Welcome to What’s Popping (or not), the column where I have hard opinions on your favorite movies, games, TV shows, and books, and decide whether it’s popping or not after an in-depth review.
I am not the first to say that Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a beautiful and extremely addicting game. Knowing that the new Hyrule Warriors game was going to follow along with the same style, I was immediately interested. Real quick, let me make myself absolutely clear when I say that I really don’t know all that much about video games. I am not a professional, so I will be rating Hyrule Warriors on categories that I can work with: controls, focus, and aesthetic. I won’t be talking about anything technical because I don’t understand the technical aspects of video games, and, let’s be honest, that stuff is boring anyway. This is a review coming from an Average Joe, not a video game expert; please don’t crucify me.
Along with that, the Legend of Zelda timeline is very confusing, so I won’t be diving into the lore or storyline that much. I guess there could be minor spoilers ahead, but not too much since I haven’t even finished the game. This is more like a first impressions type of review.
When I first opened the game, I was excited to see what was in store. I haven’t played the first Hyrule Warriors, but I had seen clips, so I had a pretty vague idea of what I was getting into. I was pretty overwhelmed to be faced with a huge hoard of Bokoblins, one of the monsters in the games, because, in Breath of the Wild, it was a challenge in itself to take down four or five right out of the gate. However, Link was fully armored and was armed with a sword. Still, I wasn’t entirely sure how I would fair against the hoard. I quickly discovered that it wasn’t an issue, and taking down the hoard was extremely easy.
The controls were pretty different from BOTW, which threw me off for a bit, but it wasn’t too difficult to get used to. There were also a few things that changed with how to take down Moblins and other “bosses.” In BOTW, it would usually take four or five hits to kill a Moblin, but in Hyrule Warriors, it takes a lot more effort, which is kind of annoying. Also, Master Kohga was so much harder to defeat, which was so aggravating. I mean, I understand why for him since he was younger, and clearly more powerful, in Hyrule Warriors than he was in BOTW, but he’s still stupid, and I really dislike him. I dislike the whole Yiga clan in general, not from a storytelling or technical standpoint, just because they annoy me.
Speaking of annoying characters I hate … Revali somehow gets WORSE in this game. Seeing him fills me with so much seething, white-hot rage, oh, my God.
Anyway, something that was kind of an issue for me with BOTW was how long it took me to play. I don’t mean how long the game is in general, but more so how long I could pay attention before I got kind of bored. Most of the game was filled with sidequests and really tedious jobs, like collecting korok seeds, which makes the game feel more real and adds to its fun. Still, I would often find myself just … walking around aimlessly in fields, stuck somewhere because it’s raining and I can’t climb, or searching for temples so I can get more weapons or spirit orbs.
What I like about Hyrule Warriors is that there’s mission after mission after mission. There’s always something important or active to be doing, and I can literally play for hours. It’s so much harder for me to get bored or lost while playing Hyrule Warriors. Don’t get me wrong, I really do love all the freedom that BOTW gives you, but having all of your missions and jobs right there and available to you all at once is very exciting.
The thing about this game that excited me the most, though, is the fact that it’s just like BOTW in terms of aesthetic and style. Although you can’t explore as much in this game, it’s still just as beautiful, and I love the character designs. The cut scenes are stunning, and I do enjoy looking at the characters and landscapes. Also, I cannot be the only one who is so excited that Mipha is in this game. I love her so bad, and I was so sad that there wasn’t much Mipha content in BOTW. I also love being able to play as Impa because she looks so good, and she’s so powerful. Overall, this game, just like BOTW, is wonderful.
I didn’t talk about them in the review because I don’t understand them a lot, but I understand there were some technical issues with the game. I guess that would play a factor in any normal review, but this is a review from an Average Joe.
Overall, I decided to give the game an 8/10. It’s a pretty fun, addicting, and beautiful game, and I love most of the characters and missions; there are just little things about the game that annoy me sometimes.
That’s all for this review. Make sure to check back in an unspecified amount of time because I am unreliable with deadlines, and I like to procrastinate a lot to find out what’s popping (or not).
