I am a “Legend of Zelda” fanatic and have been since the NES original. There are many different varieties of Zelda games, the most classic are the top down adventures like last year’s “A Link Between Worlds.” Most of the “Zelda” games have been single player experiences except for “4 Swords Adventure” released on the Gamecube and Gameboy Advanced.
“Tri Force Heroes” has a similar aesthetic to “A link Between Worlds” but gameplay couldn’t be more different. “Tri Force Heroes” doesn’t take place in Hyrule like most “Zelda” games. “Tri Force Heroes” takes place in the world of Hytopia. You aren’t trying to save a princess per se, the princess hasn’t been captured but she has lost her style thanks to the curse of an evil witch. “Tri Force Heroes” is much sillier than the average “Zelda” game, there is no world ending disaster looming and all the characters you meet are pretty hilarious.
The gameplay is much different than the rest of the series, it is possible to play alone but it is meant to play with friends. You can either play with one person or a group of three. For some reason you can’t play with two people which is a bit off putting. Usually in Zelda games you are trying to track down weapons that give you more powers and abilities. In “Tri Force Heroes” you are looking for outfits because this game is all about fashion. Each of the outfits you unlock give you new abilities such as a dress that earns extra health, and an outfit that lets you use bombs or arrows. Some of the levels are similar to the older games and others require working together in your group to solve.
One of the ways you have to work together is the totem move, where you ride on each other’s shoulders like a totem pole. This adds vertically to some of the puzzles that aren’t in the other games. Sometimes the solution of the puzzle can only be solved by being at the top of the totem pole or throwing your friend to a previously unreachable spot. You would think this would lead to chaos and your friends purposely killing you because it’s funny, but because you all share the same health bar it means you have to work together to survive.
Sometimes coordinating your attacks and beating bosses with the totem move can be a real challenge and can be pretty frustrating. It’s hard to get everyone working together flawlessly enough to beat some of the tougher bosses. The only way to really play cooperatively is locally because there isn’t really much in game communication. If you want to chat you have to use a phone or another form of chatting which can become a bit annoying, there should be more in game chatting features especially when you are playing online.
I did enjoy my time with “Tri Force Heroes” even though it isn’t a standard adventure “Zelda” fans are used to. It was fun playing with friends but being able to communicate with each other did pose some problems that an in-game chat would have helped resolve. The gameplay is fun and silly but it can be a bit frustrating to get group moves to work and it can get frustrating.
If you are a “Legend of Zelda” fan “Tri Force Heroes” might not be the entry in the series you are looking for but it was a fun game to keep you playing until the next full entry in the series comes out.
