Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Review

By Donald Mume

    The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker is a game that takes place generations later on a remote island called Outset Island. The elder islanders tell the young the legend passed on from their grandparents.  

    The legend tells of a great land. The land known as Hyrule. It was a land of peace and prosperity. But then a great shadow of evil came and over took it. But not all hope was lost, for a great Hero arose among them. He took up the legendary Master Sword and defeated the great evil. They praised him as the Hero of Time. He then moved on, leaving the master sword in a great shrine in Hyrule. The land was blessed for many years, but the great power sealed away came back. The Hyrulians prayed to the three gods, Din, Farrow, and Naryu. But the evil spirit destroyed the land and it sunk into the great sea, and broke up, creating many little islands. Now, in Honor of the Hero of time, traditionally dress in a green suit on they're tenth birthday.  

  This is where the game comes in. It is your character's Tenth birthday and everything is going swell. Until a pirate ship comes in, and with it a big bird. Your character notices the bird dives down and grabs a girl from the boat. But the bird doesn't hold her for long, for the pirate ship shoots the bird, and the bird drops her in the forest. Your character collects a sword and shield and runs out to the forest. He makes his way through the forest destroying minor enemies. The girl awakens, and a pirate from the boat comes running to save her. Your character comes out of the forest, a bit shaken. Across the bridge he sees his sister happily waving. But to his dismay the bird, mistaken your sister for the pirate girl snatches your sister, and takes her off. After a bit of talking the pirates agree to take him on to rescue his sister… 

   Now I won't give away the entire story here, but I'll give bits and chunks to point out details. Lets start with the basics. The control scheme is definitely not a "bring down". It is very classic, efficient, and not hard to handle. For all the gamers new to the system or even the series won't find it hard to get used to. L-targeting is one of the best controls. I find it very useful for singling out one enemy in a crowd. The parry was also a good feature. It isn't like one of those "press A the instant it flashes". It rumbles, giving you a good warning. The wind waker instrument controls are kind of confusing, especially at first. To play different notes you use the C-stick once the wind waker is in action, and if you need to play a song in a different tempo, you must hold the control stick in the direction of the tempo. You also must play it in beat, or else it will play a flat note needed sometimes, but annoying when you can't remember the songs. The camera controls I have no problem with. The C-stick makes it very easy to angle it in just the position you need. The control pad was also used efficiently, as it brought up your compass, map, and clock. Over all I would rate the control scheme a 4/5 for a pre-gamer, and a 5/5 for a non-gamer. 

  Now about the story. I thought that it was pretty good, a nice turn here and there, sometimes a bit obvious, but not bad. Not a sappy love story, or your every day legend. It was nice, but if you've never played a Legend of Zelda title, the story isn't so amazing. Over all I would rate the story a 4.5/5 for a pre-Zelda player, and a 3.5/5 for a non-Zelda player. 
 
 

   Lets talk about the graphics. Now, as far as the graphics are, they are really good. But the illustration wasn't so great. The game is all cartoon 3-D, and a very weird style. Not at all original and for a new look very dopey.

Over all, I would rate graphics and illustration 2.5/5 for a pre-Zelda player, and a 3/5 for a non-Zelda player. 
 
 

  Now the enemy's in this game were not too challenging and a bit of a drag. The only thing I enjoyed were some of the challenging enemy's, specifically Darknuts and Puppet Ganon. The most enjoyable thing about battling them would be the variety of ways you could do it. You could attack them old fashion, Parry them, use your Grapple Hook to steal items from them, and etc. The enemy's have unique styles to attack them, which was nice.

Over all, I would rate enemy's 3.8/5 for a pre-Zelda player, and 4.2/5 for a non-Zelda player. 
 

  There is a good amount of items in the game. There are your classic Hero's bow and bombs. You can visit fairy fountains to upgrade you bow and bombs, as far as amount you can carry. You eventually get Fire, Ice, and Light arrows, which are classic, and don't disappoint. Your inventory contains of:  

Wind Waker

Sail

Telescope

Grapple Hook

Hook Shot

Magic Armor

Bombs

Hero's Bow

Iron Boots

Skull Hammer

Boomerang

Deku Leaf

Delivery Bag

Picto Box

Bait Bag

Up to 4 bottles

Spoils Bag

  And here are some of your equipped items:

Master sword

Hero Sword

Hero's Charm

Power Bracelet

Hero's Shield

Mirror Shield

Hero's Charm

Speak Charm (?) 

The items in this game are fun to fool around with and very easy to handle.

Over all I would rate the items in this game a 4.8 for a pre-Zelda player and a 5/5 for a non-Zelda player. 
 

The game is very big, huge landscape/waterscape, and very clean. Nothing is hard because of the bushes, trees, and etc. Smooth textures and not at all glitchey in any sort. A very fun world indeed, though I thought finding The Ballad of Gales was a bit ridicules, for I needed to go to www.gamefaqs.com for the exact position. But it actually added up to be a nice challenge.

Over all, I would rate the landscape/waterscape 5/5 for a pre-Zelda player, and a 4.5/5 for a non-Zelda player. 
 

  The difficulty of the game is actually quite minor. Very easy in every perspective. I think that it could have been definitely harder.

Over all I would rate the easiness a 2/5 to a pre-Zelda player and a 4/5 to a non-Zelda player. 
 

              THE OVER ALL JUDGEMENT

Well, this game has its ups and downs. I thought it was fun, worth playing, but not traditional. By all means if you want fun its there, but if you want classic Zelda fun, you might not get exactly what you want. If you were looking for a great sequel or a classic, this really isn't what that is. If you were looking for a new look on Zelda here it is. But if you don't really care, as long as it is fun, get it.  

Over all, I would rate this a 8/10 to a pre-Zelda player, and a

9.1/10 to a non-Zelda player. My personal rating of the entire game,

is a 9.8, but this is my actual first Zelda game. My brother plays others, so I'm not a newbie. I know the traditional stuff. I rated it high, because I really have been wanting to play a Zelda title, without the brain splitting frustration. I would really recommend this game to a person who wants a relaxed fun game, with the honored title of Zelda. 
 

Special thanks:

Gamefaqs

Wikipedia

David Mume, David Beanboy, and Micah Peadude

Nintendo