The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

"A landmark title in the much celebrated Zelda series."

INTRODUCTION
The Legend of Zelda… few could argue that this franchise is low quality. The fact of the mater is: the Legend of Zelda has delighted and inspired generations of gamers over four home console platforms, not to mention its hand-held outings.
Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of hype associated with Wind Waker. As so often happens this hype machine is usually a game's own worst enemy. Even though there was a ton of hype generated by gamers and the associated press, I have tried to keep my review as unbiased as possible.
The question you might be asking is did Wind Waker live up to the hype it generated? In my opinion it didn't. In testament to this fact I sometimes, during the games later stages, found myself trying hard to find the motivation to find out what those treasure maps, in my inventory, were hiding, to get all those tri force maps, and to eventually complete the game. However, the game is not bad, far from it in fact. Despite the game's shortcomings it was still an enjoyable experience.

GRAPHICS
The most controversial aspect to this game is its graphical style. Personally, I didn't like the use of cell shading in this title. I can see why the developers chose the style, namely to take the series into a fresh new direction. However, as a result of the cell shading, the graphical slant on this game is technically not as impressive as it could be. Most of the time the textures of objects are composite and made up of only a few colours. They aren't gritty or realistic, they aren't going to tax the Gamecube's power; the textures are dumbed down simply because of the cell shading technique. However, I can still appreciate the graphical style and honestly say that it did, in a way, suite the game, its story and its characters.
One notable aspect of Wind Waker is the fact that while sailing the vast expanse of ocean, that makes up the over-world, there is no pop up. Well, it's just ocean you might say. However, there are islands littered around the ocean and even if you are quite far away you can still make out the nearby islands on the horizon. Another notable graphical highlight is the use of the heat haze effect. If something's hot in this game you can guarantee that it generates a heat haze. As well as this, the use of shadow in this title verges on outstanding. Link now has a full shadow and so do the numerous enemies he encounters. These shadows are affected by nearby light sources, i.e. torches and when outside, the sun. The use of shadows in this game makes the game world even more captivating for the player. Add to this the above average weather effects and the fluid way link animates both in motion and by his facial expressions; you have a game that genuinely feels like a current generation title. As to be expected, the frame-rate of this Zelda title is always high and it never gets even mildly jerky.
Overall, the graphical style of the game makes it accessible for all ages, which I guess, is only a good thing. Even if, like me, you don't like the graphical style, you still have to admit that it complements the game and that Nintendo pulled it off perfectly.

GAME-PLAY
Think Ocarina of Time, less dungeons and a whole heap of water and you have the basic premise of Wind Waker. Like all Zelda games, Link starts of with a sword and shield and not much else. As Link progresses further into his quest new items will be attained that open up more areas of the game and its dungeons. The highlight of Wind Waker is the fact that it is far from linear. You can virtually go wherever you want and do whatever you want. However, to progress the story you have to do specific things in a “linear” fashion.
Unfortunately, due to the vastness of the ocean, you have to do quite a bit of sailing in this game. To counter this, quite early on in the piece Link can gain a semi warp ability which does reduce the amount of tiresome sailing you have to endure. As always, there are many sub quests featured that the player can complete at their leisure. Some of the puzzles featured in these sub quests are quite obtuse, but still rewarding once you solve them. For nearly all the subquests the end reward is usually a heart piece or a treasure map that leads to cash or… a heart piece. I say this, but some quests do give Link some upgrades like a new sword technique or more carrying capacity for certain items.
That little bastard Tingle makes a triumphant return in this game. Without giving anything away, he has become quite the cutthroat capitalist, when it comes to helping out Link, in the games dying stages.
Although there are many islands featured in this game, most of them are pretty insubstantial and small. Only five of the islands, out of about 50, are large and complex… the rest are pretty uninteresting and uninspired. Herein lies the beauty of this game, it may be pretty barren (we're talking about an ocean after all), but the allure of exploring a new area/dungeon and opening up a new part of the story far overshadows this.
As for the difficulty of Wind Waker, some may say that it is too easy. People say this because when you kill a tough monster they usually always drop 3 hearts. In other words, you have to be pretty uncoordinated to die from monsters bashing you. I thought the difficulty was pitched perfectly. After all, once you consider the graphical style and the target audience, namely everyone, you realise for young children to enjoy the game they need to be able to succeed at it. Thus, Nintendo made the game relatively forgiving so that all of its target audience could have an opportunity to enjoy it. Nintendo may have made the fighting easy, but some of the puzzles, in the labyrinths and in the general context of the game, are pretty difficult. I must admit that I was guilty of looking at a FAQ when I was having trouble getting one of the tri-force maps. Two words are enough… Hyoi Pears.
In the tradition of the ocarina, Link uses a baton that can control the wind. It is because of this baton that Link is regarded by his mentor (the talking boat) as the Waker of the Winds, who may be able to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Unlike in the previous Zelda games, featured on the Nintendo 64, there is no fairy to give Link clues or hints on what an enemy's weakness is. However, the boat that talks, gives link advice, pretty regularly, via a magic pendant Link gets given. Although the boat is no fairy, it just goes to show that Nintendo didn't want to completely hang the player out to dry as it were.
A highlight of Wind Waker is its story. Without giving anything away, it is quite intriguing and I actually found myself, in the later stages, enjoying witnessing the story unfold. Although there is a lot of ocean in this game, the story is of the traditional Zelda type with a slight twist to go with it. The story, though, is not as good, in my opinion, as that that can be found in Ocarina of Time or even Majora's Mask.
As mentioned earlier, I sometimes found it hard to motivate myself to play this game in its dying stages. The problem is, once you get near to completing the game you have to do a lot of fetching. Namely the fetching of tri-force maps, getting them deciphered and then fetching the tri-force pieces. Add to this the fact that you have normal treasure maps to use in order to get financial gain or heart pieces and you start to realise that the concept, of “uncovering a map's secrets”, becomes old and boring fast. Initially I thought that getting financial rewards when following up treasure maps was pretty pointless. However, Nintendo quickly quashed this thought because they made Tingle such a cutthroat capitalist. For the first time in a Zelda game, you actually need a shirt load of money to proceed further into the game. As you may realise, getting those rupee wallet upgrades, early on in the piece, will help you avoid monetary frustration later on.
The boss battles are for the most part pretty original and fresh, they are only very difficult if you don't figure out the correct method of dispatching them. I will say this though, the final boss is somewhat mediocre and it fell short of my expectations and don't even get me started on the ending sequence. The ending sequence of the game (Credits and the like) is one of the worst I have ever come across. In no way is it rewarding for the player or does it give the player a sense of satisfaction once the game is completed. It seems to me the developers didn't put much effort into crafting a satisfying ending sequence for, what could be said to be, an epic game.

SOUND
As always, Link doesn't speak, but he still makes some cool attacking cries or grimaces when he gets hurt. The music created for this game is genuinely catchy and does actually suite it. If link travels at night, there is no music to speak of at all but nonetheless, once day breaks, the music makes a welcome return. The over-world music seems to me to be a re working of the over-world music found in Ocarina of Time. I could be wrong though. Nevertheless, the over-world music has a certain flavour that helps to make Wind Waker a well rounded package.
I happen to think that having no dialogue speech during the game is the best way a Zelda game can be presented. Don't get me wrong, there are still sounds made or small phrases said by NPC's… for example – the travelling salesman says “Thank you” in a humorous and adorable way when you buy something of him.
Overall, Wind Waker's sound is pretty good. It's nothing exceptional, but being a Zelda game it doesn't really need to be. After all, it's all about the game-play, right?

OVERALL
Link's most recent adventure is, as you would expect, epic in nature. All the characters featured in the game, whether they annoy you, repulse you or amuse and interest you; will actually result in you caring about them and their plight. This is a testament to the game's well thought out design and story.
Unfortunately the game can become tedious in parts and some of the puzzles could be classed as unfairly difficult to solve. The graphical style may not impress you either and it may leave you feeling uninspired. However, Wind Waker is not a bad game, it is actually quite good. You also have to give Nintendo credit for trying something new and different. Not only does the game look fresh; because of the large amount of ocean, there is a new spin on the game-play element too.
Even though after the credits roll and you are left thinking “Is that it?!” Wind Waker is a genuinely satisfying game to play and complete. Whatever the score, you have to admit that this is a landmark title for the Zelda series, simply because of the direction Nintendo took with it. Congratulations Nintendo, for keeping the fans on their toes; you may have slightly missed the mark with Wind Waker, but it's an enjoyable game to play nonetheless.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/04