3.5/5 ★ – AvatarAang's review of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

A solid game on its own but for the Zelda series, a mixed bag. It's better than many of Zelda's more experimental 2D outings, but not as good as the better 2D and 3D entries. The game has four major problems that bog it down: 1 - The combat. It very much scratches the Pokemon itch, and I like that about it. However, it is VERY slow. Particularly during the early game when you can't spam monsters. You just sit there waiting forever for your monster to kill another monster, when it would have been easier to just walk past it. There's a mode where you can turn into Link, but this is Zelda's game so that to me is copout. I only used it for key moments during boss fights. 2 - The writing is one of Zelda's worst. There aren't huge plotholes or messy plots like some other recent Zelda games. However, this game clearly feels written for a very young demographic. Every moment needs to have a "moral," and teach you a little about how to be a better person. It is very off-putting. It shows that the game's two best areas (Hebra and Faron) also have the least amount of story. Faron's is ruined right at the end when they force the idea that "if we weren't always chasing trends, maybe none of this would have happened." Like, WTF. The main plot is very bland, but has very strange beats such as referring to the Triforce and Lost Woods by completely different names for no reason. There's pretty much zero reason to be invested in the adventure, unfortunately. Personally, I would have preferred no story at all (a la Zelda 1) to this. 3 - The game is slow. You move slow, things happen slowly, characters have to comment on everything, it's very draining. The game also has frame rate issues, which is terrible for a first-party Nintendo game and ESPECIALLY one with this graphical fidelity. It hurt my eyes playing, so I had to play it on a projector with my glasses off. 4 - The soundtrack. Some songs are up to series standards, and the main overworld theme is pretty catchy. However, there were a lot of duds and generic music, a lot more than a typical Zelda game. For every cool boss theme or dungeon song, there were forgettable overworld themes. Definitely one of the weaker Zelda soundtracks. A shame Nintendo lost Ryo Nagamatsu, I have no doubt that he would have killed it here. BUT with all that said, the game has a lot of strengths! Half of the dungeons were pretty good with at least two great ones. The Faron dungeon in particular really accomplishes what Nintendo has been trying to do with Zelda dungeons since Breath of the Wild! I was very impressed. The other half are cookie cutter. The enemy-to-enemy combat is bland but the bosses are great. Several are investing experiences. I played on Hero Mode with no damage reduction, and many bosses either one- or two-shot me. I died many times. Which was thrilling! I always appreciate how 2D Zelda games, even easier ones like this, are harder than pretty much any 3D Zelda game. Hebra and Faron in general were great areas to explore. Many satisfying and head-scratching puzzles. Haven't seen some this elaborate since Oracle of Ages! And I think the game did a good job of capitalizing on Princess Zelda's strengths and abilities! It really felt like I was using the wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom rather than the Triforce of Courage. I think if the whole game was like the Hebra and Faron regions, it could have been great. As is, it is a tough Zelda game to recommend. Not because it is bad (it is definitely a good game), but because at least half of this 20+ game series is better. I'd really only recommend it to somebody who has already played all the greats. But, certainly better than Zelda 2 and the Four Swords games! As a lifelong Zelda fan, I'm not complaining. More Zelda games is always fun for me!