The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

...Very good. Not as good as Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess, but it is unique in its own way. The cel-shade graphics are beautiful, and the characters are very expressive. The boss fights are challenging, and the story very interesting. The only bad thing is that you have to sail for way too long at times. But apart from that and trying to find good islands that you went to before and do not show up on your map afterwards, it is pretty close to flawless. The area is large, and there is a lot of things to do and you will want to go back to the islands again and again. Even though it is not as good as TP and OoT, it is better than I had expected.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is the latest entry in the classic saga.

First off, I just want to say...Wow. This game is an experience. Taking place on the ocean instead of the familiar realm of Hyrule, you sail around to several different islands in the course of play.

The sea is huge, a 7 by 7 square grid dotted all over with islands. The story is new, and plays as a loose sequel to Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Now I know that would sound kind of stupid, considering that they are all part of a series, and would of course be connected. But its different here. Just watch the opening cinematic.

The game play is wonderful, from sailing and retrieving treasure chests to the familiar Zelda formula, it works on every level.

The graphics are amazing. Never before has Cel-Shaded graphics been done to such an extent. It's really quite wonderful. When you roll, dust flies. Your ship cuts through the water as it sails, and lets not forget the waves and the wind blowing in certain directions.

To go deeper into the story, let me just say that it is a bit of a departure from the earlier editions. This time it is about Link (of course) who sets out with pirates to retake his kidnapped sister, and he is thrown into dark and sinister implications, and has to rise to his destiny. All while trying to get her back. There still isn't voice acting, just words on the screen. Which is good, because no voice acting can't seriously be a con, but terrible voice acting can.

Several new characters and a whole new world to explore recreate the Zelda scene with riveting force. Some may complain that there's too much sailing. They can stick with Serious Sam if they can't sit down that long.

Some may gripe about the cel-shaded graphics. But their best argument tends to be "its stupid." My only problem isn't really a problem. I just with they would have kept something in the game in alignment with the Ocarina of Time. No real bother.

Anyway, I give it a 9.8 out of 10. My second favorite GameCube game. (Just behind Metroid Prime.

As a young boy, I played the first three (S)NES installments in the Legend of Zelda series, and was quite hooked by the rich mythology, combat and exploration element in the games. However, not owning a GameBoy or Nintendo 64 made me miss all the installments for those systems, so I was out of the Zelda experience for several years. The Wind Waker was a very welcome re-introduction to the series after all those years of absence, and it actually sparked my interest in Ocarina of Time as well.

Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda game to venture into three-dimensional gaming, and it also employed a very sophisticated narrative that went far beyond the straightforward dungeon-to-dungeon plot that hallmarked the first installments. Wind Waker was not only a revolution in graphics, but it also perfected the level of storytelling in the series. You start out with a nice background story and with young Link, who is embarking on a great adventure on the Great Sea when his little sister is kidnapped, and he is forced to tag along with a bunch of pirates; as the player, you need to find the story by following clues, obtaining objects and talking with other characters. Watching the plot unfold as you play is half the fun, and involves not only puzzle-solving, but also mastering the way of sword combat. It is nice to see how this game continues where Ocarina of Time left off; it uses the known elements of the series, like Link, Zelda, Ganon and the Triforce, and takes it in unexpected directions. For example: how many games take the hero to the big boss' stronghold already in the very beginning? Or skips the obligatory happy end for a more bitter-sweet finale?

The cell-shaded graphics in Wind Waker are the giant leap forward in the series, and showed what the GameCube system was capable of. However, it was also the reason why it was scathingly called 'Celda' after its release, which summarized the view of many who thought the game was much too kid-friendly. There is little denial that the game, with its lush cartoonesque animations and underage hero, caters to a young audience; but let's face it, the rest of the series was targeted at minors too, and weren't we all kids when we were introduced to it? Granted, the game does not look as dark or scary as Ocarina was at times, but that was mainly due to some creepy dungeons, like the one in the graveyard. Perhaps also the limitations in animation made that game seem a bit unpolished and grim, and drew less comparisons to a family-friendly cartoon. Wind Waker also has plenty of tense and dark moments (those hands from the floor and the screaming zombies still freak me out), but the unique selling point is the staggeringly high production value, almost the quality of a hand-drawn Disney feature, making it akin to a interactive cartoon; but at no point did I get the feeling that the mature audience was not taken seriously, because the game keeps the focus on an intricate and adventurous story.

Ocarina of Time introduced a revolutionary targeting system that enabled effective fighting, which has been further perfected for Wind Waker. In Ocarina, the camera would often take an annoying position that didn't quite give the best view of the fight; in Wind Waker, no matter what happens, the camera always shoots the action from an optimal angle, and you can always modify it to your preference. The array of sword moves has been expanded to include combos and rolling moves, which, together with the camera work and awesome graphics, creates fight scenes that would not feel out of place in a Prince of Persia game.

It was a very bold move to introduce a radical change of scenery in this game. The familiar forests, swamps, lakes, fields and deserts have been been replaced by The Great Sea, where isolated islands still contain sparse inhabitants and civilization, so more than ever does the player need to explore and keep a sense of direction. This makes for another epic new element: the sailing; although many fans thought it was long-winded, tedious and uneventful, I found the sailing a great part of the exploration, especially because the game keeps changing the circumstances: day changing to night, sunshine suddenly turning into lightening storms, and the unexpected discoveries on the vast ocean, as well as a couple of nice battles, made the sailing alluring enough. True, sometimes the distances were a bit long and the backdrop a bit monotonous, but backtracking through familiar scenery is also an integral part of the Zelda experience. As with most Zelda games, there comes a point where the player can warp to certain places, which saves precious traveling time, and there are a few locations in the game that bring back pleasant memories to Ocarina.

If there is one point of criticism that I agree with, it is that the game is a bit too short; the main quest is relatively brief, and the number of dungeons a bit meager compared to the amount of terror-filled challenges that Ocarina and Link to the Past offered. But, on the good side, the Great Sea is where most of the sidequests take place, another staple of the series that usually makes up more than half of the playing time.

To conclude, a lot of fans were initially displeased with Wind Waker, but judging by the very positive reviews here on the site, I think it is safe to say that I am not the only one to express his admiration for this little masterpiece. Not that it is necessarily my favorite Zelda game, but it is a great entry anyway that has shaped the series and the face of gaming for years to come.

I think "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" deserves a place right alongside "Ocarina of Time". A vast amount of people who call themselves 'fans' downed this game for a couple of reasons that I have read from previous reviews: they hated the graphics and they hated the fact that it actually takes TIME to sail around the ocean. I, personally, thought the game was beautiful to look at. Besides, who wants the same old thing every time? Cel-shading was a very wise and unique move, and I love the characters' facial expressions in this game, something you didn't see much of in the previous Zelda games. And as far as sailing on the ocean goes, I enjoyed the scenery. It DID get a little dull at times, especially sailing from one end of the screen to the other with no warp song accessible. But nevertheless, it didn't take any enjoyment of the game away from me. Exploring the towns was nice, and fighting the bosses was very entertaining. The game isn't too long, though it took me about a week and a half to beat it because I was in college at the time I had purchased it. Overall, "The Wind Waker" is an outstanding game and offers the player many extensive, entertaining hours of gameplay. 10/10

This is a cool follow up to Zelda considering it took place after ocarina of time. Gamecube is one of the best nintendo systems, especially since they now have the Ocarina of Time on it. This game has better enemy AI however cause they can fall then get back up again and attack you, what they don't do in ocarina of time. I hope gamecube is something that can live on forever. Not all games may be worth it but only one game alone can make you never want to get rid of the system. I already know I won't. I haven't made it that far into this game but I already know it will go beyond expectations, especially since I read that the final fight requires teamwork to complete.