Hyrule Warriors is junk food gaming at its absolute finest

While all games exist for you to have fun, there’s often a whole lot more to it than that. Some games provide a mental challenge, some serve as a simulation of an activity you are otherwise unable to do, and recently many others strive to position you in an adrenaline loop that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Sometimes though, the very best kind of game is the one that doesn’t challenge you at all. These games exist purely to entertain, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Hyrule Warriors is a massive deviation from what you think when someone tells you they are playing a Zelda game, but what was created instead is still a ton of fun to play.

I don’t imagine that there are many people in the Venn diagram of hardcore Zelda fans and die hard Dynasty Warriors players, and that could be why it seemed so unlikely at first that Hyrule Warriors was going to be good. Legend of Zelda games are known for their puzzles, rich back story, and thoughtful but not overly complicated gameplay. Dynasty Warriors titles, on the other hand, are chaotic thrill rides often bereft of things like plot or a reasonable application of physics. What you get when you combine these two, thanks to the collaborative effort from the folks at Omega Force and Team Ninja, is an incredible sprint across the battlefields of key Legend of Zelda titles, and through the eyes of your favorite hero or villain.

If you have ever seen a Dynasty Warriors game before, you know almost exactly what you are getting yourself into here. Hyrule Warriors puts you in control of Link, Zelda, Impa, and several other heroes to complete a storyline that clumsily throws you into the worlds of Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess. Each battlefield is an attempt to complete an objective that is vaguely similar to the premise of each game, including multiple opportunities to interact with a Goddess in order to gain an advantage over whichever boss you are fighting at the time.

Hyrule warriors does a decent job making sure the combo attacks and weapon sets make sense for each character, but in several cases there are blanks that need to be filled in so that every character feels decently rounded. This is why you’ll see new characters like Lana wielding a Deku Spear like a giant version of Link’s iconic slingshot, an item he doesn’t use in this game at all.

Gameplay is a basic hack-n-slash with a decent mix of magic and devastation depending on the character, and each character has a level tree that can be filled out by picking up materials left on each battlefield. Your characters level up independently based on how much you play them, but rupees can be spent to artificially level them to match your preferred characters. As you play, your character will stumble across extra heart containers and weapons to further upgrade their stats, which includes the Master Sword for Link and Giant’s Knife for Impa. The weapons can also be modified to become more capable in various ways, which will all feel very familiar if you’ve played a Dynasty Warriors game before.

Hyrule Warriors is not without its flaws. While it is fantastic to see so much of the Zelda universe animated in stunning HD, there are occasions where the game feels terribly unpolished. The most visual example of this is the character Ghirahim, whose intro is nothing short of an abomination as far as modern gaming is concerned.

During actual gameplay, your opponents will often suffer from the same wooden behaviors as every other Dynasty Warriors game — they’ll loiter until you come along to kill them, without much intention of fighting back. It’s not as obvious when fighting out on open battlefields, but everywhere else it is clear you are fighting an army of plushies shaped like people with the occasional captain or summoner that actually fights back.

Ultimately, that’s why Hyrule Warriors is junk food for Zelda fans. Beautiful, mindless junk food with the occasional pause to smile and remember those cool things you did back when you were playing an actual Zelda game. It’s the kind of thing most hardcore Zelda players will enjoy for about 10 hours, then put back on the shelf and return to pining for that Zelda game Nintendo teased us with at E3. It’s a worthy addition to any Wii U arsenal, but it’s best not to go into the experience with expectations beyond occasionally remembering not to drool on your gamepad while thoroughly enjoying the pretty moving pictures on the screen.