Hyrule Warriors Legends is a hack and slash action game, developed by Omega Force, and Team Ninja, and was published by Nintendo and Koei Tecmo for the Wii U on August 14, 2014 in Japan, and then was later released in America on September 24, 2014, and was later ported to the 3DS on January 21, 2016, and was later released in America on March 25, 2016. As a spin of from the The Legend of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors it does a great job combing the many different elements from both games.
Story
When Hyrule Castle comes under attack from dark forces, Princess Zelda, Link, and Impa team up to reclaim their homeland, and take on hordes of enemies. This involves the team traveling across Hyrule and picking up allies as they go, in an attempt to defeat the evil sorceress Cia and her manipulator, the Demon King Ganondorf. The two are attempting to take over the world by stealing the all-powerful Triforce, an ancient relic of power, wisdom, and courage. Which has been a main part of the Legend of Zelda series. This is pretty much what the story is for the 3DS version except that there are two new scenarios Linkle’s Tale, which feature an all new character Linkle, who believes that she is the next incarnation of the Legendary Hero, Link. As she equips her grandmother’s compass and sets off for the castle accompanied by her cuccos. However, her poor navigational skills causes her to travel in the wrong direction, and she is attacked by Skull Kid, who attempts to steal her compass. During the struggle, Linkle discovers the compass has magical properties and reclaims it, setting off once more. As she continues to get lost, she runs into many of the heroes from Hyrule’s past and aids them, The Saga of The Great Sea, which takes place after the main story, where Cia returned and opens a new rift into The Wind Waker era. Which features new characters Tetra, King Daphnes, and Toon Link. Aling with new stages, and enemies from The Wind Waker era. There also is of course the DLC scenario from the Wii U version Cia’s tale.
Gameplay
The game combines the fast paced hack and slash action style gameplay from the Dynasty Warriors series with the lore and aesthetics of The Legend of Zelda series. Players first start out playing as Link as take down hordes of enemies at a time, along with being able to lash out many different combo attacks as well use signiture items from The Legend of Zelda series such as Bombs, Red Potions, The Hookshot, Boomerang. You will also be able to unique weapons and attacks. As players conrinue to play through the main story in Legend Mode more characters will be unlocked. Although the game is very different from the tradional Legend of Zelda style gameplay the game still brings some of the elements from the series such as the boss battles, where like in the series you have to use a specific item in order to defeat them. Along with this you also have to complete certain objectives, capture and defend keeps from the enemies to keep them from spawning continuously just like you would in the Dynasty Warriors series. Another element that is brought from the series is the health gauge just like with The Legend of Zelda series you have a set of hearts, and can be increased by finding pieces of hearts, or heart containers. But along with this you also have a Special Technique bar where as you fill up a character’s special attack bar they will be able to use a unique special attack assigned to that character such as Link’s spin attack for example. As well as the magic bar which will allow you to use a stronger special attack. The game contains four modes. Legend Mode which is the main story campaign, which is about 12 hours long. Free mode, which allows players to challenge or replay any mission with any unlocked character. Adventure Mode, which is a board game style adventure that features NES Zelda graphics, and special missions that will be able to boost up your characters. Challenge Mode where players face multiple battles with specific conditions. One things that was introduced in the game is being able to customize your character. Here you’ll be able to level up your character, upgrade weapons, and equip medals, which will allow you to boost up your character. The game overall is 29 hours long, now that’s if your wanting to just clear the main story and the DLC along with the other modes, but if you’re wanting to collect everything in the game it will take a while. It took me at least 203 1/2 hours just to get all the skultulas, weapons, materials, leveling up characters, collecting the medals, and clearing all the modes.
Now Hyrule Warriors Legends contains the same elements and gameplay from the Wii U version, but with some new additions such as the ablity to be able to switch between different characters on any map or mode. As well as being able to command characters on the map, however due to the size of the map on the 3DS version it makes it hard to be able to see which place you need to have that character at, Its very dissapointing that the map system wasn’t as great as the one for the Wii U but, it does make it easier to upgrade your characters though. Along with this we also got a two new items the ocarina, which allows you to be able to warp to other owl statues, and the hammer, which you can use to take down enemies along with the new characters Skull Kid, Linkle, Toon Link, Tetra, and King Dapnes we also got a new mode called My Fairy mode, which allows you to be able to befriend fairies in Adventure Mode, which can serve as partners Fairies must first be befriended before they become available to use in the game. Multiple Fairies can be befriended, but only one can be taken into battle at a time. Using Fairy magic, they are able to use powerful attacks. Fairies can be raised and customized in a number of ways. They will level up over time, allowing them to learn new skills and attributes for use in battle. Leveling them up also increases their magic, allowing them to accompany you as take on harder battles. We also have the all new Smash Boost Power effect can be triggered by gathering multiple player characters around a giant boss. This refills the Magic Gauge for all warriors and boosts their attack power. The more warriors gathered, the more effective the Smash Boost Power will be.
Graphics
The graphics in Hyrule Warriors Legends isn’t as great as the Wii U version. The animations within the game isn’t as great and can be pretty slow at times, and doesn’t do the amazing final animations for the characters that are shown in the Wii U version, along with the framerate as it can be sluggish at times. That’s just if you play it on a regular 3DS, but if you play it on the New 3DS the framerate is better, but even so the graphics aren’t as amazing as the Wii U version.
Sounds
The soundtrack for both Hyrule Warriors and Hyrule Warriors Legends is a great rendition of the original pieces from The Legend of Zelda series and brings a fresh take to old classics done by series composer Koji Kondo. The game also does a great job of innovating the sounds that you hear from The Legend of Zelda series such as when you’re opening a treasure chest, getting new items, or taking on enemies. It really does a good job of bringing these little things into the game.
Downloadable Content
During the all new Nintendo Direct on March 3, 2016, it was announced that four new DLC packs will be available for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions of the game that will add additional Adventure Mode maps, new characters, new costumes, and more throughout the year. The Wii U version will receive all packs except for the first one. Players can purchase a season pass that includes all four packs or purchase each pack separately. Medli from The Wind Waker will also be available as a free downloadable character to coincide with the release of the first pack.
Summary
Although Hyrule Warriors Legends has its problems. It’s still a pretty enjoyable game overall. If you haven’t played the Wii U version and you want to play the new scenarios, and get the new characters, along with all the DLC characters from the Wii U version, and are willing to overlook its problems then I would recommend that you buy this. Otherwise if you have played it then it depends on whether or not you want the new content. If so then I would recommend that you get a New 3DS, unless you’re willing to overlook the issues.
