Hyrule Warriors will be tricky to review. For now, I’ll say I love it. Smash 3DS… I think I’ll wait for the Wii U and do them together. In the meantime then, and before Pokemon comes along, here’s a review for this old and better off forgotten game.

How the Zelda series ever got off the ground I’ll never know. Even at the time, I think Zelda 2 was seen as a misstep. I feel that Zelda 1 was not much fun, but its highly anticipated sequel not only is less fun, but has completely different core gameplay. A jump button, a mix of overhead adventure map with very little interactivity and sidescrolling action stages, a collection of magic spells, an experience bar, random encounters. It sounds like some generic other Famicom game, not Zelda.

I don’t find it surprising that this blend of Final Fantasy and early Castlevania was not followed up on in the rest of the series. The sidescrolling gameplay was used sparingly again in main titles, but was the core of the game only in the most obscure and disregarded titles: the Zelda Game & Watch, and the first two CD-i games: Link, the Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. It just feels out of place.

This holds true for many other aspects too; the music is largely forgettable, except for the Temple theme and even that has only just been reused in the main series, having found prominence in Smash Bros. Smash is also the only place to use the upward and downward thrusts from this game, fitting well enough there. The game looks ugly and many of its characters and settings have fallen into the landfill of history. About half the enemies will never be seen again or are quite different reinterpretations of existing ones.

It’s not just that the elements of the game feel wrong for Zelda; they are badly executed in the game itself. Enemy behaviour is either punishingly unforgiving or laughably exploitable. There is little vertical interaction. Objectives are extremely unclear, and the temples are so mazelike as to require an external map (Nintendo Power’s Player’s Guide is recommended, along with Zelda Dungeon’s walkthrough for things to do outside temples). The game script (and the manual!) are typical NES gibberish. The seams between overworld and sidescrolling section break the feel. The control and momentum… just don’t feel good. Oh and there are lives, and they don’t respawn, ever.

Enough rambling, though. Should you play this game? Nah. I mean, you could try it out, but in this era this style has been done so much better, and like I mentioned, this is a bit of a black sheep of the Zelda series. Beyond one boss, Dark Link, and the town names showing up as the Sages’ names in Ocarina, it doesn’t have much lasting impact on the series. I’ve seen it has its defenders, but I found it pretty lacking in fun. Big thumbs down from me.