![Hyrule Warriors Review [Wii U] Empty](https://2img.net/i/empty.gif)
by Hyrule Warriors is a crossover game for Wii U between The Legend of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors series. Upon it's announcement, many were skeptical about how good the game would actually be, and if it would live up to the actual Zelda series. Dynasty Warriors doesn't have the best reputation, and Zelda titles generally amaze people, so it's understandable. However, I never really knew what to think of it until actually playing the game. So here's my review for my thoughts on Hyrule Warriors!
Story
The evil witch Cia and her minions have brought darkness over Hyrule. Cia's minions are spread all over Hyrule which now must be defeated in order to bring peace back to Hyrule. Link, although only a trainee, decides he must help Hyrule. However, is it really Cia who decided to bring this darkness to Hyrule?...
The story is simple, but gives a good enough explanation to the events in the game's main story mode, titled 'Legend Mode.' This isn't to say it's not interesting though, as there are a few plot twists along the way. Some are expected, but others I never would've guessed. The game certainly isn't made for the interesting plot, so it's welcome to have surprises. The story is also accompanied with beautiful cutscenes. However, the lack of voice acting is noticeable and honestly annoying at times. There is quite a bit of text in them, and characters' mouths move without speaking, which just doesn't seem right to me. It isn't that big a deal, but considering past Warrirors games have had voice acting, it is just a bit disappointing they aren't here.
Gameplay
Hyrule Warriors is, at it's simplest, all about defeating giant hordes of enemies. What surprised me most, however, is that it's not just about defeating tons of enemies. Rather than a "beat 'em up," I'd say Hyrule Warriors is more of a strategy game. Your main goals are to defeat as many enemies as you can, capture keeps, keep your home base in tact, and foil the plans of your enemy. It sounds simple enough, but when actually playing the game, it can become complicated, and at times rather difficult. Trying to find the most efficient way to complete tasks makes the game very strategic, and I'd say the game mostly revolves around this, and it's very fun for it.
On the other hand, you still have the defeating tons of enemies part of the gameplay. The game includes 16 characters (with 3 upcoming DLC characters) all with differing movesets. Their moves must be unlocked as you go along, but each character will eventually have a huge amount of moves, in most cases, all being incredibly fun to use and pretty unique. Not to mention the fact that you can have multiple weapons for each character, giving them even more moves. There is of course Link, but others include Zelda, Impa, Midna, and some weird choices like Agitha. My favorite character is Lana with the Book of Sorcery, who has some really unique moves that are so much fun to use.
Defeating tons of enemies over and over may seem to get repetitive, but these characters with all their unique moves helps to overcome this. Another thing is that you will come across many different kinds of enemies and bosses that must be defeated in different ways, so it's not like you're just defeating the same enemies over and over again.
There are 3 different gameplay modes, Legend Mode, Adventure Mode, and Challenge Mode. Legend Mode is the main story mode where you play through as the events occur in the story.
Adventure Mode is really a completely different affair. You are given a huge 8-Bit map, similar to the original Legend of Zelda, separated into tiles representing battles where you must complete a certain task, such as defeating enemies in a time limit, collecting treasure, etc. Winning each one will grant you item cards which can then be used to unlock secrets on the map. For example, bombs can be used to destroy walls just like in the other Zelda games, or lanterns will burn bushes like in the original game. Unlocking the secrets in each battle will allow you to unlock heart pieces, and even new characters and weapons. It's an incredibly fun and addicting mode, and is certain my favorite of the three available, due to it's gameplay variety, challenge, and light puzzles.
The final mode is Challenge Mode, where you must compete in a string of incredibly difficult challenges. They're not kidding, this mode really is a challenge mode, it's REALLY hard. I didn't even manage to complete very much of this mode. It's nice to have such a challenging mode in the game.
Sound
The music in Hyrule Warriors mostly consists of remixes from previous Zelda titles in the Dynasty Warriors style, and I think it works really well. These remixes are fantastic. There are also some brand new songs that are really good. The music overall fits the situations, but there is the option to change the background music to whatever song from the game you want, and I always use this feature as it's just really nice to have. (and I have some favorite songs I'd rather listen to than what is already playing) The sound effects are good, although occasionally are so loud that I can't hear the music. This isn't a big problem though. The sound quality is what you'd expect from a Wii U title.
Graphics
The game looks absolutely beautiful. I really have nothing else to say about it, it's just really nice to look at. This is a problem at times, however, as the game does occasionally have some slowdown. While it is rare, it is annoying when it does happen. I'm pretty sure it's mostly only due to the HUGE amount of NPC characters on screen at once. I mean, there are a TON of them. Luckily, it's for the most part always running at 60 fps, with only some occasional slip-ups.
Length and Difficulty
Hyrule Warriors has a ton of content, and you can easily have over 100 hours of playtime in the game alone, and that's not counting the future DLC! With 100 Golden Skulltulas to collect, there is replayability there. Adventure Mode and Challenge Mode are take a VERY long time to complete.
The game's initial Legend Mode will not give you much trouble. However, Adventure Mode can be unforgiving at times, and without the ability to save whenever you want like in Legend Mode, it is even more difficult. As said previously, Challenge Mode is even more difficult. So don't be fooled by Legend Mode, this is a very challenging game, but this also makes it much more enjoyable.
Controls
At the beginning of the game, you are given the option of using the Zelda controls or Dynasty Warriors controls. Being a Zelda fan and having only played another Dynasty Warriors game once, I of course went with the Zelda controls, so I have no idea how well the Warriors controls work. The Zelda controls are good though, they are very simple. Just use B and Y to do the move combos, L to target to an enemy, ZL to move the camera around, A to dodge, X to perform a special attack, and the touch screen to switch between items. It all works very intuitively, and I especially love the simple way to switch between items with the touch screen. (here's hoping Zelda Wii U also makes use of this!)
Conclusion
Hyrule Warriors is a great game and worth buying whether you're a Dynasty Warriors fan, or Zelda fan wanting to try something new. (or even if you just enjoy general strategy and beat 'em up games!)
Please comment or give feedback! I appreciate it! ^^
Story
The evil witch Cia and her minions have brought darkness over Hyrule. Cia's minions are spread all over Hyrule which now must be defeated in order to bring peace back to Hyrule. Link, although only a trainee, decides he must help Hyrule. However, is it really Cia who decided to bring this darkness to Hyrule?...
The story is simple, but gives a good enough explanation to the events in the game's main story mode, titled 'Legend Mode.' This isn't to say it's not interesting though, as there are a few plot twists along the way. Some are expected, but others I never would've guessed. The game certainly isn't made for the interesting plot, so it's welcome to have surprises. The story is also accompanied with beautiful cutscenes. However, the lack of voice acting is noticeable and honestly annoying at times. There is quite a bit of text in them, and characters' mouths move without speaking, which just doesn't seem right to me. It isn't that big a deal, but considering past Warrirors games have had voice acting, it is just a bit disappointing they aren't here.
Gameplay
Hyrule Warriors is, at it's simplest, all about defeating giant hordes of enemies. What surprised me most, however, is that it's not just about defeating tons of enemies. Rather than a "beat 'em up," I'd say Hyrule Warriors is more of a strategy game. Your main goals are to defeat as many enemies as you can, capture keeps, keep your home base in tact, and foil the plans of your enemy. It sounds simple enough, but when actually playing the game, it can become complicated, and at times rather difficult. Trying to find the most efficient way to complete tasks makes the game very strategic, and I'd say the game mostly revolves around this, and it's very fun for it.
On the other hand, you still have the defeating tons of enemies part of the gameplay. The game includes 16 characters (with 3 upcoming DLC characters) all with differing movesets. Their moves must be unlocked as you go along, but each character will eventually have a huge amount of moves, in most cases, all being incredibly fun to use and pretty unique. Not to mention the fact that you can have multiple weapons for each character, giving them even more moves. There is of course Link, but others include Zelda, Impa, Midna, and some weird choices like Agitha. My favorite character is Lana with the Book of Sorcery, who has some really unique moves that are so much fun to use.
Defeating tons of enemies over and over may seem to get repetitive, but these characters with all their unique moves helps to overcome this. Another thing is that you will come across many different kinds of enemies and bosses that must be defeated in different ways, so it's not like you're just defeating the same enemies over and over again.
There are 3 different gameplay modes, Legend Mode, Adventure Mode, and Challenge Mode. Legend Mode is the main story mode where you play through as the events occur in the story.
Adventure Mode is really a completely different affair. You are given a huge 8-Bit map, similar to the original Legend of Zelda, separated into tiles representing battles where you must complete a certain task, such as defeating enemies in a time limit, collecting treasure, etc. Winning each one will grant you item cards which can then be used to unlock secrets on the map. For example, bombs can be used to destroy walls just like in the other Zelda games, or lanterns will burn bushes like in the original game. Unlocking the secrets in each battle will allow you to unlock heart pieces, and even new characters and weapons. It's an incredibly fun and addicting mode, and is certain my favorite of the three available, due to it's gameplay variety, challenge, and light puzzles.
The final mode is Challenge Mode, where you must compete in a string of incredibly difficult challenges. They're not kidding, this mode really is a challenge mode, it's REALLY hard. I didn't even manage to complete very much of this mode. It's nice to have such a challenging mode in the game.
Sound
The music in Hyrule Warriors mostly consists of remixes from previous Zelda titles in the Dynasty Warriors style, and I think it works really well. These remixes are fantastic. There are also some brand new songs that are really good. The music overall fits the situations, but there is the option to change the background music to whatever song from the game you want, and I always use this feature as it's just really nice to have. (and I have some favorite songs I'd rather listen to than what is already playing) The sound effects are good, although occasionally are so loud that I can't hear the music. This isn't a big problem though. The sound quality is what you'd expect from a Wii U title.
Graphics
The game looks absolutely beautiful. I really have nothing else to say about it, it's just really nice to look at. This is a problem at times, however, as the game does occasionally have some slowdown. While it is rare, it is annoying when it does happen. I'm pretty sure it's mostly only due to the HUGE amount of NPC characters on screen at once. I mean, there are a TON of them. Luckily, it's for the most part always running at 60 fps, with only some occasional slip-ups.
Length and Difficulty
Hyrule Warriors has a ton of content, and you can easily have over 100 hours of playtime in the game alone, and that's not counting the future DLC! With 100 Golden Skulltulas to collect, there is replayability there. Adventure Mode and Challenge Mode are take a VERY long time to complete.
The game's initial Legend Mode will not give you much trouble. However, Adventure Mode can be unforgiving at times, and without the ability to save whenever you want like in Legend Mode, it is even more difficult. As said previously, Challenge Mode is even more difficult. So don't be fooled by Legend Mode, this is a very challenging game, but this also makes it much more enjoyable.
Controls
At the beginning of the game, you are given the option of using the Zelda controls or Dynasty Warriors controls. Being a Zelda fan and having only played another Dynasty Warriors game once, I of course went with the Zelda controls, so I have no idea how well the Warriors controls work. The Zelda controls are good though, they are very simple. Just use B and Y to do the move combos, L to target to an enemy, ZL to move the camera around, A to dodge, X to perform a special attack, and the touch screen to switch between items. It all works very intuitively, and I especially love the simple way to switch between items with the touch screen. (here's hoping Zelda Wii U also makes use of this!)
Conclusion
Hyrule Warriors is a great game and worth buying whether you're a Dynasty Warriors fan, or Zelda fan wanting to try something new. (or even if you just enjoy general strategy and beat 'em up games!)
- final score:
![Hyrule Warriors Review [Wii U] 1414hac](https://2img.net/h/oi62.tinypic.com/1414hac.jpg)
(8 out of 10 Triforces)
Hyrule Warriors is a really good game. (a score of 8 generally seems to be thought of as good but not that great for some reason, personally I think that's a great score, as I really enjoyed Hyrule Warriors thoroughly, and am still enjoying it actually.
Please comment or give feedback! I appreciate it! ^^
