Review for Cadence of Hyrule. Game for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 13/06/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 30/06/2019
The guys of Spike Chunsoft, thanks to the work of the team Brace Yourself Games and, of course, a Nintendo Switch, they bring another small masterpiece into our homes: let's talk Cadence of Hyrule, or when Crypt of the NecroDancer meets The Legend of Zelda and gives life to a small and absolute masterpiece of the genre rhythm Game.
Let's go and discover together the new adventure of Link and Zelda to the rhythm of music.
Crypt of Necrodancer was an incredible success, capable of involving dozens of players with its music: for those who had not had the good fortune to know it we are talking about a title that transforms a procedural generation Dungeon Crawler into an 80s dance floor with monsters and secrets to be discovered at the rhythm of lights, colors and music. The timing of actions combined with the characteristic pattern of each enemy allow us to face any opponent in an addictive musical adventure.
After a similar masterpiece we could expect a sequel but not even a fusion with the top-down RPG that most characterizes the genre, at least at Nintendo: The Legend of Zelda.
But let's go in order and take a look at the plot: Cadence, already the protagonist of the previous chapter, finds herself magically transported to a place and a time that does not belong to her and finds herself - willing or sad - having to awaken one of the protagonists of Cadence of Hyrule. In this first phase, thanks to this quick plot sketch we can then choose which hero to embody, whether the famous princess Zelda or the even more famous leader Link. Don't worry too much about the choice, in fact, soon in the course of the adventure you will be able to switch from one character to another at each save point.
Unfortunately, the plot is presented in a rather thin but effective way. Our heroes will have to fight Octavo by recovering the four magical tools in order to face the well-known Ganodorf threat. Not much else is needed and the developers have not delayed further in weaving the plots of what is in fact an adventure that makes excited rhythm its very essence. After a few minutes from the opening titles, you will find yourself catapulted into battle ready to assert your rhythmic skills.
The gameplay is immediately understandable and easy to master, as long as you have a minimum of sense of rhythm. On the screen at the bottom you will find a bar with a piece of the Triforce in the center: towards the latter the notes converge and once in the center it is time to move and attack. Logically this operation is done in time with the music you will hear so it is not necessary to keep the bar under control: if you move in time everything will go smoothly and each pattern will become your personal dance floor.
Each movement you make will correspond to one of the opponents and each encounter with the enemy results in an attack or defense. Thanks to the precisely made enemy patterns, each enemy follows a precise and identifiable pattern: for example, some raise their arms before attacking or only move in one direction and then attack diagonally. Everything is then transformed into a complex chessboard where everything must be kept under control and memorized in order to emerge unscathed or almost from the clashes.
Commendable the work done in characterizing the enemies that, although not in an incredible number, are varied and fun to face: the alligators for example attack in a straight line until they encounter an obstacle but only if you have the audacity to pass this imaginary trajectory. Or we find the mushrooms that do not move but attacking the area become insidious if underestimated. These are just some examples of the enemy fauna to face and we assure you that you will not get tired of the clashes at any moment of the adventure, thanks of course to the engaging pace of the game.
Even the RPG component, although only sketchy, is effective. Thanks to the solution of environmental puzzles we will find weapons and shields, spells, armor, and features capable of making places accessible at first apparently inaccessible. Here the fusion work between Crypt of the NecroDancer and The Legend of Zelda will make fans flow a few tears and they will find bow and arrows, boomerangs, bombs, radio hearts and heart holders: in short, all the paraphernalia of the classic episodes in view from above. of the Nintendo saga. You will have everything you hoped to find from a Zelda RPG.
Playable characters also have their say in Cadence of Hyrule. At first you can only use one but in the following you will wake up the other as well and find yourself being able to switch between one another at each rescue totem. Rescue to be honest is perhaps not the most appropriate word, since in fact you will not be able to save much: death will deprive you of all the consumables and then allow you to start from scratch from one of the totems reached previously. Unfortunately, even the enemies killed previously will come back to life: you will only keep the weapons, the acquired powers and the diamonds that you will need in a small shop so as not to have to start from scratch.
The multiplayer will allow two players to share the adventure by multiplying the laughter and, of course, the difficulties, but this aspect in our opinion only provides something more without becoming one of the main components of the title. Another aspect that we have little appreciated is the poor longevity of the game which, due to how it was developed, offers little attraction towards replayability. Completing such an exciting title in just a few ten hours leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, as if to indicate that we would have wanted even more, more.
Replaying the adventure from scratch will only serve those lovers of difficulties who want to complete the challenge with fewer steps or with active permadeath. We would also have appreciated in Cadence of Hyrule a greater focus on Cadence, which only plays a marginal role.
And if you start to get tired of music and these rhythmic movements, know that it is possible to disable the rhythm component while maintaining all the other features of Cadence of Hyrule, but after only a couple of games you will see that the thought will not even touch you.
Cadence of Hyrule is the result of the merger of Crypt of the NecroDancer and The Legend of Zelda; it's amazing how perfectly compatible these two titles are. The result is a game that is addictive and asks to be finished in one go, engaging and satisfying even casual players. Nintendo Switch lends itself incredibly well to Cadence of Hyrule, which has the only flaw of being too short, but who knows, it doesn't mean that an engaging sequel will not arrive in the future.
► Cadence of Hyrule is an Adventure-Rhythm Game developed by Brace Yourself Games and published by Nintendo Spike Chunsoft for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 13/06/2019 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 30/06/2019
