This game always gives me trouble when I try to give it a definitive rating. I'm never really inclined to call the game "good" in the sense of genre innovation, story, mechanics, etc, but then I find myself sinking in to another 4 hour play session.

It's fun. Very fun. The combat is pretty mindless and each character, when leveled up, has 4-5 two button combos and a special ability to memorize - all pretty standard stuff for a Dynasty Warriors game. I've said here before that I've never been a fan of the "Warriors" games and I'm still not, but being a huge Zelda fan makes this game impossible to put down for me. Seriously, mostly every major antagonist/supporting character from all of the mainline Zelda games is playable here.

The "Legend" or Story mode here leaves much to be desired but steps through various "interpretation" locations like Hyrule Field and Faron Woods and exact game locations such as Skyloft, Death Mountain, the Palace of Twilight and more. The enemies and bosses scattered throughout each level are also taken from various game entries, and it all comes together very nicely.

The adventure mode is where the game really shines for me. While the levels are quick and simple with no storyline whatsoever, the challenge and unlockables (such as costumes, new weapons, new characters etc) more than make up for it and keep you drawn in for hours grinding for various unlockables. The map navigation itself is a bit confusing at first but once you figure it out you start to really appreciate the love for the games that went into it.

I'll put it this way - there is little to no story or innovation, the gameplay is absurdly repetitive, but there is so much content and love for the franchise built into this game that make it worthwhile for any fan of The Legend of Zelda.

I can't believe the MCU ripped this game off.

Hyrule Warriors is a wild trip. As a Zelda fan, it's incredible. A perfect trip through the franchises history while still managing to tell a new and satisfying story. However, as an actual game it is WAY too repetitive. That's kind of just the flow of Warriors games to be fair but that doesn't excuse how tiresome this game can get if you play it too long.

As long as you just do the main story you probably won't run into this issue assuming you only do like 2 or 3 missions in each session but dear lord avoid the side content at all cost. This isn't even a criticism of the game. I am genuinely fearful of anyone who has completed even one of the Adventure maps.

This game's plot is surprisingly well done. Its not amazing and most of it happens purely for the sake of fanservice but they very easily could have done worse or just had put no effort into it. I think Cia is a really good villain and oddly tragic. They do the usual trope however, where the really cool new villain is just a servant for Ganon and after you fight them get completed overshadowed by him. This is especially funny because they include Zant and Ghirahim, two of the most glaring examples of this trope, and they don't give them ANY significance beyond being minions for Ganon or Cia.

I do love all the fanservice here. A majority of it is directed to Twilight Princess for some reason. Most Zelda games at least have one character to represent them or an Adventure mode map to reference them. However a lot of the 2D games hardly get representation. A Link to the Past is kind of represented with the Lorule map but not much else that I can rember. The Oracle games literally don't get anything besides a couple character alt outfits and Minish Cap literally gets NOTHING. Real shame because literally ever other mainline game gets some form of recognition.

Thats this game's charm in a nutshell. A whole lot of Zelda fanservice with some pretty mindless, albiet relaxing in the right mindset, gameplay. If you are a fan of Zelda games and do like the Warriors style of games this is more than worth the price. There is so much to do here that I'd argue there's TOO MUCH content. I dread 100% of this game.