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The Legend of Zelda:The Wind WakerScore: 9.5 / 10
Do
you like being on the ocean? The
smell of salt and seaweed? Sunken
treasure? Pirates?
The occasional talking fish?
Sea shanties? Giant
squid? Then the Legend of
Zelda: The Wind Waker (WW) is your game because no other game has so
much martime action. If you
thought crossing the open fields of Hyrule in Ocarina of Time was
boring, WW’s ocean may likely put you to sleep.
Of course, there are objects to find and quests to complete on
the open ocean so it’s not a complete washout.
And
so ends my lone gripe about WW. Everything
else is classic Zelda-gaming joy. Over
the many hours it will take you to finish WW, the story unfolds around
you. If you haven’t
played any of the Zelda games the story might surprise you but for
everyone else the inevitable showdown with the evil-as-ever Ganondorf is
a given. There are many
sidequests and mini-stories along the way but nearly all contribute to
Link’s development as an operative of Good.
Basically, it’s all we’ve come to expect from a story
featuring Link. The
control system (and inventory and item management) is very much like
Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask but with more depth in the fighting
department. Link can now
string combos and parry enemy attacks not seen in the previous two
games. Combat also requires
better timing and strategy since enemies won’t wait their turn to
start pummeling you. Link
also has some new non-combat moves including the ability to slide along
walls (a move made so fashionable by Snake and Sam Fisher). |
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Familiarity will greet old school Zelda fans when it comes to WW’s puzzles. You’ll be lighting torches, pushing blocks, stepping on floor switches, swinging to higher levels and collecting those ever-handy silver keys. Link will also spend time talking to some weird-looking NPCs – gathering information and quests. Although there are typical puzzles, there are some not so typical puzzles, which may give your gray matter some exercise. One constant challenge you’ll face is waving your Wind Waker Magic Wand™ which acts like Link’s ocarina from |
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the previous two games except for one important aspect. Not only do you have to get the moves right (performed with the C-stick) you have to do so in the correct time. Once you get the hang of it and become a bit of a maestro it’s really no problem but some players are likely to cringe whenever some wand work is necessary (and it’s necessary often). The much talked about graphical style is a non-issue. Thanks to an early demo reel of a “realistic” Link and Ganondorf pitted in battle, the expectations were quite different from what Mr. Miyamoto and team delivered. (If you missed the demo reel, Link looked more like the model found in Soul Calibur 2.) Let’s get over it – it’s a game, it looks great and animates well. The comparison to a good animated feature are warranted but the constant bickering about Link’s looks aren’t.
Also familiar is the audio. Many sound effects have been directly lifted from the N64 titles but much of the music is new (and tinged with themes many years old). This doesn’t prevent WW from presenting a complete audio package. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is deserving of the Zelda label and a great game. Although there are a couple of annoyances, Wind Waker does too much right (and in spectacular detail) to be ignored and every GameCube owner should give it a shot if not buy it outright. It’s an example of a game that doesn’t skimp on deep gameplay in favor of style – instead, it has both and it’s already a GameCube classic. - Omni (May 24, 2003) |
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