Hyrule Warriors Legends Reviews
Ironically, the game grinds to a halt whenever it indulges in callbacks to the Legend of the Zelda brand.
There are a great selection of weapons and characters in this game to make it more diverse, but it just wasn’t worth the struggle to see it all.
Hyrule Warriors Legends offers players with tons to do and brings together many of the franchise’s most iconic characters in a way that is unexpected yet fun — however, the subpar technical performance and changes made to accommodate the handheld may make it an experience that’s far from legendary.
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.
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.]
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.
Hyrule Warriors Legends is great for anyone looking for some mindless action to sink hours into, this is especially true if you missed out on the 2014 Wii U game.
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.
If you like this type of game, and happen to own a New Nintendo 3DS, then you can't really go wrong with Hyrule Warriors Legends. It somehow manages to be more fun than its console peer, and packs a ton of content into its small game cart.
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.
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
No matter what, just be prepared for repetition by design. If not for the hardware limitations, based on content and gameplay I’d go so far as to call Legends the definitive edition of Hyrule Warriors. As it stands, it’s a fine handheld Warriors game for Zelda devotees, all at once a remake, alternative, and companion to its console predecessor.
All in all, Hyrule Warrriors Legends is the definitive version of the game, wrapping up some of the issues and storyline features from the original with additional content, refined controls and even more playable characters. It's an action-packed, worthy tribute to Nintendo's iconic adventure series that brings something new to the storyline and characters we've grown familiar with. If you've yet to play Hyrule Warriors, then the 3DS release is certainly the more comprehensive version - it feels as if it's more suited as a handheld, pick-up-and-play game. Those of you who have the Wii U version and intend on replaying the game, Legends is worth a look-in, but, otherwise, the additional content may not be enough to justify buying an expanded port.
For the most part, Hyrule Warriors Legends is exactly what you'd expect from a 3DS port. The visuals are downgraded and the co-op and challenge modes are absent, but otherwise this is a close match in terms of pure gameplay; it's actually surprising how well the core mechanics have been transferred over to Nintendo's handheld despite the yawning technical abyss which exists between it and the Wii U. In that respect, Hyrule Warriors Legends can be considered a success; it faithfully replicates its domestic parent on weaker - but more portable - hardware.In terms of additional content, the story is less clear. While the new characters and Wind Waker missions are excellent, they're arguably not enticing enough to tempt those who have already played the Wii U original to completion. The fact that the forthcoming DLC is being spread across both systems also means that Wii U owners shouldn't feel entirely left out if they decide against investing in both versions. However, if you're totally new to the game and don't mind rough graphics, then the 3DS edition could be considered your best bet; the Adventure Mode is ideal for portable play and the bonus content makes this feel like a more "complete" package. There are still the issues of repetition to contend with of course, but Hyrule Warriors Legends remains a solid and enjoyable spin-off from one of Nintendo's most beloved franchises.We'll update our review with a score when we've had chance to properly explore the My Fairy mode, which we were unable to access during the initial review period.
Hyrule Warriors: Legends is a good conversion from the Wii U's Zelda-inspired fighting game and it brings an enormous amount of content and gameplay that can easily go into one hundred hours. It's difficult to understand, however, why there is no multiplayer in this version and the lack of a cross save feature will frustrate many who have already gone through the Wii U original.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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.
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.
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.