Throughout Nintendo's illustrious history, every generation has been treated to a brilliant Zelda game, from the Nintendo Entertainment Systems' The Legend of Zelda, through to the Nintendo 64's ground-breaking Ocarina Of Time. And now it's the GameCube's turn of the Zelda treatment, in the form of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
You take on the role of a young boy, Link. And what do you know, it's your birthday! You've just turned the same age as the legendary hero of time was when he saved the land from the terrible evil. And what better way to celebrate then to dress up like him! As you frolic about the island with your sister, Aryll, a large, mysterious bird flies over head, dropping a young girl into the forest on top of your home, Outset Island. Immediately, you take it upon yourself to charge into the dangerous forest to save this mysterious girl, only to find out she's a pirate! As her crew arrives on the shore to reclaim her, the large bird returns... And flies off with Aryll! After some convincing, the pirates finally allow you to tag along, as you step onto the path to save Aryll.
It looks just like a cartoon?
As soon as the first movies and screenshots of The Wind Waker emerged from Nintendo's headquarters, there has been much skepticism. Sporting a unique, cartoony, cel-shaded look, many Nintendo fans were disgusted, furious with the lack of the fully 3D graphics that the game was shown to have up at Nintendo's annual Spaceworld show in 2001. Many threatened to boycott the game in protest. However, as soon as you power up the game, all doubts will fly away as you see how brilliantly the cel-shaded look has been implemented by Nintendo. All the characters, enemies and objects in the game have been carefully crafted and are brilliantly detailed, all fitting in with the games cartoon feel excellently. The facial expressions, particularly those shown by Link, really get the character's emotions across, and help the game's quest in seeming like a cartoon. Link's eyes alone prove to be a valuable addition in the game, as they will often be looking towards your next objective. The draw distance in the game is simply staggering, as you can literally see for miles around your present location as well as being able to see every island surrounding your current location. Doubters be damned - without a doubt, this is cel-shading at its finest.
Mmm, Orchestral
As with its forefathers, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker emphasizes a great deal on musical instruments. This time around, it's a conducting rod, or the Wind Waker if you will. Because of this, there is plenty of orchestral music throughout the game, which only serves to add to the epic feel the game creates. The score does the now standard trick of picking up and becoming more intense when danger is nearby, and trails off once that danger is gone. If you've played either of the game's Nintendo 64 predecessors, you will immediately begin to pick up some of the same tunes and sound effects. This can be slightly annoying at times, as you'd think that with new hardware, Nintendo would come up with completely new effects. It's not really a problem though, as the effects themselves are still top quality. The thwack of sword-on-enemy is particularly satisfying. However, some enemies, such as the evil birds that populate the land, make an extremely annoying drawling sound, which only encourages you to kill them as soon as possible unless you want to be driven insane by their incessant crowing.
Haven't I done this before?
This game plays virtually identically to Ocarina Of Time and Majora's Mask, which is definitely no bad thing. There are three buttons, Z, Y and X , which can have items assigned to them to be used at your leisure. There are two action buttons this time around, in the form of A and R. You can still lock onto enemies or center the camera using the L button. This works as well as it ever did, enabling you to keep yourself in the best possible position, even when facing multiple foes. B is the button used to unleash your sword, with multiple swipes being available to you, depending on where you're holding the analog stick. The auto jump feature is still included and works, for the most part, very well, except when you're trying to maneuver in tight spaces and instead of dropping down off a ledge, you end up jumping off into the darkness. Overall, these controls work extremely well, and will have you slaughtering lizards by the busloads in no time.
Because of the brilliant controls, and the fact that the game is so much fun to play, you will be hooked from the moment Aryll is taken from your island home, right through to the end credits. This game is extremely addictive and will force you to spend many late nights in front of the box, as the tale unravels before your eyes. Buyers beware.
A new addition to the gameplay can be accessed via. Game Boy Advance link up. You can talk to Tingle for hints and special items. This is quite an interesting little addition, but it doesn't really add anything to the game other than novelty value.
Waking The Winds
The gaming world is for the most part made up of ocean. Your sea chart, which is obtained fairly early on in the game, shows that the world is up of forty-nine sectors, each with their own unique island. Make no mistake, the gaming world is absolutely huge - a number of sectors aren't even required to be visited in order to complete the game. In order to travel in the Wind Waker, you'll need to be proficient in the sailing department. With the trusty Wind Waker, Link is able to control the Winds of Hyrule, allowing him to traverse the seas in his boat with ease. The Wind Waker works in a similar method to the Ocarina Of Time. This time however, a metronome bounces from side to side on top of the screen. You must move the C stick into the desired location before the metronome hits the center. Do this three, four or six times to conduct a tune. Songs can be used to control the wind, to warp you throughout areas and other interesting things.
Into The Darkness?
One area that's always been synonymous with Zelda are the dungeons. The Wind Waker excels here. All the dungeons are entertaining to play, and, in an interesting addition to the series, a few of the dungeons must be solved with teamwork with help from a second controllable character. This adds some variation to the dungeons, and generally, all the puzzles involving two characters are well thought out. Actually, virtually ALL puzzles in the dungeons are quality. However, the only red cross against the dungeons is the fact that they are simply too easy. The puzzles may be well thought out, but they aren't hard enough. The dungeon bosses are bright, colourful, and all require an interesting method in order to defeat them, but unfortunately, they too are way, WAY too easy to defeat. I died only a single time against one foe, and that was the game's final boss. Fortunately, this is about the only chink in Zelda's armour.
It goes on and on?
As mentioned, the Wind Waker is far from a hard game. You shouldn't get stuck too often, if at all, in the game. Thankfully though, it is an extremely long one. You're looking between 25-35 hours for the quest alone, and side quests will add another 5-10 hours to that. There is definitely a hell of a lot more to this game than what there seems, and you will want to see every single island that the game has to offer. Possibly twice.
Buy. Now.
Simply put, The Wind Waker is arguably the best game on the machine. It's absolutely brilliant in every way. Whilst it's not the sort of game that will appeal to everyone, you should definitely give it a try. Why doesn't it get a perfect score, you ask? Well, this game is virtually Ocarina Of Time with a very, very shiny coat of paint on it. But don't let that stop you. Get this game.
Note: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was released here in PAL territories with a limited edition bonus disc, sporting Ocarina Of Time and Master Quest, a previously unreleased tweaking of Ocarina Of Time. If you a see a copy of the Wind Waker with this disc, grab it and guard it with your life. You get two and a half great games for the price of one, and something that may one day become a collector's item.
I like Zelda for what it is, not for what it isn't.
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