Review - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)
Format: Nintendo GameCube
Publisher: Nintendo
Producer: In-House
Genre: Role Playing
Origin: Japan
Reviewer: Sideath
Ah... Zelda. Nintendo now seem to now make two new, major Zelda games for each of its consoles, one at each console's birth, and one close to its death. Be it Zelda and Zelda II for the NES, or Ocarina of time and Majorca's Mask for the N64, this seems to be the case for every single console (apart from the GBC and SNES).
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is the game closer to the birth of the current-gen Nintendo home console - the Nintendo GameCube. And it wasn't just something which celebrated the birth of the home console - it was something to celebrate the rebirth of the Zelda franchise itself. When the first scsreenshots of The Wind Waker first appeared on the internet, there was international uproar. Many, it seemed were unhappy about the graphical cel-shaded style of the game ('it looks too kiddy!' 'There's no graphical detail!'), but Nintendo stood strong and did not change it. When the game was released, there was silence. Everybody was too busy playing the game!
So let's begin the review.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. Don't let anyone else tell you differently. The simple, yet effective graphical style of the game (quite literally) shines, and you can spend hours simply exploring the seas, taking in all of the wonderful landscapes, and the detail in the game isn't in how many polygons each character posseses, or how many teraflops of processor is being used for each animation, but a lot simpler. It looks lovely. Not realistic, but lovely.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. A large thing which separates 'just' excellent games and the superb ones is soul. While playing The Wind Waker, you can feel a real connection between your own character and also all of the NPCs, from the spoilt, rich-turned poor girl on Windfall Island, and your own Grandmother, which you can cure of depression (and in the game). This connection means that you have the urge to return to the major city areas, to complete sub-quests, to explore, or simply to enjoy and talk to the NPCs.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. The storyline is classic Zelda - but with a beautiful twist (although it is quite obvious from the Outset). Although the story is set chronologically the latest of all the Zelda games, there is still a firm link with the old Hyrule (which is revealed half way through the game), and at that point everything falls into place. What's so beautiful is that you find sub-quests also seem to happily link into the main storyline - so smooth that, unlike many other RPGs where the main quest and subquests remain firmly seperate - the subquests in The Wind Waker don't seem like an option, rather a prerequisite.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. There are a few errors. But these errors seem so innocent that they become beautiful. Very few sailing sections are a little boring (but also so eventful), there are a few niggles to dialogue (yes, you may like to speak with NPCs but to hear them say the same thing the sixth time?). But these problems are minute and are easily outweighed by the pros.
So, The Wind Waker is beautiful in every sense of the word. And there is so much more not covered in this review - its beauty, its magnificence, its brilliance - with Twilight Princess just around the corner, if you haven't got this game yet, what reason is there not to buy it*?
Nine out of Ten
Chimptastic Award
*What do you mean, you don't own a GameCube? You should be ashamed! They're really cheap now, and you can easily pick up one with The Wind Waker for between twenty and fourty pounds. Go buy!
Publisher: Nintendo
Producer: In-House
Genre: Role Playing
Origin: Japan
Reviewer: Sideath
Ah... Zelda. Nintendo now seem to now make two new, major Zelda games for each of its consoles, one at each console's birth, and one close to its death. Be it Zelda and Zelda II for the NES, or Ocarina of time and Majorca's Mask for the N64, this seems to be the case for every single console (apart from the GBC and SNES).
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is the game closer to the birth of the current-gen Nintendo home console - the Nintendo GameCube. And it wasn't just something which celebrated the birth of the home console - it was something to celebrate the rebirth of the Zelda franchise itself. When the first scsreenshots of The Wind Waker first appeared on the internet, there was international uproar. Many, it seemed were unhappy about the graphical cel-shaded style of the game ('it looks too kiddy!' 'There's no graphical detail!'), but Nintendo stood strong and did not change it. When the game was released, there was silence. Everybody was too busy playing the game!
So let's begin the review.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. Don't let anyone else tell you differently. The simple, yet effective graphical style of the game (quite literally) shines, and you can spend hours simply exploring the seas, taking in all of the wonderful landscapes, and the detail in the game isn't in how many polygons each character posseses, or how many teraflops of processor is being used for each animation, but a lot simpler. It looks lovely. Not realistic, but lovely.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. A large thing which separates 'just' excellent games and the superb ones is soul. While playing The Wind Waker, you can feel a real connection between your own character and also all of the NPCs, from the spoilt, rich-turned poor girl on Windfall Island, and your own Grandmother, which you can cure of depression (and in the game). This connection means that you have the urge to return to the major city areas, to complete sub-quests, to explore, or simply to enjoy and talk to the NPCs.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. The storyline is classic Zelda - but with a beautiful twist (although it is quite obvious from the Outset). Although the story is set chronologically the latest of all the Zelda games, there is still a firm link with the old Hyrule (which is revealed half way through the game), and at that point everything falls into place. What's so beautiful is that you find sub-quests also seem to happily link into the main storyline - so smooth that, unlike many other RPGs where the main quest and subquests remain firmly seperate - the subquests in The Wind Waker don't seem like an option, rather a prerequisite.
The Wind Waker is beautiful. There are a few errors. But these errors seem so innocent that they become beautiful. Very few sailing sections are a little boring (but also so eventful), there are a few niggles to dialogue (yes, you may like to speak with NPCs but to hear them say the same thing the sixth time?). But these problems are minute and are easily outweighed by the pros.
So, The Wind Waker is beautiful in every sense of the word. And there is so much more not covered in this review - its beauty, its magnificence, its brilliance - with Twilight Princess just around the corner, if you haven't got this game yet, what reason is there not to buy it*?
Nine out of Ten
Chimptastic Award
*What do you mean, you don't own a GameCube? You should be ashamed! They're really cheap now, and you can easily pick up one with The Wind Waker for between twenty and fourty pounds. Go buy!
posted by sideath at 7/14/2005 10:28:00 am
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