I'm all about Dynasty Warriors spin-offs. In fact, when I first played Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, my head filled with ideas of potential franchises that would have made for good Warriors experiences. Never had the idea of a Zelda Warriors cross my mind. Whether I didn't consider the characters or the world to work, or maybe because Nintendo has only had a handful of Warriors titles to date, it wasn't a pair I ever imagined would work together so well.
Anyone familiar with the Warriors series might write this off as another cash-in for Koei, since they could have easily kept the formula identical and just added in characters from various Zelda games and call it a day. However, Hyrule Warriors is anything but that. Sure, it still revolves around hacking and slashing hordes of enemies by a singular character, but there is so much Zelda influence infused in the experience, that even the most hardcore of Zelda fans would appreciate. It certainly shows that Nintendo has worked very closely with Koei on this.
The Warriors formula that carried over still consists of picking from various character and moving from map to map, defeating hordes of enemies, taking over bases and defeating bosses, all while picking up new weapons, material and money (in this case Rupees). The levels are tied together through a rather coherent and interesting storyline, one that obviously involves multiple dimensions and time traveling, since you'll go through stages based on Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. In fact, much of the beginning, which revolves around explaining who Link and Zelda are and how they are constantly reincarnated through time, is great for newcomers to understand the lore behind the main characters, and their appearances in all the games. After playing years of Samurai, Dynasty and other Warriors titles with stories that are more or less uninteresting, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself actually interested in the unfolding story.
Directly coming from a game that has almost 150 characters (Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate), I was a little worried about Hyrule Warriors' small roster of 13 characters, but as soon as I started unlocking alternate weapons for each character, like the Fire Rod for Link or the Spear for Lana, my mind was somewhat eased. Each of these alternate weapons completely change up the character's moveset. Link's precision attacks with his sword and shield turn into wider area attacks with the Fire Rod. Sure the character might look the same, but their playstyle is completely changed up. It's strange that the roster includes characters like Fi, or even the original character Lana, and missing some other greats like Groose, but I guess that's what future DLC packs are for, right? (sigh)
The Zelda influence is strong with Hyrule Warriors. Some bosses require the use of a special acquired item to defeat, the hookshot once acquired can get you to previously unreachable places, heart containers will gradually improve each character's health and even Golden Skulltula's make an appearance in each stage as bonus items. Everything down to the Great Fairy still looking rather ugly but with a modern touch is all represented really well in Hyrule Warriors. And opening those chests is still just as satisfying as it was originally in Ocarina of Time.
Each character can use secondary items familiar to Zelda fans, like a bow, hookshot, bombs and a boomerang. These items won't ever replace your main weapons in terms of damage, rather, they're used for the slight puzzle solving areas in each level. For example, bombs can explore cracked walls or boulders, boomerangs can cut down vines and the bow can shoot down Deku Babas that are surrounded by deadly poison.
True to the series as well, none of the characters are voiced, besides Fi and Midna who ramble gibberish. While this sounds like the right thing to do on paper, in execution, it leaves most of the cutscenes rather bland and almost awkward, as each character is reduced to grunts and yells, when in fact they have speaking parts. Link never says a word anyways, so leaving him as the silent protagonist could have still worked, while giving everyone else a unique voice. Or at least the gibberish!
What really surprised me is how much better the Warriors formula is in Hyrule Warriors, than it has been in the past few core games in the franchise. Quite possibly the best feature, which I think every single Warriors game needs from now on, is the ability to restart from the last checkpoint after losing a mission. There is nothing more frustrating than spending 15-20 minutes on a mission, only to lose your base or a key character as you're about to win, only to have to redo the entire thing again. Hyrule Warriors fixes this annoyance by sprinkling in checkpoints after every key event. It truly is genius.
Upgrading your characters through badges that can be crafted through collected materials also enhances the personalization and customization of each character. While the upgrades are generally identical for each character, you'll certainly feel the effects of being able to take over a base quicker, or an expanded moveset by making each combo longer.
After you've completed the main story, you can take your leveled characters into Adventure Mode, which yet again pays another homage to the very first Zelda game by faithfully recreating its world map, and serving as the basis of stage selection. Each of the tiles on this world map will have some sort of goal associated with it, such as take down a specific enemy, or defeat 300 enemies under 10 minutes.
This might be one of the best Zelda soundtracks to date. Even if you hate the Warriors infused Zelda tracks that add the electric guitar into the mix, there is a slew of remixed and re-orchestrated songs that sound absolutely amazing.
Now since this is on a last-gen device, so come the last-gen problems. Surprisingly, the amount of units on screen is always pretty high, with pop-in being non-existent. However, when things get a little too hectic, the action does tend to slow down a bit. It never lasted too long though as you'll generally be clearing an area pretty quick.
Hyrule Warriors is a wonderful surprise. A surprise since not only does the Warriors formula work so well, it actually manages to surpass past Warriors titles in many ways. And while the character roster is a bit on the modest side, there is enough variety in each character and their subsequent alternate weapons to make that issue seem pretty minor. It's easy to recommend to both Zelda and Warriors fans, since both of those franchises are represented so well here.
