Hyrule Warriors Review

There's a perfect way to describe Hyrule Warriors: it’s pretty much Legend of Zelda and Dynasty Warrior’s awesome love child.

Hyrule Warriors was announced back in December last year, fans of both series were mixed on whether Nintendo and Tecmo Koei could pull this off. Would Legend of Zelda fans dislike the absence of temples? And would Dynasty Warriors fans find the game... well, lacking in dynasties?

Regardless of all that, with it being a Wii U exclusive I was pleased something new and exciting was in the works while I wait for the new Zelda title. 

Hyrule Warriors is a non-canon story. Princess Zelda is having premonitions of Hyrule being overtaken by darkness. Worried, she and her right hand women Impa (a recurring character in the series) search for the reborn spirit of the Hero, “Link”. After a brief encounter with Link in the courtyard Zelda then receives word that a horde of monsters are heading towards Hyrule castle. Thus Link, Zelda and her troops prepare for battle.

As you progress through the story or just leave the menu title screen idle for a few minutes, you learn the story of a powerful sorceress named Cia. She maintained the balance of the triforce and watched over multiple universes (Or in our case multiple Zelda games). Cia eventually starts to develop feelings for the hero, Link. But knowing Link and Zelda are always destined to be together made Cia jealous. With the help of Ganondorf corrupting her broken heart, Cia starts a war and summons enemies and monsters from the different universes she once watched over to obtain the triforce and the world. 

One of my queries with Hyrule Warriors was who was this game aimed at, and which fanbase would enjoy the game most? The clue is pretty much in the title, it’s Legend of Zelda fans. But this doesn’t necessarily mean Dynasty fans can’t enjoy the game either. From booting the game up you are given the choice of controls you can play with. Newcomers can grasp either of the button layouts pretty well. Having tried both controls I personally recommend the control layout Warriors for everyone but Zelda fans since it’s easier to grasp and is more like other well known console action-fighting games. You can change the controls anytime in the settings menu.
The number of playable characters here is far less than your average Warriors title, but you’ve got to consider that Nintendo can’t just make up too many characters for a franchise like Legend of Zelda. Overall there are four unoriginal playable characters out of sixteen. Although we don’t get loads of characters I like to think we’re given a good variety from mages, to swordsman and even a harp player. Unless your favourite Zelda game is Wind Waker (or any of the Toon Link series) there’s a character for everyone.

Your playable warriors can be as random as the weird bug lady Agatha from Twilight Princess to the Zora, Princess Ruto from Ocarina of Time. I half expected the creepy Mask Salesman to pop up to defend Hyrule too. Although it all seems a bit out of the blue all these different characters/bosses fighting together the plot gives a good enough reason for it to be so. With Cia connecting all the universes into one using the Gate of Souls it explains why places like Twilight Field and Skyloft are only a hop skip and a jump away. On first look I wasn’t expecting a reason. I was just assuming they were all there in this new universe, since there doesn't seem to be many rules in Zelda games when it comes to plot holes. 

After the title opening you are given four modes to play on. First being Legend Mode which is the main story. I spent most of my time playing on this mode, which at the start is mandatory since its the only mode where you can unlock more areas and certain characters, I’m also a sucker for stories and character development in games. Second theres Free Mode which you can play any unlocked stage with any unlocked character. Then theres Adventure Mode which is where you are given objectives on a menu (picture above) this gave me the impression I’d be playing and fighting in the original Legend Of Zelda style. But as soon as you “Begin Battle” its the same battle style and gameplay as the rest of the game.

Adventure Mode also has an online feature but it is done by “Network Link” which means you go onto other players maps and their game data to help them with their current objectives. But its not you playing on the battlefield with them at the same time. As far as online goes this game had potential but as this is the only online aspect in the whole game I found the online features disappointing. But in all honesty if you play Nintendo games for the online modes you are a bit daft.

Lastly we have Challenge Mode, which was “patched” a little after release. It’s basically what you’d expect, endless challenges (most aren’t a walk in the park either). Playing this mode also earns you rupees and weapons you may not be able to find in the main story.

As said previously, the combat is easy to grasp and going around defeating old enemies I used to hate in a battlefield is more fun than I thought. This is the part of the game where Dynasty Warriors elements come in. At the start of every battle you and the enemy are given a certain amount of keeps. The aim of each stage is to follow objectives, take some enemy keeps and most important keep your Alley Base safe. Most objectives in Legend Mode are varied in each stage and aren’t too similar or repetitive. It does get tricky sometimes you’re given too many objectives at once and you yourself have to figure out which needs priority. The Wii U remote is useful in this sense as it keeps all your objectives and certain things your allies say on the mini screen. The only annoying thing with the objectives and alerts system is it’s ridiculously slow. It takes a good 40 seconds after I’ve taken a keep to get the notification “You have taken the enemy’s keep!” Maybe it’s the game trying to keep an eye on so many things happening at once but I find it laughable that we can play online with people across the world in this day and age at the exact same time and this game can’t give you battle notifications offline in under 10 seconds.

Gameplay isn’t just about taking keeps and fighting the tough enemies. By equipping items you find throughout the game with the D-pad/Wii U touchscreen you can use your original Legend of Zelda items like the hookshot to get a secret treasure chest or to give serious damage to a tricky boss. Often the item you gained in that stage would be the key to defeating the stage boss, much like in the original Zelda games with the temple bosses.

After replaying a few stages and watching others play, I’ve realised your experience on one level could be completely different to someone elses’. For example, I was playing in the Death Mountain stage fighting Gorons and keeping their bombs from attacking my base, and no matter how many times I loaded my save file back up I couldn’t stop my Alley Base from being taken/blow up. This lead to a instant game over and me having to load it back again. I eventually gave up and played it the next morning, when sure enough I beat the stage with ease. This could be because I didn’t take enough keeps before or save enough allies to help defend my other bases but it goes to show how you go about playing really does affect your experience. This does make me think young children may find with game challenging.

Before any level/stage, the game gives you recommendations on which characters and weapons to use. This is a good idea to make the player be diverse instead of just being Link with the same Master Sword in every stage and also helps with leveling up warriors fairly. This feature did make me play as every main character and I found the right hero suited for me to play in the tougher stages. In some modes you do have to play as certain warriors too. Even playing as Ganondorf defeating the good guys was fun, but not as entertaining as seeing him use a bamarang.

Other than the traditional leveling up system after the battle is over you are given Rupees and special items to earn and collect throughout the game. Between stages you can head over to Bazaar and spend your Rupees on Badges which give you perks on either attacks, defence or assists which can range from longer attack combos, higher resistance to water element attacks or just more inventory space for health jars. Theres also a Training Dojo at Bazaar’s which lets you pay with Rupees to level up your characters. Warriors do level up on their own when in battle but having the Training Dojo is a huge help if you want them to successfully hold your Alley keeps and not flee on you. Without the help of the Dojo (or any of Bazaars features) your allies are pretty useless. The last feature at Bazaar’s is the Smithy where you can upgrade different weapons with elemental immunities and other interesting perks.

I nearly finished this review without fulling completing Legend Mode and I'm glad I didn’t! The final boss fight was one of the funniest battles I've had in a long time. I haven't felt so rewarded and happy to finish a game since Kingdom Hearts 2 which was about eight years ago. I hundred percent recommend this game for anyone with a Wii U. It’s been too long since a game has made me look forward to playing it when I get home from work. There are some minor things that bother me but these issues could be patched up in future. Zelda fans will enjoy this and Dynasty fans should give it a try with caution. If RPG hack n’ slash games are your thing you’re going to have a lot of fun with this, just one big tip:
Never hit the Chickens.