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I really love this guide. Maybe it's because I've wasted money on
some truly atrocious limited edition guides lately
, that this one seems so great in comparison. This guide for the awesome
Hyrule Warriors
is genuinely informative with an excellent format, and its production values are superb. Truly, this is a great guide overall, but it's not without its caveats, which I will be sure to address in my review.
The guide is organized into several sections, each one covering a different mode of the game, with a celebratory art section at the end. The guide opens up with an intro to the guide itself that includes a very well-written forward that establishes the tone for the rest of the book in a nice way. The first section is entitled "Hero Training" which basically boils down to bringing anyone unacquainted with Dynasty Warriors up to speed. Given that most people buying Hyrule Warriors are undoubtedly Zelda fans and more than likely have never played a game in the niche DW series, this section is very helpful. It makes the game's core concepts very easy to grasp and simple, without muddling the more complex aspects. Great opening.
Next is the "Walkthrough" section which is broken up into two main subsections. First is the "Legends Mode" walkthrough, which includes a very detailed, well-written breakdown of every story mission in the game. It lasts about 64 pages. The second subsection is for the game's "Adventure Mode," which is a mode where you are given a massive gridlike map where each square is composed of a specific task or mission to complete. This subsection lasts about 84 pages. Each mission in the game, whether in the Legend or Adventure mode, has different collectibles and rewards to find, and some rewards are character-specific AND/OR require certain conditions to be met (ie. what difficulty you play on, which character you play as, as well as other battle conditions you have to meet to even get certain collectibles to show up). This includes heart containers, pieces of heart containers, Gold Skulltulas, HARD MODE Gold Skulltulas, new weapons, new weapon upgrades, etc. All of these things are covered in the walkthrough. It also does a great job giving you hints on how to dispatch bosses and commanding enemies more easily, as well as including many tips and tricks to make playing through the game smoother. The walkthrough of the Adventure Mode of the game is also helpful as it tells you what conditions must be met to get the best ranking in whatever mission you undertake, and therefore unlock the "A Rank" reward of said mission .Overall, it's a very informative, well-written guide that has helped me immensely as I've played the game. I've used it countless times and would not have unlocked the myriad of rewards, collectibles, and upgrades without it.
After the walkthroughs is a section entitled "Warriors" which is a fairly thorough breakdown of the 13 characters playable at the game's release. This lasts roughly 20 pages. While this isn't required reading by any means, it does give you a nice overview of what kind of playstyle each character has, what weapons are unique to them and where to find their weapon upgrades, and a little summary of who they are in the Zelda universe. It's a nice little section. It is followed by an "Extras" section which is very short, about four pages. It's basically mischellaneous info, such as what each potion does, what enemies drop what materials upon defeat, weapon skills, etc. It's not terribly interesting, and unfortunately, not detailed enough to be helpful. It's nice to know which enemies drop which materials, but the guide doesn't tell you what missions those enemies can be found, and trust me, getting materials is crucial to character building in this game.
Lastly, there's an awesome section entitled "Behind the Scenes" that is almost like having a
mini-Hyrule Historia
that is specific to this game. It lasts about 70 pages, and it's great. It's essentially filled with fantastic concept art on all aspects of the game, ranging from the main characters to enemy designs to stage designs. There's even some commentary from the developers on the design process. For a major Zelda nerd like myself, this was great. I love the art design in Hyrule Warriors. The character designs are particularly great in my opinion, so to see concept art of them as well as some insightful commentary was truly a highlight for me. There are even some designs that did not make it into the game that are truly awesome, such as a Link that is MUCH more Dynasty Warriors influenced than the more traditional depiction that made it into the game, or a design for Link's sister that very much reminded me of the elf from
Dragon's Crown
. I LOVE when guides feature stuff like this, so this "Behind the Scenes" section is one of my favorite parts of the guide. You can tell a lot of thought went into it. I applaud that.
As far as presentation goes, the guide does a very good job. As I've already said, the guide is informative for the most part, but it's also written very well too. I always appreciate it when a guide writer tries to inject some life into a guide, and this is an stellar example of that. I love how the mood and voice of the guide when you get to play during Ganondorf's story missions differs so much from the hero story missions. Great stuff. The guide is also printed well on high-quality paper, and the format is pleasing to the eye and feels like a Prima Zelda guide should. That is to say, it sort of feels like a Hyrulean tome (except the cover, which is a bummer). Very fun overall.
I mentioned earlier how this is not a perfect guide. It definitely has its quirks and flaws too. As informative as the guide is in most areas, there are some aspects that are glaringly missing. A section detailing each character's badge tree for attack, defense, and support progression feels like a major omission to me. I had to go online to figure out which missions to play to get materials for leveling up certain characters, because this guide simply doesn't cover it in any meaningful way. Not good. Also, some of the A-Rank requirements seem to be off in the Adventure Mode guide. On SOME stages, I found myself missing the requirements listed in the guide (ie. receiving more than 4,000 points of damage, or taking longer than 15-minutes to beat the stage), yet still getting the A-Rank during the results screen. Honestly, playing according to the more difficult standards laid out in the guide guaranteed that I'd get an A-rank, so I'm not too upset about it, but still. It's worth noting. One thing I hate is when guides require a lot of page-flipping, and unfortunately, this guide suffers from that A LOT in its Adventure Mode coverage. This was going to be inevitable because Adventure Mode is arranged in a grid, but it's still a bit bothersome having to flip from C-9's map to D-9's mission and then to F-8's stage, etc. Another nit-pick is that I don't like the cover of the guide. I've always enjoyed
Prima's past Zelda guides
because their gilded-gold pages and classy covers gave the book an authentic Hyrulean tome feeling. Prima's current policy of just slapping some official art on a hardcover is less appealing to me.
All-in-all, this is very much the quality I've come to expect from a Zelda guide from Prima. That is to say, it's great. It may not be to the legendary status of their
very best Zelda books
, but it's certainly better than almost any guide I've bought this year. It has told me almost everything I've wanted to know about the game, and has been a constant companion as I've undertaken the insane task of trying to 100% complete Hyrule Warriors. The fact it ends with such a lovely, fun behind the scenes section, and one that shows it to be the developer's love letter to the Zelda series, is the delicious frosting on the cake. It may not be perfect, but it is a great guide overall. I hope this review was helpful to you. Thanks for reading. Toodles.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2014
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If your considering this guide your better off finding a good walkthrough online and keeping your ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2014Verified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2016
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Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2014
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Top reviews from other countries
Declan Ryan
Half guide book, half artbook, all hilarious.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2014Verified Purchase
Blootle456
A good hardback reference guide for Hyrule Warriors
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2014Verified Purchase
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Saved Me Countless Hours!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 13, 2014Verified Purchase
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A Must Have have for Zelda Fans
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