Nintendo just reinvented 'Zelda' in the best damn way

So long, Link to the Past. Peace out, Ocarina of Time. A new "best Zelda" has joined the fray, and it makes quitea case for itself.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild-- out for Switch and Wii U on March 3 -- is a ground-up reinvention. You haven't ever played a Zeldagame like this before, though you've likely played one or more of the games that seem to have inspired this Zelda.

SEE ALSO:This isn't a Nintendo Switch review, but it'll help you decide about buying one

I'm referring to blockbusters like Dark Souls and Skyrim. Those comparisons have already been drawn in preview looks at Breath of the Wild, and they bear out across the vast expanse of the full game.

A new Hyrule

This version of Hyrule is built for discovery. It's nothing like the "faux-pen world" of past games, where you needed an assortment of tools and doodads to empower exploration. In Breath of the Wild, you can march right up to the final boss chamber within 30 or 40 minutes of starting.

You'd also die very quickly, but that's not the point. Breath of the Wild's sprawling map is dotted with points of interest that have nothing to do with the story. As you reveal more of the world -- by climbing and activating Assassin's Creed-style towers -- an increasing number of proper names draw the eye.

Bottomless Bog. Lost Woods. Tingel Island. Kakariko Village. Lomei Labyrinth Island. Many of these are familiar names from previous Zeldaadventures, but familiarity only gets you so far. This is a new version of Hyrule; even familiar locations are fresh discoveries.

Credit: Nintendo

It all takes me back to my childhood experiences with The Princess Bride. I still remember reading about seemingly magical places like the Cliffs of Insanity and the Fire Swamp, and the feeling of wanting to explore these fantasy locales myself.

That same feeling returns when I pan around Breath of the Wild's extensive map. The only difference here: there's nothing to stop you from actually visiting these places.

Danger lurks ahead

This Hyrule is also a dangerous place. It's easy to suddenly find yourself without weapons and surrounded by far more powerful enemies. If Skyrimis our touchstone for the depth of variety in the world, Dark Soulssets a blueprint for the perils that await.

This is a Zeldathat kills you frequently, and often without warning. The penalty for dying is rarely terrible -- you typically lose very little thanks to aggressive autosaves. What's more, you also have the ability to manually save anywhere. It's a welcome feature that helps balance the steep difficulty.

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This is also a Zeldagame where you cook food and brew potions to heal, instead of collecting hearts dropped by downed enemies. You don't have one sword; instead, your melee weapons, bows, and shields break down and eventually fall apart with use -- then need to be replaced. You can climb on just about any surface you see, provided you have the stamina.

In this Hyrule, physics and logic matter. An early teaching moment tasks Link with using an axe to chop down a tree, creating a makeshift bridge across a ravine. Later, after you get your hands on some flint, you can drop it on the ground near a wood pile and smack it with a metal weapon to start a campfire -- useful for passing the time.

Credit: Nintendo

The rules governing the world, coupled with Link's array of special powers -- series-standard bombs as well as the ability to manipulate metal objects, conjure up ice blocks, and even freeze time -- feed puzzles that foster true critical thinking. Best of all: these are your most basic abilities, unlocked in the opening hour or two.

Find your own story

There isa story here -- it's the usual Link/Zelda/Ganon triangle with a few noteworthy twists -- but more meaningful than that are the stories you create for yourself.

Like the time I got the drop on a pack of Bokoblins, quite literally, by rolling a boulder down a hill and into a nearby explosive barrel. Or that other time when a giant rock monster appeared out of nowhere and I suddenly found myself in a knockdown boss fight smack in the middle of the open world.

Puzzles are still a huge focus of the game, thanks especially to your core suite of abilities. Many of them now take the form of mini-dungeons called Shrines. Each Shrine you unlock adds a fast travel location, and completing one earns you the currency needed to obtain more stamina bars and heart containers.

There's also the more familiar style of dungeons with bosses at the end of them. They feel smaller than they were in past games but more focused. Zeldagames have always toyed with letting you manipulate the physical makeup of dungeons, but never on the level or in the manner that it's done here. Each dungeon is a self-contained puzzle box unlike anything you find elsewhere in the game.

The bad

As impressive as it is, perfection eludes Breath of the Wild. The stealth mechanics feel undercooked, for one. Link can crouch down and move slowly to limit the noise he makes, but the in-game execution feels iffy even at the best of times. Link's crouched speed is far too slow, and the small handful of moments that call for stealth are frustrating.

Credit: Nintendo

The world economy also feels uneven. Very few enemies drop Rupees, leaving only chests and sold items as Link's primary income source. Side quests provide as well, but finding them can be tricky due to near-invisible iconography -- quest-givers are marked with a red exclamation point, but it's tiny, and only visible when you get close.

What's more, many of the items you can sell also have uses as cooking or alchemical ingredients. Paralysis sets in as you struggle to decide what's worth keeping and what's worth selling, since the game never makes it clear.

Nintendo has never built a game like this before. The economy may feel ungainly because it amounts to a first step. This feels evident every time you traipse to four different vendors just to re-supply yourself with a worthwhile number of arrows. In moments like these, the game gets in its own way.

Zelda redeems itself

It's hardly unforgivable. The basic act of exploration in Breath of the Wildis exhilarating enough that boredom never fully creeps in. You'll grumble for a minute about the damnable lack of arrows and your near-empty wallet -- which doesn'tneed to be upgraded, as has been the case previously -- then gamely trot off to chart another new corner of the world.

That's what makes this Zeldaso special. For all that's familiar in the world and its inhabitants, the mechanics and the abilities they empower, there's one critical difference: Breath of the Wildsets you free.

We've marched off to free Hyrule from Ganon's clutches time and time again, but this is the first Zeldagame in which you can really, truly lose yourself.

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