Zelda With Friends. At Least They’re TRI-ing.
Fans of Link’s adventures through Hyrule and elsewhere have had it good over the past few years. Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds—there’s no question that the series has consistently earned its spot as one of the greatest of all time, and arguably the greatest. The “side” games—like Four Swords—haven’t fared as well, even though they're not bad at all. But they’re still enjoyable work, and Nintendo seems to be making sure we don’t forget that fact.
Enter LoZ: Tri Force Heroes, a multiplayer romp centered around utilizing two friends to take on dungeons, multi-level puzzles, and some tall bosses. Characters take on one of the variously-colored tunics of Link and run, fight, and cut the tall grass of dungeons that have bosses that need a-whoopin’. This time, there’s a bit more to just jumping sword-first into the fray, with the ability to pick up and throw each other to reach new spots or attack an opponent’s weak spot.
And the fashion-centric elements help with that. Clothes like “Lucky Loungewear” and the “Big Bomb Outfit” improve abilities, like a three-arrow spread and larger bombs (hence the name “Big Bomb Outfit”). There are other outfits with other possibilities, and depending on how the levels are laid out and how many players are mandatory (hopefully not EVERY spot will require all three characters in play) there could be some interesting scenarios if a party didn’t… well, coordinate their outfits well.
The multiplayer may be limited to local, so three players will need to be nearby to get in on the action. And those players will be fighting with the same life bar, so whenever one falls from a ledge, the others will suffer the consequences right along with them. So that friend who would always punch you “by accident” in Battletoads should probably not be invited for Tri Force Heroes. But for a team ready to go exploring and not just throw one another off of cliffs over and over again—as fun as that is for some people, especially considering this game can hold both of the other players to counteract tall enemies and puzzles—it should hold the attention until a “true” Zelda game sees the light of day.
Being a side-story, Tri Force Heroes isn’t going to count as a fully-fledged new game in the Zelda franchise, but It should be seeing release in late 2015.
