Hyrule Warriors Legends Reviews
On the whole, Hyrule Warriors Legends is an ok experience for New 3DS owners. Despite adding five awesome characters and some smart control-swapping and fast-travel options, the performance problems and shabby-looking graphics make it difficult to appreciate all the fanservice that’s packed in here. The poorly downgraded textures, hideous menus, and pop-in are all real eyesores. And stay away from 3D if you prefer a stable framerate. [OpenCritic note: IGN separately reviewed the 3DS (4.0) and New 3DS (6.8) versions. While OpenCritic does not support the New 3DS as an independent platform, we are choosing to average these two scores here.]
As long as you don’t turn on 3D mode this is almost as good as the original Wii U game, the only problem being the Wii U version wasn’t very good at all.
[T]his kind of game needs to be hyper-slick to stand out, and Hyrule Warriors Legends isn't slick. Passable, certainly, but not the stuff of legend.
Hyrule Warriors is still a fun take on the Zelda universe, and the added content is worthwhile, but the technical issues make it hard to enjoy
Assessed solely as a Zelda game, Hyrule Warriors probably isn’t good enough to lure in non-Dynasty Warriors fans, but it is passable enough to offer Musou lovers something different to play between their usual battles for dynastic superiority.
While it's certainly nice to see Nintendo continuing to support the 3DS well into its dotage, the system's late-life Zeldas mostly serve to make me pine for whatever Nintendo has coming up next for its handheld hardware line. Hyrule Warriors could probably work quite well on a portable... just not this particular portable.
Personally, I don't mind paying for Hyrule Warriors all over again with Legends. I got hundreds of hours of enjoyment out of the Wii U version, and being able to relive that is fine with me. But not everyone is as keen as I am, so if you're not a superfan already, it's a tough sell -- because really, this series deserves to be immortalized on a big screen.
It doesn’t have the same level of depth or detail a traditional LoZ game employs, but it’s satisfying, and I can see keeping Legends in my system for a long time coming. Sure, it can make you want to yank your hair out by the roots sometimes, but if it didn’t, would you really want it?
Hyrule Warriors: Legends may be not be of the same calibre as most Zelda games yet there’s something to be said about way it draws from both the gaming properties it looks to fuse together. Although not entirely successful, it’s an interesting amalgam and one that fans from both camps will now be able to appreciate while on the go.
An enhanced and very complete porting in terms of contents for a musou that will not please everyone, but that landed on New 3DS in the best possible way.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Hyrule Warriors: Legends is a solid handheld musou experience only let down by some technical limitations.
Adding another excellent Zelda title to Nintendo's handheld library, Hyrule Warriors Legends is without a doubt the definitive version of an already enjoyable game with plenty of content to keep you busy until the upcoming handheld exclusive DLC arrives.
Hyrule Warriors Legends is every bit as good as the original, with more meat to chew through and a colorful cast of extra playable characters. While some of the original game's problems are still present, improvements made to the fluidity of battles and player freedom more than make up for it. In fact, I'd go as far as to say this is easily one of the best 3DS games ever released, at least if you have a New 3DS in your pocket.
Hyrule Warriors Legends is a worthy port of the original The Legend of Zelda spin-off, allowing fans to take the game with them on the go – with a few noteworthy additions.
Combining the familiar elements from the Legend of Zelda with the simplistic hack-and-slash gameplay found in Dynasty Warriors makes Hyrule Warriors Legends a great game for quick bursts of pick-up-and-play, that also offers a rich storyline that handles the source material with a noticeable level of honor and respect. Whether you’re a Zelda fan or a Dynasty Warriors gamer there’s a lot to be happy about in this mash-up title.
Hyrule Warriors Legends feels rough in several areas, and most of it is likely due to the hardware constraints of Nintendo’s handheld. There is simply too much going on at a time for the little system to keep things in order. The new improvements are very welcome, and I would love to see them make their way over to the console version. However, that is still by far the preferred way to experience this game. Even with the extra characters and such, Hyrule Warriors just works better on the Wii U, even more so for those without the New 3DS model.
On the whole Hyrule Warriors Legends is a solid game built upon the strong foundation of its predecessor.
Hyrule Warriors Legends is a pretty amazing achievement on the 3DS hardware, but that same hardware imposes some rather glaring limitations. It’s almost feature-complete compared to the Wii U game but a smaller screen and lower resolution hamper the overall experience. What’s more, most of its new content will be coming to the Wii U version as DLC, so unless you really want to play Hyrule Warriors on a portable it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend Legends.
Have you played Hyrule Warriors on Wii U? Do you own a Wii U? If the answer to either of those questions is "Yes" then you shouldn't bother with Hyrule Warriors Legends.
This isn’t a bad port of the Wii U original, and if you like Dynasty Warriors and love Zelda then the addition of new characters and content might be hard to resist. Yet Hyrule Warriors struggles to represent the best of Warriors or the best of Zelda, making for an awkward hybrid that’s not actually all that much fun.