The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

"Here's a review for ya.. But it'll cost you 300 rupees for me to decipher it first!"

Avast, ye land lubbers! Hoist anchor and ready the cannon, for today we set sail upon the vast waters far above Hyrule in search of adventure and treasures! And a fair bit of sailing we be doing too, upon the mighty blue mistress we call home! I hope you like her beauty matey, because we'll be seeing her a LOT in the days ahead of us!

Zelda: Windwaker is a title that probably ties the NES's Adventures of Link for getting the most poop slung at it for breaking the "traditional" Zelda values that most people who've played them have come to know and love. AoL got the dirty end of the stick by introducing side-scrolling action elements, magic spells, a "lives" system, and -gasp- challenge and some skill required by the player!! Windwaker proudly grabs the torch from AoL for having a completely different "kiddie" graphical style and an unconventional method of travel for 80% of the game. What do I think? Let's find out, shall we!?

Story: 9/10

Wow, the storylines sure have improved since the first time Link went into that first cave and took a free brown sword from that old guy, haven't they? In this one, you are named Link too, only you're not the same Link from any previous installments of the series. You're just a kid in blue pajamas and tussled hair who lives on a peaceful tropical island with his kid sister and grandma. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when a giant black bird swoops in and kidnaps said sister though! After inheriting the family treasures (Green tunic & Shield) and obtaining a small sword from the resident martial artist, you're off to find her and in the meantime discover a more sinister plot that threatens what's left of the world. A very interesting story, made more believable in the telling of it from the people by the wonderful..

Graphics: 10/10

Let me tell you something about art. Sometimes the best pieces of art are not the most realistic-looking. Anyone with a shred of brain kicking around their head can't honestly say that this game doesn't look wonderful. And I mean REALLY wonderful. Animations that are as smooth as silk, Facial expressions that are both realistic and absurdly bombastic (a good thing), Particle effects that will blow your mind (the ashes that float around near the active volcano are a great example of this), and bright colors that don't make your eyes bleed (the Kingdom of Hyrule looks awesome.) There are even parts that reflect events from the past that are in black & white- Like a living picture. Twilight Princess me all you want, these graphics are better in my opinion.

Sound & Music: 9/10

Excellent! Soundwise, it's about what you might expect- They still use the same "found a secret" tones that have been in every game since the beginning it seems. Swords sound like swords should. Impacts are accented by musical notes that follow an ascending scale as you pound the crap out of your enemies. Link still has that little voice that was used in Orciana of Time, only this time he has some new one-liners. (My favorite of which being when he starts to slip on some ice- "YUT-TUT-TUT!!") You might think that dinky noises here and there from Link and the other NPCs would be stupid, but it works really well. Full voiceovers would kill the game, unless they got the guy who did Link on those old Super Mario Brothers Spectacular Cartoon / live action show to do them: "Well, excuuuuuuuuuse me.. Princess!" Hahaha, that'd rule.

The game's music is really top-notch. Most of it is done with basic percussion and woodwind instruments, so if you're only into distorted guitar you might not like it. There are a few songs during the boss fights that are the best though, like the fight between Link and the sand worm. Oh man, that's a good one! Notably absent from the mix is the famous Overworld theme from games past. Technically, it DOES play out during the opening story section, but I would have liked to have it for more of the game. Especially since it's been reworked to sound downright amazing. Whenever your enemies approach the music also changes into an ominous tone. When you hear that one, get ready!

Control: 10/10

Nintendo games have almost always had perfect controls, especially with first-party titles like this one. By pressing the analog stick at different pressures you can deftly take Link from a full-throttle somersault down a hill to sidling the rocky wall of some mountain overlooking a dangerous drop. Combat controls are almost the same as those seen in Orciana of Time, which is fine- Don't fix what isn't broken. In instances where you have to take control of another person (or statue), the controls allow you to feel that you are in fact playing a different person without sacrificing the perfect gameplay you've been used to from the beginning. I find that hard to accomplish myself and I think Nintendo pulled it off flawlessly.

Gameplay: 6/10

I guess the first thing to mention is the Windwaker itself. It's a magical baton that Link uses to summon musical melodies that grant special powers. Think of it sort of like this game's spells, only they don't require any actual magic power to use. At first glance, using the windwaker in an odd time signature might seem daunting or scary to the musically uninitiated, but it's really pretty easy. Plus, there's no real penalty for mistakes so keep at it until you've mastered it. You'll need to learn the song before you can actually use it in game, so you'll need to seek them out. Thankfully one song lets you warp to different areas of the ocean, because without it the game could be considered tortuous and cruel.

If you really want to have a go at this game in a negative way, you can be forgiven if your aim is taken squarely where it should be: The sailing aspect. When I first heard that much of the game would be spent sailing, I didn't think too much of it. "That's cool, it might be a gimmick but we'll see when it's released." While I do applaud Nintendo for again trying something different, there are some things that are just wrong about the sailing in Windwaker.

For starters, you're just plain in the boat too damn much. I can safely say you will be sailing for 70% of the total game time without exaggeration. For what it's worth, the boat does start off to be pretty fun to operate, and the cannon is a.. um, blast to use, but too much of anything is a bad thing. Some have stated that using the windwaker baton to change the wind's direction so you can get places is annoying. I don't think so. I think that killing anything with the boat's cannon, busting open the crystal, and having it disappear in 3 seconds before you can collect its treasures is annoying. I mean really, who was in charge of this? I dare you to find anybody who can manage to grab more than maybe 2 of the 8 treasures that pop out of those cannon-destroyed crystals.

So what treasures can you get then? By finding sunken chests by following charts you've discovered (or by finding them yourself by blind luck), the variety of booty you can plunder is surprising limited. Basically, it boils down to all of the good treasures are found in the dungeons, and all of the leftovers are found in the ocean. You can get rupees (money) or the odd heart piece container. Wow, I am impressed. Actually, you can also get Triforce pieces but that is an entirely other rant best left for another paragraph.

Another thing I didn't like about the sailing was the "world is flat" scenario. Guess what? It's really not? WOW!! I spent about 30 minutes (no joke) sailing to the northernmost borders of the sea expecting to appear somewhere near the bottom on my helpful chart, only to be forever stuck at the top. Are you kidding me? This is inexcusable if only for the sheer amount of time it requires to actually get anywhere in the boat. Another thing are the annoying sea enemies you'll see. For starters, they manage to scare the crap out of you right away, as most are pretty big and fast moving. That is, until you realize that they're just like any other enemy in the game and do about 1/4 heart's worth of damage to you.

Yep, enemy damage has been severely brought down, and I don't know why. You know what made AoL's death mountain tough? A place filled with dangerous enemies that could take you out in 3 or 4 hits. Sadly, no such enemy exists in Windwaker, not even the end boss. Top this off with the fact that you can get replacement hearts from everything under the sun- weeds, rocks, barrels, skulls, bushes.. There still seem to be balancing issues with the game that were never addressed. Fortunately, a scant few enemies do manage to bring the challenge to Link like Darknuts (looking better than ever) and time-tested Wizzrobes.

Couple enemy flaccidness with some new parrying moves and you're pretty much unstoppable. A few times per fight, you'll see your sword flash briefly. Press the attack button then and you'll do some crazy-ass ninja maneuver like barrel roll to the rear of the enemy and backslash him, or jump up and stab him downward in the head. It's very visually impressive, but it just makes the fighting even more one-sided than it already is. It's required against some enemies though, like Darknuts where you have to knock off pieces of their shiny armor just to get a shot at their squishy bits.

And as if that wasn't enough, you ALSO have the chance to pick up the enemy's weapon and use it against them! There are some things you'll notice, though, when doing this. 1- Almost all of these weapons are weaker than what you already have, 2- All of these weapons are very awkward to swing properly, 3- Your only viable option with these weapons is to just toss them back at your foes, and 4- Sadly, you can't carry these weapons from screen to screen. A good idea only half realized. At least with the wooden sticks they double as puzzle solvers for their burning abilities.

The special items Link gets this time around are pretty good though. My favorite by far is the Deku Leaf. You can use it to fan air around, which can knock enemies down and activate puzzles. It's much more fun to use it as a hanglider though. Using it like this is required for a lot of the game, and is the only way to reach some of the smaller islands on the overworld. It requires magic power to use, so you might end up running out and dropping a lot until you find a way to increase your magic capacity later.

Other favorites of mine include the bow & arrow, the hookshot, bombs (always), and the sledgehammer. Oh man, the sledgehammer is so awesome lol.. There are parts in the game where these little devil things come after you in HUGE numbers. Look, here they come now! *dink dink!*, *dink dink!* They sure are persistent! Let's break out the sledgehammer and get with the home run derby time! With a quick press of the button you can either flatten these guys to pancake status, or (my favorite) swing for the fences and knock them into the air about 50 feet. You can also knock them into the air and make them splat on a mountainside. This is very fun to do, especially because those devils are so annoying in general.

A lot has been said about the game's dungeons, or lack thereof. Windwaker goes the correct route and takes what little dungeons there are and makes them great. I think it's funny when people cry that there's no true water temple in this game. What, you didn't get your water fix yet from the constant sailing?? Instead, we're treated with some truly challenging puzzles and the opportunity to control other NPCs through one of the windwaker's songs. Using it properly to switch from this NPC and Link will determine if you can make it through the dungeon or not. I like this teamplay element a lot, and it's something you don't see too much in most Zelda games.

But the absolute worst part of the game is finding the Triforce itself. Not only do you have to find each individual map that tells you where the piece is located first, you have to PAY the ridiculous green-spandexed Tingle to translate the map for you! EIGHT TIMES!! When you consider how expensive this process is versus the max amount of rupees you can hold at once, it's insane. What's even worse is that this part of the quest takes up about 1/3rd of the entire game! To say that this part was added in to artificially extend the gameplay length is a huge understatement. Shame on Nintendo for subjecting us to this mandatory mayhem!

Challenge: 3/10

Are you kidding me? I'd say the real challenge is trying to stay awake during the extended sailing times. There are some interesting puzzles in the dungeons, which is great, but the lack of any real dangerous enemy really hurts this score. I think I've died on this game maybe 2 times ever. Compare that to my 30 or so times per game I croak on AoL!

Replayability: 4/10

When you win, you get the chance to play again, only this time you stay in your bright blue pajamas and skip the trademark cap. It's novel, though, because I quickly got bored with it and longed for the old green suit. There is also a side quest you can do that is pretty long that involves a color camera (or pict-o-box, or whatever) that you get that is frustrating because of the sheer length of time it takes the guy to make one stinkin' figurine. And, there's also another sidequest that'll have you island hopping whilst trading items for better items. But then you have to think: Is it REALLY worth it to sit through all the sailing again just for a shot at these new perks? My answer is a resounding no. I won the game once and haven't played more than 2 or 3 hours on that file since.

PROS:

+Amazing Graphics and Animation, without a doubt
+An interesting storyline, surprisingly deep for a Zelda game
+Extremely solid movements and controls
+A fluid, albeit overpowered, battle system
+A good IDEA, poorly executed; At least they tried something new
+Fleshed-out characters that never have to utter more than a few noises
+Really cool music
+Fun items like the hangliding Deku Leaf
+Awesome dungeons and team-inspired gameplay elements to solve them
+Sledgehammer plus Devil = instant win

CONS:

-Sailing.. there's just too much of it, even for me
-Going to the edge of the ocean won't bring you to the other side
-Islands are nice, but there's only like 15 of them- most very small
-Cannons are great, but you can't reap the rewards since they disappear way too fast
-Enemies aren't very hard in general, and pack powdery punches of puniness!
-Even falling into a bottomless chasm will only set you back a 1/2 heart at the most.
-Too hard to die, too little challenge for the most part
-The Triforce collection method is criminal because you have to pay for Tingle to decipher each map. It's forced artificial gameplay length, and I can't believe they had the nerve to include it.

OVERALL: 7/10

It may have seemed like I spent a lot of this review bashing the game in almost every way, but that's not the case. The thing is, I like this game.. a lot. That's why I was so disappointed about how sloppy some things in it were. There's no excuse for the Tingle / Triforce debauchery. There's no excuse for the horrid sailing times. There's no excuse for how little of the ocean has actual islands on it- and mostly small ones at that. But the biggest crime here is that because everyone bashed the wrong part of this game- the graphical style- we're all almost assured to never see it grace a home console this way again on a new game done correctly, and that's the real shame.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/07