The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

"Another beautiful game from Nintendo"

Thanks for reading my Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker review for Nintendo GameCube.

Story – 10/10

This new installment in the Legend of Zelda series takes place hundreds of years after the Nintendo 64 classic, Ocarina of Time. The very beginning of the game tells the legend of a young boy called Link. This is the very same Link from Ocarina of Time. The legend says he showed up and defeated the evil Ganon that was trying to rule the world. Link brought peace to the land and was hailed as a true hero. He became known as the Hero of Time as he traveled through time to banish the evil.

But one day, an evil threat appeared over the land of Hyrule once again. The people expected the Hero of Time to come and save them again. But the hero never returned. It was Ganon who had appeared again to bring misery to the lives of the Hylians. But with no hero to save them, Hyrule was doomed. The gods of Hyrule had no choice but to flood the whole land so that Ganon may not be able to complete his desire. The gods chose people that would live on the small islands of the huge sea that was created. The people lived happily without threat from any evil for years to come.

No one knows what happened to the Hero of Time. Why hadn't he returned to save his home land…?

That then brings us to the start of the game. You take control of a young boy who is called Link (no surprises there then). It is little Link's birthday and he is finally at the age when he gets to wear the clothes that resemble the Hero of Time's. You know, the traditional green tunic and cap. Link's grandma gives them to him. He isn't too fond of the clothes at first but everyone else on his small island of Outset thinks they look great on him. Link's younger sister Aryll lets him borrow her favorite item, a telescope, as part of his birthday. Link checks it out as soon as he gets it and when he looks into the sky he sees a giant bird carrying an unconscious girl in it's claws. A pirate ship is chasing the bird and firing cannon balls at it in an attempt to get the girl back. One hits the bird smack on it's face and it drops the girl in a forest at the top of Outset Island. Link knows he should go and see if she's alright so he speaks with the village swordsman and learns the way of the blade. Link runs to the girl's aid and saves her from the monsters that were lurking around after her. The young girl is called Tetra but doesn't pay much attention to Link and never realized she saved him as she was unconscious. One of her pirate buddies arrives on the seen and the 3 of them exit the forest. On the way back down to the village Aryll has come to see how Link is doing. But just as she crosses the bridge, the huge bird that caught Tetra swoops down and grabs Aryll in it's feet. She screams for her brother to help her but there is nothing Link can do as the bird flies far away into the distance…

Back down on the bottom of the island and Link asks Tetra if he can come along on her ship to search for Aryll. Tetra isn't having any of it at first but the local postman saw everything that took place and explained to the pirate girl that it was her fault Aryll was kidnapped. As a postman's job involves visiting many towns, he has heard a lot of rumors of girls with pointy ears being kidnapped and taken to the Forsaken Fortress, a dreaded place by many. The huge bird has mistaken Aryll for Tetra and flown off with the wrong girl. After learning this, Tetra decides that it's only fair she takes Link to the Forsaken Fortress to rescue his sister. Link prepares for the dangerous mission ahead of him, waves goodbye to his family and friends, and sails away on the pirate ship…

Gameplay – 8/10

I bet you're wondering what “The Wind Waker” actually means, huh? Well, much like previous Zelda games, this one has an interesting theme to it. After attempting to save Aryll when Link first reaches the Forsaken Fortress, he is unfortunately captured and thrown far away by the huge bird we see in the beginning. Link is found by a mysterious boat that goes by the name of the King of Red Lions. Amazingly, the boat can talk and saw Link attempt to rescue his sister. He tells Link that in order to defeat the evil man behind this whole girl kidnapping plan he needs a legendary item. But in order to get that he must obtain three special pearls held by 3 very important people in the land. After a test which Link must pass set by the gods of Hyrule, Link will finally be able to retrieve this item and defeat the evil man. Link undoubtedly accepts the challenge as he would do anything to save his sister. On Link's journey to get the first pearl, the King of Red Lions gives Link a magical conductor's baton called the Wind Waker. With this, Link is able to control the direction of the winds among many other things. The Wind Waker plays a very important part in the game and is key to getting from place to place in the sea quickly. By sailing in the boat and changing the direction of the winds, you will be able to sail in the direction the wind blows so that you can go to where you want to go.

Using the Wind Waker is very simple. It's much like playing the ocarina in OoT and MM. You just tap the C-Stick in the direction you want and a different note will play. By playing the notes, you can play different songs which you learn throughout the game and these songs will help you a lot during your quest.

As you'd expect in a Zelda game, there are many dungeons to conquer and a lot of exploring to do. Sadly though, there are only five major dungeons in the game. A lot less than the likes of Ocarina of Time. Each dungeon is brilliant though and there are quite a few puzzles which will please most people. The bosses are huge, as you'd expect, each with their own different weaknesses.

One problem for me though is that many old items return in this game. Now that may not sound like a bad thing, and in a way, it isn't. But by bringing back many of the old items from other Zelda's, Nintendo have thrown in puzzles and the like that we've already seen in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I don't think Nintendo realized about the old Zelda game players and instead made it as if everyone was new to the series. I may have gone just a little over the top but I found things too easy and would have preferred new challenges and puzzles.

There are a few new items however, such as the Deku Leaf which lets Link float through the air from platform to platform. And it can even be used to defeat enemies. Another item is the Tingle Tuner. By linking up your Game Boy Advance to your GameCube and using the Tingle Tuner, you can call Tingle who can help you out. He'll tell you names and weaknesses of enemies and show you hidden treasure in dungeons. If you want to fully complete the game then you will have to use the Tingle Tuner to find everything.

Another new feature is that of sword combos and new techniques. When you are fighting, you can perform different combos after striking your foe three times and by hitting different directions. It looks brilliant too. There is also a new ‘parry' attack which lets you attack the enemy just before he hits you, to dodge and attack and the same time. It all looks as good as it sounds too.

The main aspect of the game revolves around sailing the seas. You will spend a lot of time out there and in your boat. Sometimes, you'll find yourself getting a little annoyed at how long it can take to sail from one place to another, especially if you do not have the warping Wind Waker song. Many people say the sailing is tedious and it can be but this is something really new to Zelda. Never before has Link been able to sail a boat and it really is something that we can do that in this game. It will get a little annoying after a while but it isn't too bad once you get the warping song.

As for side quests, well Zelda wouldn't be Zelda without some side quests. There are loads in this game. It's going to take you ages to get everything the game has to offer, especially with all the heart pieces there are to collect. I didn't mention treasure hunting in the sea either. When you get an item called the grappling hook, you can use it to haul up treasure chests in the sea. You'll collect many treasure charts throughout the game which show the locations of treasure in the sea. By sailing to these locations you can pick up the treasure and claim what's inside. There are tons and tons of treasure charts to find so there's a lot of hunting to be done out at sea.

There are many other side quests such as the figurine collecting. When you find a place called the Nintendo Gallery, you can give photos you've taken of people or enemies to the man who works there and he'll create a figurine of that person. There are loads of figurines to be made because of all the people and enemies in the game so you'll spend ages doing that.

In terms of difficulty, Wind Waker does extremely poor. This is probably the easiest Zelda of the series. I don't know what Nintendo were thinking when they made this one. As if a lack of dungeons was bad enough for Ocarina of Time players, the difficulty is really bad. You may get stumped on a few things in dungeons like puzzles but you won't have any problems not dieing. Even the bosses aren't that much trouble. OoT players will fly through Wind Waker with no trouble. It's a bit of a disappointment really. But the heap load of side quests and excellent storyline make up for that.

And the length of the game. Another thing that is poor. It's certainly not as bad as a lot of games out there today but compared to Ocarina of Time, this is short. When we expected the first Zelda game for GameCube, we expected an OoT beater. A harder and lengthier game. WW is neither, sadly. That's not to say the game isn't good though. Oh no. The game's awesome, but it could have been so much better had it have been harder and longer. It's a bit of a disappointment really. But the heap load of side quests and excellent storyline make up for that.

Controls – 10/10

Nintendo 64 Zelda veterans will be right at home with the controls in Wind Waker. It's all the same formula. The A button makes Link examine, pick up or talk. B makes Link swing his sword. The X, Y and Z buttons are the buttons where you can assign three different items to. R raises your shield. L locks on to enemies. It's all perfectly suited to the GameCube controller and newcomers to 3D Zelda will pick it up in no time.

One great change, and something I think is much needed in 3D adventure games, is the fact that you can move the camera freely around Link using the C-Stick. By hitting the stick in various directions you can zoom in and out on Link and spin the camera around quickly and easily. I'm very impressed with it seeing as many games suffer from poor cameras. I love how you can just run around while moving the camera at the same time by using both control sticks. It's a vast improvement over the Zelda's of the N64 as you couldn't move the camera as freely as you'd like, only being able to center it behind Link using the lock on button.

Controls are perfect then.

Graphics – 10/10

In case you hadn't noticed, The Wind Waker is cel-shaded. If you aren't familiar with this term, think of it as cartoon style. The game isn't like previous Zelda's like OoT and MM. Instead, WW's world is like a cartoon. As you probably know, a lot of Zelda fans were wondering what on earth Nintendo were doing when they first showed how the game was going to look. But as time went on the game looked to be getting better and better. And just as Mr Miyamoto himself said, games should be judged by playing, not be seeing. WW proves this to every extent. It's the perfect example that if a game looks like a cartoon it doesn't mean it will not be good.

Wind Waker is meant to look like it does. As link is a young boy in this game, the cel-shaded style suits him perfectly. I personally think the game looks beautiful. It really is. When I first played the game I thought it was one of the best looking video games I've ever played. And I still hold true to that. It looks like a cartoon but that doesn't mean it will play any different.

Every character has been individually designed, all of them with their own distinctive faces. The islands are all very detailed from outside to inside and one thing I really like is the fact that you can see the islands from miles away when you are out at sea. A lot of game's buildings and the like don't appear on the screen until late on and it looks horrible when they just suddenly appear in front of you. With WW however, you can spot the islands from great distances away and it looks great.

Then you have the little effects that everybody loves. From the swirls of smoke that puff out from explosions to the wobbly chins of the Moblins, everything looks and moves wonderfully. This game is one of the most beautiful looking ever made. It really is that good.

Sound – 10/10

Nothing to fault here either. Many old time Zelda players will be happy when they hear old tunes played again but there are a lot of new ones too. Many of them quite catchy ones at that. The theme played while you are sailing really fits in well when you're out at sea it seems.

Sound effects are top of the mark. Swords clashing, seagulls cawing, sea whooshing. Everything sounds perfect.

Overall – 9/10

Wind Waker really is an exceptional game but it could be improved in many ways. It was way too easy and short for a Legend of Zelda game. There was a little too much sailing to be done and the islands were very small. I would have liked at least one huge island that took up about two squares on the map.

But it is a great game. The storyline really is fantastic and there's a lot more to the game than just saving Link's sister. Tons of side quests and loads of stuff to find. It'll take you a long while to get everything in the game.

It should be in every GameCube owner's collection, let alone Zelda fan's. Let this game be a warm up for the next GameCube Legend of Zelda, which every single one of us knows will be big!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/05, Updated 08/31/07

Game Release: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Limited Edition) (EU, 05/02/03)