Hyrule Warriors Completed
With purchasing a WiiU a couple of months ago, the main reason why I bought one was so then I could start playing one of my favourite Franchises – The Legend of Zelda.
Seeing it advertised it had been on my radar for quite a while and one that I definitely wanted to play. Roll onto Christmas 2015 and my Mrs bought it for me. It was one of those games I found a bit too irresistible to put down. I do like my hack and slash games and all with the added bonus it was with my fave characters.
Now strictly speaking it isn’t a true Zelda game as it wasn’t directly developed by them but by one of their co-affiliates. It was nice to see what a different studio could do with the franchise. The game starts of with Link naturally who has to help protect Hyrule castle from an impending attack. With the help of Princess Zelda and Impa you are able to hold off the forces and introduced to the games basic mechanics at the same time.
Controls are what you would expect from a hack & slash game, you have one normal attack, one heavy attack, dodge button, super powered attack button and one which lets you use a different special attack which uses the magic metre. As you progress through the game you can additional moves and perks to your characters to assist them in combat to either be more resistive to the enemies or more combat efficient. One gripe that I did have was with holding the WiiU controller for such a long period of time, I do have big hands and should be fine with hold what is essentially a tablet. For the first time ever in gaming I think I got RSI injury which I’ve never experienced before doing such a simple activity. This however worked in my favour, it made me take my time with the game and have regular breaks thus allowing me to enjoy it’s lore and offerings at a more casual pace.
In terms of the story, the developers have done well to blend the stories of multiple Zelda games into one time line. If you have the read Hyrule Historia you’ll more than likely would have seen the timeline which pieces together where do all the Zelda games fit into the timeline. Taking elements from Ocarina of Time and mixing this with Twilight Princess & Skyward Sword the developers gave a good mix of levels and areas which are slightly familiar to Zelfa fans.
In terms of gameplay the game is essentially a hack and slash version of a Tower defence game. You take control of keeps which allows your army to be reinforced whilst ensuring that keeps under your control are not take over by the enemy. If you want to take control of a keep all you have to do is defeat a certain number of enemies before the keep boss appears; defeating the keep boss allows your forces to take control. So whilst you’re taking control of keeps there is also usually a main mission / story to along with what you’re doing. At the same time as taking control you may be taksed with stopping Bombchu’s destorying parts of your base. This all helps give players a whole range of tasks they need to perform but at the same time ensuring they are not defeated. At the bare minimum it hepls with your multi-tasking abilities.
I thoroughly enjoyed Hyrule Warriors but can’t get on with the Classic Hero mode which is set mini missions, the gameplay mechanics are not too thought out there and do feel a little rushed. Overall if you can pick this game up cheap you won’t be disappointed!