- The Wind Waker--Pretty Good Zelda In early 2003, the first new Zelda game for the Gamecube was released in North America. It was called The Wind Waker. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of The Legend of Zelda series, stated that he could produce a Zelda game for "All-ages". Here's my Review:
1. Story- Basically, Link lives on a small tropical island in the middle of a huge ocean called The Great Sea. When a gigantic bird appears and kidnaps Link's younger sister, he sets off on a quest to rescue her with the help of a magical talking boat called the King of Red Lions. There's much more to the story than that, but that's all I can reveal without the risk of giving away a spoiler.
2. Controls- The controls of the game are almost flawless. The Gamecube controller is easy to get used to with a Zelda title after playing Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask on the Nintendo 64. My only problem was the yellow C-stick. When you're sailing on the ocean, you'll use a baton called the Wind Waker constantly to make the wind blow in the desired cardinal direction you want to sail in. My problem was when you are choosing a direction, it was difficult to spin the C-stick and make it stop at the place I wanted it to. However, I got used to moving it, and it was not as much of a problem.
3. Graphics- Wind Waker's surprising choice of graphics and animation was where many loyal Zelda fans moaned and complained. They expected that with the Gamecube, there would be an upgrade in the graphics department making the new Zelda look like a prettier Ocarina of Time. While instead, along with Miyamoto's plan for a Zelda game for all-ages, they got cartoonish cel-shaded graphics. I personally find the new graphics to be beautiful, original, and just plain fun to look at. Also, the redisigned characters, especially Link, are very expressive.
4. Difficulty- This is my major problem with the game. It is way too easy! Because Miyamoto said he'd make Zelda for all-ages, that explains why the difficulty level was decreased so much so that it could appeal to younger gamers. It doesn't take Einstein to figure out the puzzles in this game. The bosses are fun but very simple, and most Zelda veterans have likely beaten bosses similar to these in previous Zelda games. So, because of this, it leaves the older players with little sense of achievement after beating the game.
5. Length- My other problem with the game: it's just too short. The game has a whopping grand total of 6 dungeons, and none of them take particularly long to get through. Most other Zelda games have a minimum of 8 and some even go up to 10 normal-sized dungeons. There is a place in the game where there could potentially have been a water temple, and for some reason there wasn't one. Also, near the end of the game,
Link must get through a tedious quest to collect 8 fragments of the Triforce, which I thought was cheaply tacked-on to extend the game's length. They could have added one or two more dungeons and I would not have had a problem.
6. Music- The music is great. It has some tunes that can get stuck in your head hours later. It also includes many of the classic songs remixed from Ocarina of Time and other previous Zelda games.
Overall, The Wind Waker is a great Zelda game, just not amazing like Ocarina of Time.
- 