ENEMY HORDES HIT HARD, FAST
NEWEST PIECE OF ZELDA UNIVERSE IS ACTION-PACKED
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Nintendo, Koei Tecmo Available on Nintendo Switch
The new Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is more than just a hack- and- slash romp set within the varied fantasy lands that comprise the Legend of Zelda universe. More than just the next magical, puzzle- filled Zelda open- world game, you’ ll find a satisfying entry in the annals of gaming brilliance first created by Shigeru Miyamoto more than three decades ago.
The second edition of the Hyrule Warriors series — set 100 years before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — is packed with action and occasional bits of lore. You witness what transpired during the brutal throwdown between Hyrule’s soldiers and the minions of the gross, fiery- eyed, skull- headed monster of “hatred and malice incarnate,” Calamity Ganon.
You also meet a curious, comic robot — a mini Guardian who arrives early and becomes essential to the plot. The game’s story, though, could have revealed more of Hyrule’s strange and complex history.
Most of the rest is filled with fascinatingly choreographed action that comes at you fast. At its best, Age of Calamity is more than another “save the world” story. You learn more about each character’s personality and foibles as you work together to survive the onslaughts of dim-witted enemy hordes.
It’s constant fun. Without a story, though, any Zelda game would suffer. You won’t be moved like you were playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
As you bash through a hundred or so minor enemies, like pig- snouted Bokoblins and gator- like Lizalfos, you get in the flow. The way the developers keep the constant battling from becoming banal is to give each team member some wildly inventive powers, performed by pressing multiple controller buttons in sequence. These combos of fire, ice, bombs, magnetism and a swirling, fireworks- filled special attack become helpful when dealing with the bigger, meaner enemies at the end of each quest.
Before and after fighting, you see terrain you have traversed and characters you’ve met before in Breath of the Wild. You don’t have the Zen- like solace of long walks from area to area or the feeling of being awestruck by wondrous environs. Here, you use a map to travel and boom!, you’re there.
But you get to play as Zelda, which is a joy. As a royal princess, she’s not one to roll up her sleeves and get down and dirty with Link, the quiet soldier/ hero clad in green.
I wished Zelda would have been as vital and essential as Link throughout the story, and that she would have revealed more secrets about herself.
While Age of Calamity can feel like an uneven series of battle ballets, it does have its share of astonishing dances.
It doesn’t, however, go far enough to reveal more of Hyrule’s and Zelda’s past.