There be Spoilers Ahead!
As a fan of both the Dynasty Warriors and Legend of Zelda franchise's I was highly looking forward to this game, and when I first got it the game was like I thought it would be. It played like a Dynasty Warriors game, mixed with some of the Action Adventure and playability elements of the Legend of Zelda franchise. But the more I played the game the more I began to ask myself is this really what I was expecting? There were several amazing things about the game itself that made my inner fanboy squee, but at the same time there were several things that I felt were lacking about the game itself. So is Hyrule Warriors the ultimate fanservice mixture of Dynasty Warriors and The Legend of Zelda? Well lets take a moment to find out;
First and foremost I want to talk about the story. The story itself was pretty detailed, especially for something new like this. I say it like that because other Koei games usually focus less on unique story lines and more so on historic events romanticized, examples include Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, as well as ROTK and Nobunaga's Ambition. However, for a fan of both the Dynasty Warriors series and Legend of Zelda series the game came off as lacking in length and depth for the storyline itself. Legend of Zelda has been cited as masterful storytelling ever since it actually began having a story that consisted of more than just 'Go here and kill this'.
The story, aptly named Legend Mode, consists of four parts. The Prologue which consists of introducing the core characters such as Link, Zelda and Impa. The Ocarina of Time/Twilight Princess/Skyward Sword section, which introduces the secondary characters such as Daruia, Fi, and Midna. The Epilogue which consists of fighting and defeating Cia. The Ganondorf Section, that consists of Ganondorf's rise to power and the return of Zant and Ghirahim, and the Grand Finale which consists of the heroes final epic confrontation against the forces of evil, and more specifically Ganondorf and Ganon. All of these sections add up to a grand total of 18 levels for you to invest your time into.
18 levels, now lets compare that to the most recent Dynasty Warriors game release, Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends/Complete Edition that has five factions, and roughly 10-13 stages in and of itself in every faction it made Hyrule Warriors feel short in comparison. Then there was the storytelling itself, while the story had a solid basis once I finished the game and defeated Ganon I found myself sitting there thinking constantly that the story was exceptionally underwhelming. In the long run that could just be the fact that previous Zelda games have been Action Adventure games with no other focus except on a great story and amazing playability. So when going into this I expected a long, amazing, epic about factions of Hyrule combating it out like one would if playing a dynasty warriors Zelda game.
Unfortunately, as I said I felt a little underwhelmed on everything involving the story in general. While it fit in playability of a Dynasty Warriors game, and fit the Zelda games storywise both were signficantly underwhelming when comparing it to the previous acomplishments of the two games being combined into this big ball of fanservice. That is unfortunately a factor when creating a game like this, and the criticism types that will follow once played by hardcore fans of one series or the other. However, if you do not care about comparing it to the other games, you will find yourself in a game that, while underwhelming can stand on its own two feet and show off some shiny awesome things. What are those things? Well lets get right into that.
Lets talk about characters, while a lot of people were hoping for more characters, we got a grand total of thirteen characters, four of which are not unlockable during the storymode as playable characters. While playing this game I found multiple characters I enjoyed, there was of course the characters known as the main character of the series; Link. The mysterious mage girl with blue hair; Lana. The undeniably quick Sheikah; Sheik, and the King of Demons himself, Ganondorf. These are the four characters I found myself playing the most because of their playstyles. Though Link personally is kind of forced on you as he is a major protagonist. Each character has his or her own abilities that can be used in a myriad of different ways. Be it quick, and precise strikes, or destroying the battlefield with a single stroke of your sword, or crowd control every character has their uses and strengths.
Next we'll discuss the different types of games to play, in particular Free Mode, Adventure Mode, and Challenge Mode. Free Mode allows you to play levels you've already finished inside of Legend Mode, with any character you desire to play with rather than the limited amount of characters you can play with in Legend Mode. Challenge mode are set levels with distinct challenges that makes the levels you play more difficult than the original that they were based off of. Finally, Adventure Mode, this is the most interesting thing about the game so far. Adventure Mode is basically a mode where you move around a top down map, reminiscent of the Overworld Map of the original Legend of Zelda Game, and compete in enclosed levels that have a specific goal to reach to complete the levels and advance on the map. The map consists of a Grid where each square on said grid allows for a new level and a new challenge.
This mode is the only way to get certain weapons, as well as certain items needed to create and buy badges on the level up screen. Further more you also receive rewards such as heart containers and heart pieces for random characters as you complete adventure mode, After completing each challenge you will be graded upon how fast you beat the challenge, and other factors. Overall it is easily the most fun that I've had when playing this game outside of the mindless slaughter, and will easily be the thing that takes up most your time if you decide to be a completionist.
So final thoughts consist that this is a great game if you don't compare it to the Legend of Zelda or Dynasty Warriors Franchise that stands alone as a unique and enjoyable experience even if the story itself is lackluster, and uninspiring. The gameplay hardly deviates from that of a normal dynasty warriors game, but smoothly continues the tradition of the hack n slash genre that many people have come to love with the re-imagining of beloved Legend of Zelda Characters. The final rating for this game is 7 Heart Containers out of 10. See you next time.