Nint endo Switch & The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

Console OUT NOW GAME OUT NOW | Switch, Wii U

The most versatile console ever, or a compromise? If you were being terribly unkind, you could say the Switch combines the lack of portability of a home console with the underwhelming horsepower of a handheld. True, it’s not going to compete with PS4 or Xbox One on a technical level. In its more mobile format, meanwhile, it’s a little on the hefty side – as if a PS Vita had gobbled one of Super Mario’s mushrooms.

Yet the Switch has an undeniable cool factor that’s been lacking from previous Nintendo hardware. It’s a more desirable piece of kit than we anticipated, and the tactile joy of slotting the Joy-Con controllers either side of the screen with a satisfying click will take some time to get old. The tablet display is beautiful, and sliding it into the dock transfers the image to your telly almost instantaneously. And if the cartridge format seems retrograde, it’s something of a revelation to play a new game without suffering a lengthy wait to install data.

It remains to be seen whether a slender launch lineup will prove damaging, but the schedule for the rest of the year – including a brand new 3D Mario game at Christmas – looks promising, and Nintendo has sensibly been courting independent developers, which might prove vital if the bigger third-party publishers decide it’s too much hassle to port their blockbuster games across to less capable hardware.

And if that day-one offering seems slightly miserly, the Switch is launching alongside one of the finest games Nintendo has ever released. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is an astonishing piece of work that embraces the series’ roots, inspired by the intoxicating freedom and stern challenge of the NES original (this could well be the toughest Zelda since, in fact). The game recreates that feeling within an open world more dense and exciting than any of its peers.

It skilfully subverts genre tropes for more involving exploration, so you’re never just dumbly following a minimap. Ascending towers doesn’t reveal areas pocked with icons; rather, you’ll have to scout your own waypoints. There are dozens of playful flourishes besides: you’ll hurriedly remove metal equipment during lightning storms to avoid being violently zapped, or pick up a skeletal enemy’s severed arm to wallop its colleagues. Gorgeous, varied and bewilderingly vast, Breath Of The Wild ensures the Switch is off to a sensational start.