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Well, thank god that Celda malarkey died down, eh? Imagine if it hadn’t, I don’t know about the rest of you but I’d have gone on a rampage and shot everyone at Playstation Max. Time to move onto The Wind Waker, a game that is close to perfection. That’s it, you can go off and buy it now, or you can read into it more. But really if you’re happy with our stance of this being one hell of a title then there’s no point in sticking around.

Compared to more recent Zelda games, The Wind Waker is a cakewalk. Previously, a dungeon would involve a massive task, one where almost every room is connected in some way to the last. Here though, it’s a much more isolated affair and it makes for an easier ride. That’s not to say this is an easy challenge, far from it – Zelda is traditionally the owner of some of the most brain-taxing puzzles you’ll ever find and this is no exception, but the puzzles are mostly on a much smaller scale. Little has changed as far as the puzzle content, you need to get from one place to the other but there’s something blocking your way; but what’s that you see? A button? Jump on it and a bridge will appear, but as soon as you get off it pops back up. So, now you need to go off and find something to hold the button down with, but the only heavy object can’t be easily moved over to the button. At first every puzzle will have you kicking yourself, but once the answer comes to you (often the solution will have something to do with an item in your possession) you’ll be kicking yourself and wondering why it didn’t come to you sooner. Once it’s there it’s so obvious. Don’t expect anything of the level of Broken Sword; otherwise I’d have never finished the game.

There’s the usual clever use of your weapons, in particular the bow and arrow can come into play for some nifty situations. Other useful items include the grappling hook, bombs, bait and, of course, the Wind Waker itself. It’s very similar to the Ocarina only quite a bit easier to use, simply put the C stick is used to play a note and once a correct combination is put together a requiem will be played, allowing you to do whatever the requiem was intended for. Mostly, the Wind Waker will be used for changing the direction of the wind while out at sea (more on that later) but later on, once you start collecting a number of different tunes, the Wind Waker will become as invaluable a tool as the sword and shield.

Now, about the sea. This is the biggest pain about The Wind Waker, the sea is flipping huge. The game is split into various small islands spread out across a large sea, so to get from one to the other you need to sail. This is very tedious, you can’t escape the feeling that this shouldn’t be here, that you shouldn’t have to traverse a large sea while making your way towards the next dungeon. Fortunately entertainment value is upped by the inclusion of sea creatures to dodge (or destroy, depending on what weapons you’ve got), a changing weather system and some very pleasing water effects. Once aboard your ship (the same one on the front of the box) you’ll be able to use your weapons on it, but that comes with a price. There’s one slot on the boat, for holding the sail. If you want to use a weapon, the sail must be taken out and the weapon put in place, the disadvantage being that you’re not going to be moving anywhere anytime soon. The plus side is that the weapons morph into a different guise, for example the bombs can now be used as a cannon and the grappling hook as a crane. There are also a number of pirate hideouts around the sea, so if you’re looking for a bit of long-haul searching then there’s one useful sub quest to do.

Speaking of sub quests, The Wind Waker isn’t afraid of throwing in a great number of them. It would be fair to say that there are a number of them more akin to a deep RPG than anything else and many of them are hugely enjoyable. The same can almost be said for the mini games strewn throughout the world. They start off disappointing, a simple Battleships game with little meat on its bones. Later ones prove very simple and very addictive, a favourite of ours being a post-sorting challenge to be found relatively early on in the game. The rewards of one rupee per sorted letter may not be great, but the speed required is great fun.

Finally, down to the graphics. Being wholly honest, it’s a tale of two sides. On the one hand they’re beautiful; the whole style of the world is unparalleled and unforgettable. As is Link, the attention to detail on him is brilliant and his facial animations are some of the most detailed you’re likely to find. Move the analog stick just a touch and his eyes will move in that direction, hit against a wall with your sword and he’ll get a fright as he bounces backwards, knock something over and he’ll smile. There’s plenty more to talk about, but suffice to say it needs to be seen to be believed. On the other hand, while Link may appear up to scratch the other characters look more like flat 2D sprites. They’ve got none of the flair of Link and when put side by side they look like early development code that never got finished. It’s odd that such a contrast can be seen.

So, there you have it – if you’ve read this far then you’re either unsure about this game or you just wanted to read another positive review. Either way, just go out and buy this damn fine game – it may have a few tiny faults, but they’re nothing compared to the immersion to be had here.

AUTHOR: Mark Murphy
ORIGNIAL: http://www.gamerseurope.com/article.php?id=334

This review was provided by our Featured Partner Gamers Europe.
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