems that a lot of people will remember as one of the console's niche standouts.

If you're a hesitant Switch owner, I'd say give it a chance at least when you see it going down in price.

Can't wait to pick this up today!!

Nice. Definitely gonna pick this up on pay day.

Haven't bought a day 1 Zelda in a while so I preordered this one. Gonna try and have my way with it and roll right into Witcher 3 in October.

@hrt_rulz01: Wow! That's cool. What is the Gameboy piece?

@TheEroica: It's a steelbook case :)

Buying this one.

Man that frame rate really sucks.

And turn off that DoF!

Just give me access to the damn settings. There's really no excuse on modern consoles to not offer some level of adjustment.

At least they've given the inventory a nice update. The directional control is a little weird, but I guess makes sense in the context of the GB. They should have at least made the d-pad work. Ideally it would have more modern directional freedom overall though - I don't see why it can't work in the new engine.

I'd give it a solid 7/10 until they fix the performance. Could have used a few more months in development.

The framerate gives me cause for pause but I'm going to end up buying this regardless.

Absolutely! It came in the post today, so that's my evening sorted :D

This game has the same score as FIFA 2k20 LUL

How much did EA pay Gamespot?

@pyro1245: Considering how much of the game relies on movement precision with the Roc's Feather, I think the directional movement is handled really well.

Anyway, I'm just over half-way through it, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. The base game is as good as it always was, and the new art and music are really quite charming.

Hero Mode adds a very interesting dynamic to the game (enemies do double damage, nothing drops hearts), which adds some necessary tension to the combat - the original game was probably a bit too easy.

The dungeon designer is also quite fun, especially when combined with hero mode.

friggin gamespot man always lowballing games by 1 point this game is a flat out 9/10

Except, it performs pretty bad atm.

I'll pick it up eventually. Hopefully they patch the framerate issues. I'm working my way through Fire Emblem and Pokemon Sword/Luigi's Mansion 3 are higher priorities for me than this so I'm in no rush.

@getyeryayasout: welcome to 2019.

@getyeryayasout: Year: 2019.

Played a bit of this tonight and I like it. When I first saw this game’s reveal I wasn’t exactly sold on its visual style but actually playing the game I find it pretty appealing. I just love the soundtracks of the Zelda games and I always feel a bit of joy playing them. This one is no different. So far I haven’t really noticed the technical flaws that have been mentioned elsewhere however I’m not really all that sensitive to those things like some other people may be. I played the DX version briefly so I am remembering these early moments. Looking forward to playing through the whole game this time.

The framerate is pretty bad at times, but it hasn't stopped me from really enjoying it... I'm nearly at the end :)