The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is the GameCube’s star title. Zelda fans have been looking forward to this title for months, even though it is different than originally expected. Wind Waker re-imagines the Zelda world as a lighthearted, imaginative, uplifting adventure in a colorful world, but it has several design problems that detract from the game’s enjoyment factor.

Zelda fans will know what to expect: fun combat, puzzles, exploring lush worlds, crawling through dark dungeons, collecting items, defeating bosses and visiting villages. It contains all of the crucial elements of a good Zelda game, but these elements are not always easy to use. Wind Waker’s control is slightly awkward: it is difficult to maneuver Link in complex situations, especially during jumping and rope swinging puzzles, and he has a problem with falling off of ledges. Additionally, the camera angle is skewed at the wrong angle many times, and adjusting it is needlessly annoying. The controls are not terrible, but they could have used more fine-tuning and precision balancing. Combat, thankfully, is great, and it brings great satisfaction to expertly dodge around an attacking enemy and strike him with a well-placed blow. The controls will settle in after a few hours of practice, but their inherent flaws make the game frustrating at times.

Wind Waker is difficult to get into unless you are a dedicated Zelda fan. The game begins in Link’s peaceful hometown on Outset Island, without a clear explanation of your goals. Compared to the opening sequences in previous Zelda titles, especially the thrilling rescue mission that started you out in Zelda 3: A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo and Gameboy Advance, Wind Waker’s beginning is totally lacking in excitement. Most of the time is spent wandering around the village as you learn play mechanics and find items, yet the villagers provide little to no clues about your objectives, so you will end up wandering around not knowing what you are supposed to do. After a tedious game of trial-and-error searching, you will have to save a pirate girl in the forest, and your sister is kidnapped by a large bird moments later. The first dungeon was a remarkably poor choice for an introduction level: it is a pirate fortress where an unarmed Link must use stealth to sneak by enemies. If caught, he is thrown into a dungeon near the beginning, and must start over. The dungeon is also maze-like and frustrating to navigate, and getting lost is a frequent occurrence. The frustrating thing about this is that I expected to play a Zelda game, not a Metal Gear Solid imitation. Normally, a poor introduction is not a significant enough drawback to warrant an entire paragraph in a review, but Wind Waker’s is especially bad: it can be a literal show-stopper for anyone with less than above-average gaming skills. Thankfully, the game opens up after the pirate fortress and it becomes much more playable, but be warned that the game is abrasive to anyone without great patience and persistence. It seems as if you have to endure a decidedly non-Zelda game to earn your right to play a Zelda game.

Wind Waker’s graphics stirred up great controversy when the game was unveiled. GameCube fans had expected a realistic, mature style when they viewed the GameCube graphics demo at SpaceWorld 2000, as a mature Link clashed swords with Ganon. Wind Waker, however, rejects the realistic style and replaces it with a cartoony, cel-shaded appearance. While it is admittedly not as ‘cool’ looking as the gorgeous graphics demo from SpaceWorld 2000, Wind Waker’s animation is excellent, smooth and flowing, and the smoke effects are stunning to look at. The world itself is blocky and it has too many hard angles, but the characters are smooth and modeled well, with impressive shadow effects. The expressions on the characters’ faces are vivid and entertaining to watch as they react to nearly everything in the game world. The game runs at 30 frames per second, surprisingly; 60 frames per second would have made it much smoother. Wind Waker has a few graphical problems, but it has a distinct style and sense of originality not found in other cel-shaded games.

Audio is well done, generally. The classic Zelda sound effects and themes are back, this time with a cheerful upbeat theme. Wind Waker’s soundtrack is more lighthearted than any Zelda game to this date, which may be a good or bad thing, depending on your tastes. The game supports Dolby Pro-Logic II for gamers with appropriate home theater systems.

Wind Waker is a different kind of Zelda game, which inevitably causes more problems than it solves. It is not a bad game by any means: it is well-polished, stylish and cool, but it tries to be too many things at once and it lacks a sense of direction and purpose. The beginning moments of the game are the dullest parts, but they are drawn out and tedious enough to the point where they can send gamers’ enthusiasm and interest to a grinding halt. Hardcore Zelda fans will undoubtedly love the new adventure set in a bright, colorful world of fighting, puzzles and exploration, but the game’s problems may discourage newcomers from enjoying the series.

Screenshots