Hyrule Warriors is launching today on the Wii U. Hyrule Warriors lets players unleash the full power of iconic characters like Link, Zelda and Ganondorf, as they cut down legions of enemies on massive battlefields in familiar settings from The Legend of Zelda series like Hyrule Field, Death Mountain and Skyloft, as well as new locations created specifically for the game.
The $59.99 game combines the universe of the familiar Zelda franchise with the “breathless fast-paced action” of the lesser-known Dynasty Warriors, Tecmo Koei’s historical strategic brawler series.
Launching exclusively for Wii U, Hyrule Warriors will reunite you with iconic characters like Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf as you face legions of enemies on some familiar battlefields like Hyrule Field, Death Mountain, and Skyloft, as well as new locations created specifically for the game.
The plot surrounding the events in Hyrule Warriors emanates from a sorceress named Cia who’s been corrupted by an (initially) unnamed and ferocious evil. “By combining The Legend of Zelda universe with the game play of the Dynasty Warriors games, Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have created a legendary pairing,” Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement. “Even fans who aren’t familiar with both series will have a great time playing this action-packed Wii U exclusive.”
In addition to the robust single-player adventure, Nintendo has plans to support Hyrule Warriors for the long run with additional content. Day-one buyers will receive access to a free download that adds a new mode, a new weapon, and the option to select music during a stage to add to the overall experience. Nintendo said it plans to support Hyrule Warriors “for the long run” with new content to expand your adventures even further.
In addition, if you register it by Oct. 23 through Club Nintendo you’ll get a free download code for a set of alternate in-game costumes for Ganondorf. All of the additional costumes will also be available for purchase in the Nintendo eShop.
The Warriors formula that carried over still consists of picking from various character and moving from map to map, defeating hordes of enemies, taking over bases and defeating bosses, all while picking up new weapons, material and money (in this case Rupees). The levels are tied together through a rather coherent and interesting storyline, one that obviously involves multiple dimensions and time traveling, since you’ll go through stages based on Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.
The Zelda influence is strong with Hyrule Warriors. Some bosses require the use of a special acquired item to defeat, the hookshot once acquired can get you to previously unreachable places, heart containers will gradually improve each character’s health and even Golden Skulltula’s make an appearance in each stage as bonus items.
The Warriors formula is much better in in Hyrule Warriors, than it has been in the past few core games in the franchise. Quite possibly the best feature, which I think every single Warriors game needs from now on, is the ability to restart from the last checkpoint after losing a mission. There is nothing more frustrating than spending 15-20 minutes on a mission, only to lose your base or a key character as you’re about to win, only to have to redo the entire thing again. Hyrule Warriors fixes this annoyance by sprinkling in checkpoints after every key event. It truly is genius.
As far as Zelda Wii U release date is concerned, Nintendo is saying holiday 2015, and we won’t hear otherwise for some time. But it’s worth mentioning that they haven’t released a console Zelda game on time in ten years. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword were both delayed by a full year from their originally announced release dates. Wind Waker was not, and Miyamoto later stated that that was a mistake, as an extra year would have given them time to fix the problems in the game, namely the relatively small number of dungeons and lackluster late game content.
So enjoy Hyrule Warriors for now. It’ll be a long time before we see a proper flagship Zelda game on Wii U, but when we do, it’ll be worth it.
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