The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is very much a game of threes. You fight monsters and solve puzzles with a trio of legendary heroes, and in our time with the game, we’ve come to realize it has three major components to it: single-player, local multiplayer, and online play. So, in the spirit of the game, we’re splitting up our review into three chunks over the next few days. After all three parts are written, we’ll have a conclusion and a final score. If you missed it, here's our thoughts on the single-player and the online. Below is our take on the local play and the final score.

Wrangling two other people to dedicate serious time to the local multiplayer in The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is no small task. Even with Download Play being an option, Tri Force Heroes takes time, and unless you’re fortunate enough to have a pair of fellow adventurers on hand, playing locally will be a rarity. If you can manage, it is 100% worth it, as kicking back with Tri Force Heroes in the same room as two friends is one of my favorite multiplayer experiences this side of Nintendo Land.

But the odds of that happening are few and far between. As a matter of fact, the reason why this is lagging behind our single-player and online portions is because it was a pain to test out the local multiplayer. It also has a baffling restriction: the only thing you can do with two players is the Coliseum competitive battling mode. Coliseum is awesome, but it’s honestly far superior with three players and just isn’t as deep as the main quest. For the meat of the game, you need to have a full team of three.

The meat of Tri Force Heroes consists of 32 different levels across eight worlds. Each level also has three challenges. The challenges come in a variety of styles, such as time trials and low health runs, but the best ones are the ones that step outside the normal purview. Some of my personal favorites revolve around ferrying around an orb Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles style, evading reappearing Wallmasters, and hitting (or avoiding) balloons spread throughout the level. The challenges get very tough, but as you earn more material and craft more outfits, you’ll be able to tackle them with ease. Going back to the lava-themed stages wearing the Goron outfit (which lets you walk on lava) is super empowering.

Playing through the main adventure and the challenges in single-player or online is a pain, though, but getting a local group together is really rewarding. In general, local play feels like the way to play Tri Force Heroes, as every nagging complaint about the lack of voice chat, the frustration of communication, and the lag washes away. Standard wireless play caveats do apply; if you have a lot of wireless interference, your systems will still lag. In my hours of play, though, I never ran into any connection issues, as I went between playing with others with or without their own copy.

The Download Play in Tri Force Heroes is especially commendable, as it’s essentially fully functional. Download Play users do have limitations (they can only use certain outfits), but their experience and loot is actually saved on the system, which translates nicely if they ever pick up the full game.

The single-player might be infuriating and the online might have its connection and communication issues, but considering local multiplayer as the ideal way to play Tri Force Heroes, the game is fantastic. The co-op gameplay on display in this light-hearted Zelda adventure is ingenious and clever. Even if you have to move Death Mountain to get a group together in one location, Tri Force Heroes is worth playing.