hyrule_warriors_bannerDespite the fact that Hyrule Warriors doesn’t officially release until next Friday, it seems many reputable sites and publications were given review copies of the game and have been permitted to publish them early. Nintendo is really pushing the Hyrule Warriors hype train, but does it live up to its expectations?

Hit the jump to see what reviewers are saying!

Rather than just quote one or two sites verbatim, I thought I would compile a decent amount of reviews and voice the overall praises and downfalls of Hyrule Warriors. Below are just a small sample of review scores that have been gathered so far:

Destructoid: 85
GamesBeat: 85
GameSpot: 80
Game Informer: 80
IGN: 70
Nintendo Life: 70
Polygon: 55

As of this writing, Hyrule Warriors is sitting at a 74 on Metacritic, which happens to be where I pulled most of my scores.

Although the game is simplistic and repetitive, many reviewers praise Koei Tecmo for the amount of Zelda fan-service that went into Hyrule Warriors. The combat is rather straightforward, but satisfying, and the amount of content should leave many fans of the Zelda series happy. Adventure mode is also being praised by nearly every reviewer, stating that it is a fine addition to the game and it even rewards players for remembering certain aspects from The Legend of Zelda.

However, Hyrule Warriors isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Some reviewers are lamenting the lack of online co-op, and note a huge drop in performance when the game is played locally with a friend. In fact, IGN stated that the resolution drops so sharply at some points that it looks like the game belongs on the Wii. It appears that the game is also a bit on the easy side, and raising the difficulty is merely artificial, as the enemy AI changes in no way and simply requires more hits to take down. Off-TV play is also apparently poorly implemented and the gamepad cannot keep up with the action, so you should keep that in mind.

Overall, the general consensus seems to be that if you enjoy Dynasty Warriors-esque fighting with some Zelda flair thrown in, you will probably like Hyrule Warriors. The combat and story are somewhat shallow, but co-op and Adventure mode help to spice things up and keep the game fresh. There also seems to be a good amount of content in the game, so there’s a lot replayability working in its favor. If you can get over frame rate issues and a drop in resolution, couch co-op with a friend should amplify your enjoyment with the game even further.

If you’re curious about what certain reviews said in their entirety, I left the Metacritic link below.

So, was this more or less what you were expecting from the reviews? Have any of them changed your mind about buying or not buying the game?

Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Metacritic

Sorted Under: Hyrule Warriors