Hyrule Warriors is a little bit Zelda and a large portion of Dynasty Warriors. While Hyrule Warriors was never supposed to be a full-fledged Legend of Zelda title, it still manages to bring enough fanfare to the table that will leave Zelda fans begging for more. This title removes most of the Zelda series’ puzzle solving elements and replaces them with non-stop action and combat that is common place in the Dynasty Warriors series.

The majority of Hyrule Warriors is all about combat and slaying as many monsters as you can. This process in itself is rather easy, with a wide-range of button mashing combos. Thankfully combat rarely gets boring as there are so many different styles of awe-inspiring attacks and moves that manages to keep each wave of monster slaying fresh. Trying to obtain a huge combo is not only fun, but also thoroughly satisfying.

Unfortunately, Hyrule Warriors rarely puts up much of challenge. No matter what the difficulty level is set as, most of the game’s common enemies will stand idly by as you slaughter them in the masses. You are seemingly playing as a god-like character that cannot be defeated and have the ability to win any war. This sad fact is offset some by interesting bosses and other stage objectives, always leaving you with something to do, but on the whole the game is just mindless hack-and-slash with little difficulty.

While boss battles are a great way to disrupt the game’s usual flow of action, they are usually just watered down versions of already existing Zelda battles. Battles with King Dodongo or Gohma have never been particularly challenging, but they are even less so in Hyrule Warriors. General Zelda clichés still hold true; with Dodongo disliking smoke, and Gohma having a weak spot in his eye.

Hyrule Warriors does manage to stay fresh though thanks in part to an abundance of roster characters and weaponry. As of now there are 13 playable characters including Link, Zelda, Sheik, Impa, Ganondorf, and more. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, and a unique weapon/move set tailored to their background in the Zelda series. Being able to unlock new characters and trying them out keeps Hyrule Warriors from getting boring too quickly.

If that is not enough for you, do not fret, as there is also a surprisingly deep crafting and upgrade system. Character modifications, weapon upgrades, new abilities, and more could be added to your characters by using materials found within the stages. This fact will oftentimes lead you back into past stages to farm for materials. Another nice feature is the ability to level up your characters through the expenditure of Rupees, removing the element of grinding from the game.

The main story mode of Hyrule Warriors is where gamers will spend most of their time. I completed my first play through in about 9 hours, and expect the same for the majority of users. While Hyrule Warriors offered a promising plot, it ultimately failed to deliver by the end of the game. Plot devices felt too rushed and concepts were underdeveloped leaving a lot of opportunities lost by the wayside. For example, the main villain Cia is defeated about halfway through the game. Within an hour of gameplay Ganondorf has already taken over Hyrule and defeated both Link and Zelda, only to then be defeated by Link and Zelda in another 2 hours. Things just feel a tad rushed. While the main quest is not terribly long in length, the many additional game modes and pending DLC will leave Hyrule Warriors as a game that is overflowing with value.

Lastly, Hyrule Warriors does have a couple of notable areas of concern. First off is the game’s multi-player mode. Once again Nintendo chose to stay a decade behind in technology and passed on implementing an online multi-player feature. While the local 2 player co-op mode was enjoyable, the game tended to lag up and take a visual hit on the Wii U’s Gamepad. Another rather odd feature of the co-op mode was the ability to play as certain characters in various stages. It is rather off-putting to see Zelda and Ganondorf teaming up to defeat Zelda and Link, or to see Ganondorf fighting against himself. A basic exclusion of characters in certain stages would have been an easy and much welcomed add-on.

Hyrule Warriors will also be releasing with a free update for the game, enabling gamers to choose their own background music for each stage. This feature is nice as Hyrule Warriors features a rather odd soundtrack that has a blend of Zelda music and metal.

In conclusion, Hyrule Warriors is an easy to pick up title with a surprising amount of depth. The game is great for those who love the Zelda series, and those who are more into the action and fighting of the Dynasty games. While gameplay will never become challenging, there are plenty of things to keep yourself occupied.