There’s not too much to say about Hyrule Warriors other than it’s Dynasty Warriors… except Zelda. Literally everything you know and love from one of gaming’s most sequelised series is here and present, except with a new coat of Zelda paint and filled with nods and references to its history.
The E3 demo allowed players to choose from two characters, Link and Zelda, along with a selection of weapons for either. Characters in the game will be drawn from several titles, and not tied to any one particular timeline or period, making a canon story unlikely. In-game, you’re presented with locations which seem very similar to those you may be familiar with, such as the Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time, however they’re redesigned and broken up into several smaller sections as Dynasty Warriors fans will be very familiar with.
You’re tasked with taking control of the map and killing as many enemies as possible, which is made a lot easier thanks to the Goron steroids our heroes must be on to explain their new strength. A simple button mashing combo will send hordes of enemies flying into the distance, more extensive ones are flashier and can see your combo meter soar into the hundreds.
There are side missions for you to complete on the map as the battle continues, including helping your comrades (like the generals in DW, mine included Zelda and Impa) if they get overwhelmed by enemies, defeating enemy generals, helping friendly supporting armies and raiding dungeons for treasure, with the requisite music and proud animation of course. One such raid in a Goron stronghold produced the famous Bomb item, which can then be used to break boulders blocking your path to advance further in the level. It’s safe to assume other such items will come into play in the final release.
Hyrule Warriors is a lot of dumb fun – if you’ve played or even seen any of the Dynasty Warriors titles then you know you won’t be doing too much exploring or puzzle solving, but the feeling of power and the scale of the battles make it a unique Zelda experience on the Wii U.
