Hyrule Warriors is more Warriors than Hyrule

But that’s okay by me

You knew that upcoming Wii U title Hyrule Warriors would be a blend of Tecmo Koei’s Dynasty Warriors and Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda. But I’m here to tell you that the gameplay is much more like Dynasty Warriors than I thought it would be. Not that that’s a bad thing.

The Zelda side is like the yummy icing on the top.

In an E3 demo, I set out as Zelda, charging into the field with her sword and her lovely battle dress (she’s so pretty!) against countless monsters. Zelda was easily able to cut through hoards of them with her fencing-like sword strikes. She’s very fast, so much so that it took me a bit to get used to seeing the princess getting around as well as she was.

I mowed through the crowds a bit until Impa came along to help thin things out. We found a treasure chest (Zelda fanfare music and all) that contained a bomb item that gave Zelda unlimited bomb tosses. These could be used to push back the mobs, but could also clear passageways filled with obstacles. Later, I picked up a power-up that had the bombs growing to several times their original size for about 15 seconds. They were really fun to throw into a crowd.

Zelda worked her way to a central keep that she had to capture. The zone closed off, leaving Zelda a bit stranded, working to fend off a circle of baddies. Luckly, Link came in to help clear the keep out.

Things were fine until a massive King Dodongo came crashing through the keep wall. Remember this boss from Ocarina of Time? This one has the same weakness: bombs. Tossing several into its mouth had him collapsing, leaving him open for more sword slashes.

The demo wrapped up with Zelda using her finishing move, a glorious light arrow attack.

Hyrule Warriors plays exactly like Dynasty Warriors. Really — there’s no difference at all. But it’s enough for me that the details were held down by the Zelda side. Characters, enemies, settings, and even strategies came straight from Nintendo’s camp, making for a more lighthearted hack-and-slash than I’m used to. I don’t think there’s a lot here that will surprise anyone, but there’s more than enough here to make fans of either franchise pretty happy.

Hyrule Warriors will release for Wii U on September 26th, 2014.