The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG

Players: 1-3 Co-Op (Local Wireless, Online), StreetPass Supported

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Review:

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is a Top-Down Action-RPG released on Nintendo 3DS in 2015. Following in the footsteps of 2013’s A Link Between Worlds, this game makes use of the same core gameplay and visual style, but with a focus on brief bursts of multiplayer gameplay, much in the style of prior Zelda games Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures from the Game Boy Advance and GameCube.

Players don’t need to play Tri Force Heroes in multiplayer – the game does include a “doppel” system allowing them to bring two lifeless mannequins into battle and swapping between them to take on the game’s challenges, but players who do so will quickly come to the realization that this clearly isn’t how this game was meant to be played, and it’s frustrating that single-player doesn’t simply give the other Link’s an AI.

The game is designed in a way that requires coordination between the three color-coded copies of Link, both to surpass environmental obstacles and to fight some enemies, and playing the game solo requires incessant swapping between characters and piling them up and taking them down from the game’s “totem” ability, which has them standing in a column carrying each other like three kids hiding in a trenchcoat so they can pretend to be an adult. Given how much need there is for coordination at points, it seems odd that this game doesn’t make use of the Nintendo 3DS’s microphone for communication – you can only use eight touchscreen images to express yourself to other players.

To the game’s credit, it does its best to make gathering together a group of three people as easy as it can, allowing others to join in local wireless or online, or even via download play. Unfortunately, as I write this in 2023, the online lobbies are completely empty, so if you want to play this game as it was intended to be played, you’ll have to bring two friends, each with their own Nintendo 3DS.

Even beyond that problem though, there’s something missing from the typical Zelda formula in this game, even if you manage to gather together enough friends to play as intended. This game lacks the Zelda series’ typical exploration, instead having players hop into instanced linear dungeons. There are occasional puzzles, but none that will take more than a few seconds for some member of your group to say “oh, I see what we need to do here”. And the only real progression you’ll see in the game is back in town, as you use the riches and crafting ingredients obtained in dungeons to craft better equipment, but there are precious few of these to look forward to.

What remains, mostly, is somewhat frantic Top-Down Zelda-style combat, and while this is as good as it ever is in Top-Down Zelda games, it makes for a fun but brief distraction rather than something truly compelling in its own right.

The presentation here reuses the engine and overall aesthetic from A Link Between Worlds, which means this game has a polished look with decent 3D visuals that build on the art style of the classic 2D Zelda game A Link to the Past. However, this game does so without many of the familiar elements of that classic to lend it the kind of nostalgia that was present in A Link Between Worlds. Instead, this game opts for a more whimsical presentation, with the game’s adventure surrounding a silly tale of a kingdom obsessed with fashion and a princess cursed by a witch to wear ugly clothes. It’s really low-stakes for a Zelda game, but I suppose alternately it matches the game’s lighthearted gameplay. And along with the lighthearted presentation is a bouncy soundtrack to match, which is actually quite good, albeit generally not as dramatic as players may expect from the Zelda franchise.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes presents the Zelda franchise to players in a way that not everyone’s going to like the lighthearted story and presentation and the focus on multiplayer are not what people tend to look for in a Zelda game. And while there is some fun core gameplay, the unfortunate reality is that a lot of what makes the Zelda games compelling has been stripped away here, and what has been left in its place is not only not nearly as enticing, it has problems of its own. Fans of the Zelda series who have friends to play with may still enjoy this whimsical adventure, but likely only as a brief distraction between more compelling games.

tl;dr – The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is a multiplayer-focused Top-Down Action-RPG in the vein of the Four Swords spinoff games from previous generations, while using the game engine and art style from A Link Between Worlds. The core gameplay here is still good, but the simplified, linear design is not as compelling as the classic Zelda formula series fans expect. And while this game technically will let you play solo, that’s clearly tacked-on and the multiplayer is the intended experience here. And that multiplayer is even less enticing due to the lack of anyone to play the game with online.

Grade: C+

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