The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Kiddy, stupid, horrible, untouchable and ugly are just a few words used by the mass public at their first glance of The Legend of Zelda : The Wind Waker. But these people are wrong, horribly, stupidly, untouchably and ugly, ugly wrong. Wind Waker definitely had its own share of controversy primarily because of the new graphical direction taken, as you would already know. But let's set this aside and talk about the game, how is it good? What are its flaws? And most importantly, should you get this game?

First off, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a follow-up to N64's legend, Ocarina of Time (and also technically, Majora's Mask which is OOT's direct sequel). When you begin a new game, you're immediately showed a small video describing Link's adventure in Ocarina of Time (referring him as the Hero of Time). The introduction video shown is a summary of what happened in OOT and ultimately what issued immediately after it. Then begins the game; you are Link, a young boy residing in Outset Island with your kind grandmother and your little sister, Aryll. Today also happens to be Link's birthday, he has come to the age of the Hero and must wear the classic Link green tunic. Later on, your sister gets kidnapped by a giant bird and you set off to find and rescue her, thus begins the game's story.

For veteran Zelda gamers, the gameplay and controls will feel entirely natural; the Gamecube controller has really perfected the controls found in Ocarina of Time. As for the series' newcomers, it will not take much time for you guys to learn and master the controls in this game. So as I've just stated, the controls in that game feel very natural and fit this game entirely. Your basic sword attack is still with the B button, the A button also still serves as the action button, R for the shield and now L for the lock-on system. You can also still hold 3 items at a time with now the X, Y and Z button. The gameplay really is great in that game thought after being used and re-used in the series; it is starting to feel outdated. But since this is the transition from N64 to GCN, the gameplay will still look kind of fresh. The camera in that game is just perfect, it follows your character very well and whenever you need to move it on your own, its controls are very intuitive. Clearly this game was designed to let you take a good view at the game's scenery.

Speaking of the scenery, this brings me to my next point; the game's visuals. Now this is where all of the controversy originated from; the cel-shaded graphics. Yes Link looks cartoony, yes at a certain extent it does make him look kiddy, but this game is anything but kiddy and I personally find the graphics to suit that game perfectly. Taking a good glance at the game's environment reveals just as much details this game has to offer. Every location, characters and various objects in this game look phenomenally fantastic. Definitely the best cel-shaded graphics I've ever seen in my entire life! The visuals in that game are definitely not to be turned off from, this is actually one of the game's strongest points (alongside the perfectly stable framerate) and by far the best use of cel-shaded graphics to date in a videogame if not, ever!

The visuals also play a good role at showing the direction that the wind is taking in the game. Yes you might have guessed it by the title; the wind is the main theme for this game. Early in the game, you acquire some sort of baton used to conduct songs called the Wind Waker. This magical item plays a role very similar to the Ocarina in Ocarina of Time but this time you can control the Wind, objects, teleport and so on… You also have your own boat in this game, called the King of Red Lions. This boat not only can give you a lift from islands to islands, but it also talks! You'll be using the King of Red Lions very often (too often) to sail the Great Sea to save your sister Aryll. Sailing, at first it's incredible, the 2nd time its great, and the 3rd time its ok….. But after that it gets very but very annoying! This is by far the biggest flaw in the game (good things always come with bad things) and really is the only thing that could actually turn you off from it. Yes it's really that boring… Plus with the fact that the Great Sea is extremely huge, the therefore long sailing times will really bore you a lot in the game. What's worse is that it's very repetitive. The good side is that eventually you'll be able to teleport, but still….. You can't escape from the fact that you'll still have to sail.

As one could always expect from any Zelda game following OOT, some of the music tracks from that game get remixed once again in Wind Waker. But the good side is that Wind Waker is also filled with tons of original music and that really does set it apart from other Zelda games. The music is really enjoyable and the Sea's music is the only good part of sailing. Quite frankly, to say the least, this game's soundtrack is very, very incredible. Also like all Zelda games, you can expect many side-quest and Wind Waker is filled with tons of those. Ranging from taking pictures of people and helping setup a potion shop, to treasures searches and making business all around the globe, Wind Waker will definitely keep you occupied for a very long time if you plan on finishing it at 100%. The only bad side for those side-quests is that most of them require sailing, we've already touched on the subject, and this could make some of those missions feel too long.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is for short, an excellent game. It follows up pretty well on everything that made the Zelda franchise so great and expanded it with its own ways. The cartoon-looking visuals should not turn you off from such a grandiose game as it is excellent like the previous installment in the series. Today the game can be found at a relatively cheap price and should not be looked over simply because it's old. It is one of the best things that the Gamecube had to offer and I most definitely recommend this to all Zelda fans and Action/Adventure game fans.