When Nintendo announced a mashup between the already bizarre world of Dynasty Warriors with the puzzling series of Zelda, most fans raised an eyebrow. While I didn’t really doubt the decision, I wouldn’t say that the final product of Hyrule Warriors failed! I truly enjoyed the beat-em-up game, as it truly enveloped what I liked about Zelda games, especially since I don’t really like the series too much. My favorite part of a Zelda game is the story, and this game has a pretty good one, especially for it mostly being a Zelda spin-off. Heck, a lot of things Hyrule Warriors attempted to do launched into a successful spin, if you are into those types of games!
Hyrule Warriors is a unique game in which the player has an opportunity to play as many characters spanning the years of classic Zelda titles, like the obvious Link and Zelda, along with Twilight Princess’s Midna, or Ocarina of Time’s Darunia. In the game, you are tasked with stopping the evil witch Cia from destroying not just your world, but all dimensions, due to her possession from the evil Ganondorf as her envy got the best of her, as she liked Link. A lot, apparently. Anyways, Cia grabs the Triforce, and with this, she forges together the worlds of Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and Ocarina of Time together. It’s a little disheartening that the initial game only has these three games represented, as I would’ve liked to see some characters from A Link to the Past or even Wind Waker! Perhaps a little remastered for the game’s art-style would do them just, however. With these three worlds, older Zelda characters including, but not limited to; Fi, Darunia, Princess Ruto, Midna, and Agitha. And so, the heroes across the ages must team up to destroy Cia’s plans and keep the world in it’s true form!
The story, as mentioned before, is actually really good. It feels pretty much like a standard Zelda game, especially with such a strange twist in having OTHER stories being affected by the other games being meshed into Hyrule Warriors. Actually, one great thing about this game is the representation of each series! About halfway through the main story, the split between the three games, the heroes in the current age for Hyrule Warriors split amongst themselves to try and seal the Gate of Souls there, to fix the timeline. There, you go through two stages for each game, such as Skyloft for Skyward Sword or Lake Hylia, my personal favorite, for Ocarina of Time. They feel very natural, despite them obviously not having the same format as their original appearances. Each stage has their own charm to it, as well, such as you having to keep specific points captured to keep your home base safe in Death Mountain, or having to protect Bombchu’s on their way to pave the road for you to continue through Eldin Caves. Most of the time, they don’t feel too much of a hindrance in each stage. However, in later stages, these “missions” felt more of a hindrance, especially AFTER the split! Plus, you have to face giant bosses from older Zelda games using items, which felt kind of excessive, like King Dodongo, Manhandla, and Gohma.
Though, the clear major thing about Hyrule Warriors is the gameplay! The battles in the game focus on a series of light attacks and heavy attacks, where you often chain light attacks to follow up with one or two heavy attacks. Many characters, such as Lana (a character with true importance for this game), have their own charm and abilities compared to others. Most characters have one weapon, but some like Link or Impa have more than one, focusing on one of five elements (Light, Fire, Water, Lightning, or Darkness). One of my favorites, Sheik, uses her Harp, in which every different combo would do an attack of a different element. Such as using three light attacks would conjure a lightning storm, but just one would spiral out a water geyser. As interesting as it sounds, it’s even cooler, as using just her strong attack would produce different effects depending on what elemental-attack you used, such as creating a shield of water that follows you around if you used the water spiral last. Other characters fit other play styles, such as the powerful Darunia, whom uses a lot of targeting attacks with a heck of a lot of range! Fi, another one of my favorites, utilizes stat boosts and crowd-clearing attacks to blast through crowds of enemies. Each character felt fresh and new, and while some characters didn’t work for, I know people who use said characters as their favorites. It just depends on your play style, truthfully.
One mode that stuck out well was Adventure, a challenging mode in which you trek through the original NES Zelda map, completing challenges within that can limit you with a certain character or time limit. As you continue through, you unlock new weapons like Lana’s Summoning Gate or new characters like Princess Ruto. To do this however, you must use items that you collect from completing each “square.” You don’t go through this blindly, as many of the secrets are true to the original Zelda, and even still, using a Compass shows where you are supposed to use an item. Here, you can play the stage and get your bounty. I still have fully completed it, as Adventure Mode is practically the second HALF of Hyrule Warriors, in which Story mode was already a great task to complete. However, some challenges, EARLY challenges, are extremely difficult. One that sticks out like a sore thumb is one where you must defeat 500 enemies in ten minutes, in which both a super-powered Darunia and Ruto appear (whom in turn can power up their troops significantly) AND two Gohma’s that like to follow you around a lot. Mind you, that was probably only my seventh or so challenge I did. Probably even less!
Hyrule Warriors also boasted a 2-player mode, but it’s really not something to boast about. Here, one player uses the GamePad as a screen which the other uses your television. While this system is actually pretty well, there’s a snag. The games BEAUTIFUL HD visuals are chopped down. Significantly. Especially since I’m the type of person whom doesn’t notice the difference between 30 frames per second compared to 60. When you and your friend are smashing and bashing through your foes, it’s clear that the game almost looks like an early Wii game. The textures look much too rough and the shading is off. I didn’t like playing that mode at all, and gave up on it quickly.
Rating: Great
Like I said before, I really did like Hyrule Warriors. It felt very nice to play, but there are noticeable snags if you are straying away from it’s Story mode. It’s other modes have problems of their own, especially for players with not as much challenge in their heart. Adventure Mode, while very fun, had some extreme challenge, especially since some things you can ONLY find there. Two Player Mode looks atrocious and feels rough to the touch. However, both things are more of a personal problem, as most people haven’t complained of either thing that I’ve seen, so I feel as if it might just be more of an acquired taste. But if you like Zelda games for it’s action and story, and are willing to try something new, I would not suggest passing this game up.
NintendoSpot 