Zelda: The Wind Waker review
 

Like about a million other gamers out there, I was upset with the unveiling of "Cel-da," and made more than my fair share of comments about the new art direction Miyamoto was taking with one my most beloved franchises. However, once you sit down and start playing the game, all the referances to "I want to be a dentist" elf in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer fly out the window; and you find yourself lost in this masterpiece. Big portions of the game are very similar to Ocarina of Time, but there are numbers of new additions - like the sailing and tag-teaming in dungeons - that push the gameplay and this adventure to the modern-era Zeldas. There are a couple of times when the sailing really bogs this title down, but that's the only knock I have against the Wind Waker. Otherwise, it's perfect.

Review by GameInformer, but give me credit, it look a while to type

The Wind Waker is obviously a video game event of a lifetime, and a great expansion to The Ocarina of Time. My jaw really hit the floor when I started playing. This is the closest a game has come to mimicking a cartoon. It's one of the best - if not the best - looking game on the market. The story is fairly puzzling. This game is an absolute necessity for anyone who considers themselves a gamer. BUY IT. Buy it now!!

I gave this game a perfect 10!

From GameSpot.com

While Nintendo has a wide array of classic characters in its repertoire, The Legend of Zelda has become the company's flagship series. The last big Zelda game, The Ocarina of Time, basically reinvented the series for the polygonal generation, retaining the basic elements that have made the series great while unveiling new standards, such as the Z-trigger-based lock-on targeting system that made combat easier to manage and more exciting. The newest installment in the series is finally upon us in the form of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which sticks quite close to the blueprint drawn up by 1998's The Ocarina of Time. But what truly makes The Wind Waker a landmark event and sets it apart from most other games on the market today is its high level of polish.

The world of The Wind Waker consists of a large collection of islands. Once you've completed the first few portions of the game, you're given access to the King of Red Lions and the watery overworld. Your talking boat will basically guide you through the game, and you'll use a sail, a sea chart, and the wind waker's ability to change the direction of the wind to move from island to island. While the world is quite large and full of all sorts of little side quests, the game is also very good about marking sectors and islands on your chart when they become important to your progression, so getting lost or stuck in the game's large overworld is actually pretty difficult. The sailing can be a bit much at times, but once you've learned a warp song for your wind waker, you can skip around to the more important locations with ease. Once you set foot on land, you'll find a variety of locales, including towns, fortresses, fairy caves, a ghost ship, and dungeons.

While The Wind Waker has a lot more overworld and town work than some of the previous games in the series, you'll definitely be spending a fair amount of time in the game's dungeons. None of them ever get as devious as The Ocarina of Time's water temple, but these portions of the game definitely have their own sets of challenges. The game's different dungeons have different themes, such as fire, ice, plants, and wind. Two of the game's later dungeons throw in an extra, Ico-like twist by forcing you to bring another character along with you. These helper characters have abilities of their own, which come into play when solving puzzles in those dungeons.

Overall: 9.3/10 -Superb!

Gameplay-9
Graphics-10
Sound-9
Value-8
Tilt-10

It all begins one hundred years after the events of Ocarina of Time took place. A young lad by the name of Link is celebrating his birthday on his home of Outset Island, located in the middle of a vast ocean world known as the Great Sea. As the day wears on, Link's grandmother tells a story of a legendary hero dressed in green who saved the land from an evil force. At this point, a chain of events begin that will ultimately lead Link to discover that his destiny involves the rebirth of an ancient evil power -- something that only he can stop from destroying the world.

Link's kid sister, Aryll, is callously kidnapped by a monstrous bird-creature and bore away to a fortress prison. Together with a jovial band of pirates -- lead by the wickedly cute Miss Tetra -- Link leaves behind his simple life and sets sail for the fortress island to rescue her. Before long, Link is separated from his new friends and is forced to adventure alone over the high seas of the Great Sea in a living, talking sailboat called "King of Red Lions." After getting a gift in the form of the fabled Wind Waker -- a magical baton that grants the user the power to control the wind -- Link soon enough finds himself on an adventure involving many different islands, dungeons, towns, and locations. Without giving up any spoilers, the story pegs Link as the Hero of Time, climaxing with more than a few epic boss encounters, and reintroducing plenty of the Zelda legacy.

Sounds like I'll be either renting or buying it. Thanks for the info.

I've got my copy reserved. Bong.

Got my copy reserved long ago too, and almost beat Master Quest.

Umm... Bong bong?

Fuck I'm still on Spirit Temple its fucking hard.

spirit temple is fairly easy. are u on the kid part or the adult part?

WindWaker is a great game and I will prolly buys this game right away, the graphics aren't bad but then again the animation is the best.

meh, now i need a gamecube

See sir.dennis posts.

What are you trying to say?

"the graphics aren't bad the graphics"?

Eh, the graphics are deliberately cel-shaded to look like they're cartoon style. They didn't aim for photorealism in this one, as that's very hard to acheive in games in the first place.

The graphics look really good. The game is good as well. It's just too easy.

I agree, it was a little on the easy side, and it was a tad shorter than I would have liked. The game needed at least one more dungeon. But, other than that, I thought it was the best in the series. Much more polished than OOT, and much larger in scope and plot than A Link To The Past.

I liked it. Though I am not finished it yet, I helped my brother get through it.

I beat this game in about 4 days. It was too easy IMO.

Yeah, but did you find every last heart container and item? I did, and it took me probably between 40 and 50 hours to do so. If you just shoot straight through the game, sure it would be pretty quick. But, if you took the time to find everything, it's a much longer task.

I heard it was gory at the end.

Edit: opps I'm talking about windwaker though.