Do I need to sum up the plot? Really? Uhh! Zelda has a bad dream, Hyrule is under attack, Link shows up to save the day, Zelda goes missing, Ganondorf, new witch is in love with Link... Oh who cares, am I right? All you need to know is it's a slightly altered basic Zelda plot with Dynasty Warriors gameplay.
Yes... that's right. RUN FOR THE HILLS! IT'S A DYNASTY WARRIORS GAME! Yes, if you've played a Dynasty Warriors game before, you'll be right at home. The old hacko slasho, button masho is back in full force in the game and it brought along it's friends extreme repetition, stupid A.I and DLC. Musou games and DLC are a really sucky combination. I'll go over that later.
The major modes in the game are Legend, Free, Adventure and Challenge. Legend Mode is the story mode of the game. You play through the story with specific characters in missions based on the story they've concocted. You'll unlock most of the characters through this mode and it'll take a good 20 hours to beat(if you include the DLC scenario and hunting Skulltula's) and is very enjoyable. Free mode is just all the story missions, but you can use any character in any mission.
Adventure Mode is the true meat of the game. In this mode you unlock the majority of the heart pieces, skulltula's, weapons and a few extra characters and thanks to the DLC you can also unlock new colour palettes for each character too. You'll play through a variety of missions ranging from easy... to hang yourself insanely difficult! Yes, this mode will make you want to kill yourself with how difficult and demanding some of these missions are. To make matters worse... most of the items require an A rank to unlock... yes, A ranks on missions so difficult that you'll either become suicidal or murderous. In my case, I murdered my coffee table!
The missions you can expect in Adventure mode are very varied. The variety is actually really cool ranging from easy ones like "Defeat X number of enemies in Y minutes" to break your spirit "Don't get hit!: Beat the level... but they take forever to defeat!". Yes I paraphrased those mission types but you get the idea right? The variety helps reduced the monotony of the game's repetitive combat and missions... but not by much.
Challenge mode only has 1 stage and it sucks... really sucks. It's not worth talking about at all. It's just a map where you get random challenges thrown at you. It's not worth playing at all.
The DLC packs released so far are the Master Quest pack and the Twilight Princess pack. Master Quest pack added extra story scenario missions based on new character Cia's role in the story. It also added the evil Master Quest map that will drive you insane with it's difficulty and a costume for Cia and Lana that spoils the story for anyone who hasn't played it(they are 2 halves of the same person) as well as Epona as a weapon for Link... and she's AWESOME! The Twilight Princess pack gave us Twili Midna(her form you see at the end of Twilight Princess) as a playable character, 2 new costumes for Link and Zelda(P.S. they both SUCK!), a new rod weapon for Zelda and a map for Adventure mode based on Twilight Princess that's just as evil as the Master Quest map!
Repetition repetition, gets into your brain. Repetition repetition, it'll drive you insane! The repetition in this game will deter many people from picking this up or playing it for long periods of time. While I can easily play for 4+ hours on this game, most people will probably get bored in less time. This game is exactly like junk food, you should consume it in moderation and be carefully when you over consume it.
There is a co op option in the game... but be warned! Co op can be a fun time... usually. Unfortunately Co op is plagued with a few issues. First off is the visuals take a beating! If you hate jaggies, you'll hate Co op. Next is the frame rate... it gets put through the shredder really bad here! It can get so bad sometimes, the game becomes nearly unplayable!! Split assets also means less enemies on screen... which means you'll have frequent moments of being in a room that's empty despite the face the map shows it's full to burst with enemies. In short, Co op is more of a thing to use when you need help beating a mission, not for everyday fun.
So is Hyrule Warriors worth your money? Well... it depend how loyal of a Legend of Zelda fan you are. I bought it because of my love of Zelda and Musou games, but find it so anti newcomer/casual player friendly. This game pulls no punches and goes straight for the gonadular region with laser focused precision. I honestly can't recommend it despite my love for the game. It's a great Musou game, but it's not a fair game. I recommend just waiting for Majora's Mask instead of buying it. If you still want it, you've been warned!
Score 4/5... but not recommended
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