One of the few surprise announcements from Nintendo’s E3 Digital Event was The Legend Of Zelda: Triforce Heroes. As a semi revival of the Four Swords series of multiplayer Zelda games based on the Link Between Worlds engine, this 3DS title promised to give us a more fleshed out experience, focusing more on cooperation rather than competition. When I got the chance to pick up Link’s latest adventure with two complete strangers, we put this notion to the test.
First off, each dungeon starts off with various costumes that Link can choose to wear, each of which give him different advantages in the game. From the standard tunic, to a samurai inspired spin attack outfit, and even Zelda’s dress, how your link will play can have a huge effect on being able to progress, especially if the dungeon being explored needs certain tools to advance with.
From there, the three of us had to constantly work together to conquer the challenges of the Kokiri Forest, primarily through the new totem mechanic. In order to reach tall enemies or higher paths, the three Links can pick each other up, being able to stack all three on top of each other. Whichever hero is on top is responsible for attacking, while the bottom one controls movement, so without proper communication between the two, it’s really easy to struggle against enemies. If you get stuck as the one in the middle, it sucks to be you. As of now, he couldn’t do anything. Which might be better off since the wrong move can lead to the death of the team, considering that all three of you share the same health bar. Oh yes, I can see friendships being destroyed.
After solving a small set of puzzles in each room, the team can only advance by standing on one piece of the Triforce, which greets players at the end of the area. Side weapons such as the bow and bombs have to be discovered in the dungeon you’re in, but ammo never becomes a problem since this game borrow’s LBW’s meter system. From the little that we played, it teased our brains quite a bit trying to figure out how to solve certain puzzles, leading to the final boss that required us to stack the right amount of characters to reach its changing weak point. Oh, and when you win, don’t forget to tap your cheering emoticon on your list of reactions on the bottom screen! It does nothing except look adorable, but what else do you need?
Triforce Heroes may be short the fourth sword, but it’s shaping up to be another solid co-op effort from Nintendo. Featuring both local and online multiplayer, would-be heroes will be able to team up from all around the world when it releases this fall. What are your impressions from what you’ve seen so far?