pavona21's Full Review: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for GameCube
Intro: Give it back
As of today,(regardless of when you’re reading this) it has been over 10 years since I truly found my gaming. Right before that point in my life, I had soccer, basketball, baseball, cartoons, and even flashlight tag, among others. But the real problem was I hadn’t yet found my niche in life. I was the epitome of mediocrity in living. In a gaming sense, of course I had my Atari 2600 and my NES, but I was playing those more for everyone else than myself. Friends enjoyed them when they came over, my older sister and I played to pass the time, and I occasionally I even sat down alone with them. Almost out of no where though, one gold box taught me of the reality of my limitations in life. I wasn’t going to be a professional soccer player, or an NBA superstar, or the next home run king of the MLB. One day in my life, I would actually have to struggle through school just to get a regular job that would make someone else rich. But, through all of those times, on thing could remain constant; gaming. And the game that brought this dream to life was none other than Zelda: A link to the Past.
For the first time in my life I had eaten, slept, breathed, and dreamed in 2D. I sat in front of the old RCA for hours on end, struggling against the likes of wizards and darkened soldiers, and collecting items of magic and strength. And for those few elite moments in my life, time stopped. I forgot all about the soccer game in an hour, the test in math the next day, and the game of flashlight tag, or capture the flag, or baseball that could take place that night. All I cared about was traversing the land with a small elf boy in green clothes, in his mission to save the world he knew. All that mattered was seeing that strange lost man finding his way home. I wouldn’t have been able to continue on with my life if the little boy with his flute never played for his crowd of squirrels and rabbits again. It was a feeling of focus, perseverance, effort, and most of all, love. With the release of Nintendo’s Zelda: The Wind Waker, I dreamt of such a gaming experience returning through my mind, my blood, and my soul. I’ve been missing that feeling for far too long, and I want it back, damnit, I want it back.
Gameplay: 9/10-Come sail away with me
“Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden. One day, a man of great evil found this power and took it for himself, and with it at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom. But then... just as all hope had died, a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding a blade that repelled evil, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light. This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time. The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it became legend.
And then a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom, and the great evil once again crept forth from the depths of the earth. The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come to save them. But the hero did not appear...
What became of that kingdom...? None remain who know. The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath.
On a certain island, it became customary to garb young boys in green when they come of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspire to find heroic blades and cast evil down. The elders wish only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend...”
Where other Zelda games have started you up on the run, The Wind Waker’s early stages focus more on personality and character development. The first half hour of the game or so, you will merely meet your sister, talk to your grandma, learn to carry a sword, talk to island villagers, catch pigs, rinse, and repeat until things get exciting. Eventually, after putting on your goofy green pajamas, you will find a pirate girl named Tetra mysteriously being kidnapped by a giant bird, while her crew chases after her. You and the crew manage to rescue her, but as soon as you know it, the giant bird mistakes your little sister for Tetra, and boom, she’s gone too! At this point, you have to do what any overprotective big brother would do; join a band of pirates in order to save your sister, and the World! Just moments later, you will discover the big evil behind your sisters kidnapping, and meet up with a boat that can actually talk to you, named the King of Red Lions. Let the games begin.
Because Link spends the vast majority of his journey traveling from Small Island to Small Island, and because this game takes place in the Middle Ages or before, sailing becomes an integral part of the gameplay. Unfortunately, sailing can be an incredibly tall order. The sheer scope of this game is amazingly large, covering what would be dozens of square miles, and therefore, sailing from one “end of the Earth” to another can take an eternity. As a matter of fact, I’m writing this entire review while sailing from the north most spot to the south most end of the map. Fortunately though, you learn some tricks on the way that make sailing much easier and more efficient. First of all, after getting the “Wind Waker” a baton used to control the wind and more, early on, you quickly learn the wind requiem, which allows you to control the direction of the wind. This will allow you to sail at “full speed”, but it won’t do an extreme amount for the overall sail times. Therefore, a couple of hours into the game(mostly spent sailing, mind you), you will learn the “Ballad of Gales” from a wind god. The use of this song will allow you to warp to one of many locations across the great Hyrule Sea, which essentially decreases pointless sailing to a minimum.
Of course, I’ve covered the fact that you’ll be sailing for hours and hours, but you must be going somewhere, right? Of course. Like most Zelda games,(or should I say all?) The Wind Waker is once again very dungeon oriented. While I will vouch for the fact that I believe that there are too few dungeons in this title, I will also say that vast majority of the ones there are quite captivating. The bosses, too, which vary from large statues, to giant plant monsters, and everything in between, especially serve as a means to “finish off” the accomplishment of defeating a dungeon or fortress. But, if that isn’t enough for you, you’ll again be finding an important item and receiving a piece of the heart at the end of each dungeon. And that brings us up the items of the game.
A Zelda title wouldn’t fit into the series if it wasn’t all about collecting items and spoils, and the Wind Waker is defiantly no exception to the rule. Here, you’ll see various old school items such as the Boomerang, the grappling hook, and bombs, but you’ll also find a few items unique to this title such as the Deku Leaf(in weapon form), the telescope, and the Wind Waker. While a few of these items, along with your sword and shield, are actually used for combat purposes, most of them are used almost strictly to solve puzzles. Yes, the many puzzles of Zelda! The ones that are typically so easy that you can do them blindly and wish that they were on the ACT. This time, you’ll have to blow off piles of leaves with the Deku Leaf, swing from branch to branch with the grappling hook, blow out pieces of walls with your bombs, shoot things in with your bow and arrow, traverse windy conditions with your heavy boots(wait, I’ve too much away), and the list continues. Although these puzzles are once again fairly easy in difficulty, a few of them are actually a little bit tricky, and the vast majority of them are at least interesting.
Along with the puzzles though are arguably the most memorable aspects of any newer Zelda game, the mini-games. While I will still concede that nothing is quite as exciting as fishing in OoT, I also found that are a few good ones in The Wind Waker. Among these is the battleship game at Windfall Island in which you must shoot bombs at one of many squares on the map in order to sink all three ships. The actual premise of the game may sound a bit boring, but the guy that runs the show is quite the character. Adding onto this list is another, more real battleship game, where you sink actual ships, sorting mail on Dragon Roost, and sword fighting on your great island of origin with one of the crazy old men. These games are fun, and educational! And oh yes, you might actually get something out of them too if you can beat them, like say, a heart, or a new skill. Fun, educational, and rewarding!
The final bit of noteworthy gameplay greatness is the use of the tingle tuner. Tingle, the mildly homosexual character from a past Zelda experience, has been locked in a prison on Windfall Island. If you release him, he’ll allow you use of his Tingle Tuner. This contraption that looks like a Gameboy will enable you to hook up a GBA via connectivity cables and use Tingle’s “skills” to throw bombs anywhere that you wish. But Tingle always charges for his “services”, so the use of his tuner comes at a small price. Essentially though, using this Tuner makes an already easy game in which you shouldn’t ever die, even easier. I hope it was made for smaller kids and parents who are interested in helping them. Older children should avoid using it, because it teaches them to rely on others to do their work. And that’s why I pay for millions of Americans welfare checks in my taxes. It’s all your fault, Tingle!
Graphics: 10/10-Why Peeing your pants is a good thing
In the Pre-Gamecube era there was a small event, merely entitled Spaceworld 2000, where Nintendo showed off some impressive graphics of a realistic Link fighting a realistic Gannon. These graphics left fans peeing their pants in awe and dancing around in anticipation. The graphics were later changed to the current “cel shaded” ones seen in the actual game, and journalists, fan boys, and casual gamers everywhere put on their sad faces, cried like little girls, and couldn’t believe that Nintendo had ruined arguably the greatest series in all of video games. I was among these fanatics. But, after seeing the game in true motion, my frown turned upside down, and the tears stopped, forever.
Essentially, I love every part of the new graphics scheme. While it isn’t the great new realism that took 3D to the next level like we saw in OoT, its an incredibly refreshing visual make-up that features a monstrous array of colors, an unmatched draw distance, and an amazing sense of emotion. Along with the colors and draw distance though, are some great water effects and other cartoonish graphical touches. While walking and swimming in the water will cause a nicely animated ripple effect, to see the real grandeur of the graphics you must toss a bomb into the water. The explosion is great and water splashes everywhere. It really makes my day. The player models are also excellent. Link and his band of Island elves are colorful characters with wide eyes that showcase their every emotion. The scene where Link leaves his grandmother for the first time is especially memorable. A lesser man would have cried after watching it, or so I tell myself. Finally, The Wind Waker sports a rock solid framerate with a huge endurance, it will never slow down.
Audio: 8/10-Is being dumb a disability?
It’s interesting to note that there really isn’t anything incredibly special about the audio scheme. There’s no amazingly famous tracks or famous voice actors. Hell, the characters don’t even talk. The truth of the matter is though that every individual aspect of the overall audio experience works well with the graphics and mood of the game, therefore making the audio scheme memorable. The background tracks are very similar to those heard in past Zelda titles, featuring mostly soft instrumentals with a few, more intense, more dark “songs” when you reach certain points in the game. The sound effects, to along with the graphics, and very cartoonish and somewhat over dramatized, but that only adds to the colorful feel of the title. As I mentioned before, in order to understand speech you have to read text and not just hear it. Nintendo says that they exclude voice acting from the Zelda series so that everyone can have their own individual interpretation of Link. I go along with this, to a certain extent, but I would suggest them giving all other characters, excluding Link, a voice in the near future.
Overall: 9.5/10
Overall, this game is simply a must own for the Nintendo Gamecube. Aside from it featuring some of my favorite graphics of all time, it also sports an extremely addictive gameplay, smooth controls, and a solid audio system. It is slightly less than perfect though. Sailing can become quite redundant, and the game isn’t quite as bulky as it should be. Most importantly, it gave me, the reviewer, that feeling that I’ve been missing since OoT. No, its not that feeling of solidity in my pants sicko, it’s a feeling of all around gaming bliss. It’s quite unexplainable actually, but anyone that has enjoyed a series as I’ve enjoyed the Zelda series should know first hand what I’m talking about. Regardless though, it still remains a must buy for any fan of the series or Nintendo aficionado, and a must play for every singe gamer on the planet. That right, get to playing it if you haven’t, slacker!
Thanks for reading,
-Pav
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