Zorro: The Chronicles Review

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Fast Facts

Zorro: The Chronicles is set in 19th century Spanish California and tells the story of a teenage Don Diego as he and his twin sister, Ines, go head-to-head with an evil group known as Tyrants and restore peace to their region. Our valiant heroes will encounter familiar faces previously seen in the short-lived cartoon of the same name that will either aid them in their quest or stand in their way.

Zorro: The Chronicles is a 3D action platformer combining combat, parkour(-lite), and a little bit of stealth. Before tackling a mission, players will select Don or Ines; each character has their individual strengths and weaknesses. While Ines has an extra heart, Diego has an extra slot for a special attack. Each protagonist can attack with their trusty sword, dodge attacks, use the whip, throw rocks for distraction, and a special attack. Combat feels a bit like the Wish version of Assassin’s Creed combat; you can button-mash your way through it, but dodging is a must. It’s just more flimsy.

Welcome to Mashing City

As you pull off attacks and combos, you’ll fill up your special attack meter. The special attack is a fancy move that will dispatch a single enemy. Given that Zorro doesn’t actually kill anyone, he or she simply knocks them out comically. The game features 18 missions across the map. Once you clear the first few missions, a handful of them open up, giving you a chance to decide the order in which to attempt them. Each mission has two entry points: stealth and combat. The former will encourage players to be more stealthy, whereas the latter will drop you into a situation where you’ll have to take down guards to progress.

As you explore each level and beat up waves of enemies, you’ll find golden Z coins that can, in turn, be used to unlock skills and upgrades for your characters, such as unlocking a Stealth KO ability, cyclone attack, or even disarming your enemies. Additionally, each level has a set of special optional objectives, such as knocking guards into cactuses or taking down the guard with a key without being seen; for example, that rewards players with additional in-game currency to unlock more skills.

The game looks fine for what it is; it could’ve easily been a late PS2 game. Zorro: The Chronicles is a colourful experience but light on details and environment variety. Despite the levels being set across a medium-sized map, it feels like each level has the same area rehashed, and things moved around slightly to give the impression that you’re on a different stage. The score is also pretty barebone and generic; nothing to write home about. It’s also very forgettable. So much so that you’ll tune it out as you play.

Easy peasy

The game has a few things working against it. The first thing is the combat; simply button-mashing away to dispatch enemies lessens the fun and challenge of the experience. Given the lack of gameplay variety, the game is way too long with its eighteen missions. There also isn’t much gameplay difference between either protagonist. Additionally, the game completely lacks a genuine challenge. I understand this game is aimed at kids, but it’s still too easy.

Zorro: The Chronicles is a fun, albeit very simplistic and repetitive experience. While the gameplay variety is pretty barebone, it’s actually interesting to play and unlock the various skills that either protagonist can use for some combat variety. Although, most people might be more inclined to button mash. If you’re looking for a familiar face for your kids or something light to play between rounds of Call of Duty or Starfield, you can do much worse than Zorro: The Chronicles.

3 out of 5

3

Zorro: The Chronicles can be purchased on the Nintendo eShop.