Video Game Review: Hyrule Warriors—Age of Calamity

 

I am a Zelda fan.

I confess I haven't played ALL of the games, but I've played most of them. Some of my favorites are A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess. My favorite of all is Breath of the Wild.

I love the puzzles, the maps, the artifacts, and the sword. Oh, how I love the sword.

Since Ocarina of Time, I have loved the 3D experience—even if it took me a while to get used to the moving camera. But that was back then. I'm a pro now!

I loved the simple yet powerful story they crafted in Breath of the Wild, and when they announced Hyrule Warriors would have the prequel of that story, I knew I had to play it.

My brother gifted me this game for my birthday and the first thing I did was give it to my son (because I was playing Final Fantasy VII and XV at the time). He didn't finish it.

So the game came back to me and I began to play it. It took me less than two months to finish it, and the best part were the story animations of everything that happened before Calamity Ganon invaded Hyrule... and MUCH more!

The game has a different game play than Breath of the Wild. While it has the same graphics, the same enemies, and some of the same maps, Link and his friends do different things.

For starters, you aren't always Link. You start with Link, but you can soon control Impa and Zelda. They each have their own abilities and weapons. Then, as you get to the Divine Beasts, you can also control the four champions: Mipha, Daruk, Urbosa, and Revali (who is just as nice as ever, LOL). You can also play as Hestu (the guy from the Forest who can increase how many weapons you can carry in Breath of the Wild).

But then the unexpected happens...

*SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS*

From the future Sidon, Yunobo, Teba, and Riju arrive to help each of the champions fight Calamity Ganon.

And it gets crazier! At some point you can control the Fairies, the leader of the Yiga Clan, Master Khoga, the Monk Maz Koshia (the one from the Breath of the Wild DLC), and even King Rhoam, Zelda's father.

After you finish the game, you have gain a new playable character, Terrako (the robot who came back from the future to try to prevent the events in Breath of the Wild). I stopped playing there, and I never completed any of the missions to activate Terrako and be able to play with it. 

Also, I read you can control Calamity Ganon, too. I just never got that far. I finished the game—the main story—and moved on.

Link can still use his sword, run, throw arrows, and use the four runes (magnesis, stasis, bombs, and cyosis). The rest of the characters use their own weapon, throw arrows or something else, and can use the four runes.

The game differs from Breath of the Wild because:

- Each playable character has a different level, weapons, abilities, life.

- You go into "missions" or quests to gain weapons, items (including food), and experience.

- Some missions are timed, or have objectives. Some objectives change during the mission. Some missions can only be played by a certain character. Some missions can only be completed if you change from character to character during the mission.

- You pay rupees to fuse weapons to get better weapons.

- You pay rupees to increase character's levels.

- You pay items to activate abilities, shops, and meals.

- You can collect fire, ice, lightning, and apples (for health) during missions to use during the game.

Overall, I enjoyed the game. It was a different experience from Breath of the Wild or the other Zelda games, but it was still fun to play and most of the battles were in a good level of difficulty. It was nice to see the old characters and imagery throughout the game and to know an alternate timeline to what happened in Hyrule before Breath of the Wild.

I recommend it!

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