Everyone knows that Musou games are divisive. You love them or you hate them. I'm totally fine with the knowledge that I'm in the latter category.

But what frustrates me is that this game has SO much Zelda content! The roster is INSANE! Why did THIS have to be the enormous love-letter to my favorite franchise?? Each time I tried to get back into it, the repetition bored me in minutes.

I am 100% salty that I can't enjoy this game. I wish I loved it, and I envy those who do.

I guess I'm just not a Warriors series guy. I had heard of Dynasty Warriors for quite some time & never tried it, but when they released this (which I assume is essentially DW with a Zelda coat of paint), I decided to take the plunge. And I mean, it's alright. Fighting ridiculously huge hoards of enemies is really fun for, like... maybe 15-20 minutes? Played maybe a level & a half before deciding I had my fill. It's fine, but the fun of its core gameplay loop just doesn't last that long for me personally.

Your moves are embarrassingly rad, but then your enemies are basically endless. You are always playing catch-up. Less power-fantasy than putting-out-fires-fantasy.

You have a lot of women warriors to choose from. But as Hyrule history makes clear, there are only so many because past Zeldas were full of female helpers and sidekicks. That they finally get to fight alongside the boys in a little meta-gaiden like this is no consolation. The new female villain, Cia, isn’t even allowed a true lust for power. She’s just lovesick for Link.

Hyrule Warriors is ultimately a feckless episode of Zelda Superfriends. Move along.

Popcorn movies are often used as a term for movies that don't have much depth or artistic merit, but are meant as a short form of entertainment. Games don't have such a term, but if such a popcorn game did exist, I feel Hyrule Warriors fits that bill wonderfully. Hyrule Warriors has brain dead combat, a nonsensical plotless campaign, and specials, while over the top fun, gets stale fast yet Hyrule Warriors is one of the most entertaining and time sink games on the wii u to date. The campaign is an interesting take on the usual Zelda timeline and while having interesting things like dimension hopping and time travel; largely all comes down to get all the bases and beat some baddies. Each characters/weapons moveset are fairly unique while also providing to still have very basic controls, but often when going for A ranks in the zelda maps it can be hair raising to get it for unfamiliar or down right bad characters. While the campaign is a fun little ride, the main mode is the Zelda map where you go around collecting new weapons, heart conditioners , and items to further explore.While the Zelda map mode is a fun little mini-type game that let's you play a psuedo Zelda, it's largely the main cause of stress for this game due to it's random nature of A ranks for various characters, and not understanding that the game itself simply isn't balanced enough for all characters to be viable or usable to every single player. Still Hyrule Warriors is an enjoyable experience regardless of it's repetitive and inconsistent nature, but it largely has to do with how much you like Zelda and if you don't mind turning off your brain a bit. Hyrule Warriors isn't going to change anyone's day, but at least it provides for some cool moments every now and then.