The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

THE BAD:
Being ripped off to find out where triforce shards are
The fact that the Triforce of Courage is an actual thing rather than a spiritual thing
Ganondorf disappointed me
Story could have been longer and better
The ending sucked balls
The fact that a certain main character was just using the boat to be able to be in the surface world.

SUMMARY:
So, I heard about Wind Waker just after my thirteenth birthday, and heard about the stupid graphics, and the fact that you spend your time sailing on a freaking talking boat. Yes, a TALKING BOAT. So I thought, "I don't want to get that shit", especially after being mesmerized by Ocarina of Time. Well, two years later and my Zelda expert and aspiring musician Jared Mogen (Remember that name, he'll be famous someday), and he was kicking ASS in that game. Me, well I changed my mind, and now, two more years later, 2007 during a boring summer filled with Barry Bonds' potential home run record possibly gaining and asterisk;Well, you know all the other sports scandals, I decided to find a controversial game that could actually take my mind off the fact that I am too lazy to call my best friend, and can't even afford a GameCube...so I played my little brother and sister's GameCube, and played WindWaker.



The story starts out pretty interesting. So, in the beginning, a boy named Link (Or whoever the hell you name him before you start) is sleeping, and his little sister (What a twist! An immediate relative!) wakes him up. Afterwards, Link realizes it's his birthday, and goes to his house to get his green clothes, something that is used to honor a certain Hero who traveled through time...wonder who that could be. Anyhow, through a series of events, including saving a female pirate, getting a sword, and sort of being responsible for his sister's abduction by a big ass bird, Link ends up traveling the Great Sea with Tetra to get his sister back. Now, after going to the hood that the bird represents, Link gets *bleep*ed up by the SAME bird just after he found his little sister and some people. Enter Ganon, the God of Evil...or whatever the hell he is in this other dimension where he took over Hyrule for a while.





Anyway, to clear all the rest, Link lands in a rip-off of Kakariko Village, and meets a talking boat, who claims to be the King of Red Lions...yeah, that's the weirdest storyline element, next to the fact that 100 years before all this stuff occured, apparently the Gods thought that problems of Hyrule's people with Ganondorf could be solved by drowning...yes, DROWNING...the land, and leaving the people with generally nothing but a large ass sea. Still, there will be quests, searches, and beacons of hope to save your sister, defeat the big bird that has a fetish for kidnapping pointed ear girls, and then find out why Ganon seems to be an apparent pointed ear child molester.

Now, to the gameplay. The gameplay has improved from Ocarina and Majora's Mask, now creating a system where at the right moment, you can counter attack an enemy, further characterizing Link as a noble hero who looks for self-defense rather than attack and slashing. Now, one interesting thing about a drowned Hyrule (Damn the creative staff), is the fact that now you can roll boatstyle. You can look gangsta with a talking boat that doesn't really exist with a sail. Now another interesting thing in the gameplay I enjoyed was the wind waker, which succeeds the ocarina as the musical instrument of the game. Now, with this, you can control the wind, and later on go to magnificent islands, such as Dragon Roost Island, Windfall Island, your hometown of Outset, and more. Also included is the return of the sun's song, which is now a song that changes from day/night to night/day on the spot, rather than you having to enter a spot. I do believe that the wind waker can sometimes be a little at a disadvantage, and although I get used to it, it's sort of been hard going around in the open time area with a damn shark that looks like it was rejected to play the one in JAWS deciding to take it out of our hero of winds. Other than that, the gameplay itself is good.






Now, to the graphics. Call me an idiot, crazy, or high on crack because I'm black, but I definitely enjoyed the graphics. It was unique and original, and totally unseen. It reminds me of Katamari Damacy's light-hearted graphics, and I think that since Wind Waker was in sort of brighter times rather than dark times, the graphics just stated that (I just couldn't imagine Link becoming an adult in this game with the graphics). Actually, I wouldn't mind if they kept that mentality where dark times are represented through awesome, realistic graphics like Twilight and Ocarina, while Hourglass and Wind Waker keep the light-hearted good in there. Anyway, the unique graphics also made the bosses look cooler, and it characterized the people, so you know that the rich girl turned poor is a bitch (But sort of cute to me...aw, I'm like Ganon now...) and I give them a 5 out of 5...take that Adam Sessler.





Now to the painful and bad...why in the hell do I have to pay 398 *bleep*ing rupees to find one of eight triforce shards?!? That midget Japanese bastard decides to take 3184 rupees out of my goddamn wallet to find something to save Princess Zelda from Ganon (You'll be shocked who she thought she was...but wasn't...) and do that. Seriously, *bleep* you Nintendo. Also, why is the ending good except for the fact that the talking boat that ends up being some ancient being decides to make stupid wish and change Zelda back to a certain character?! That's bullshit! Also, when in the *bleep* was Link required to find eight pieces that happen to be in eight random places?!? In Ocarina, when Ganon touched the triforce, he got his, Zelda got hers, and Link got his...without the other two having to find it. That's bullshit. You wasted three days of my damn life so I can find what happens to be a physical thing that finally goes into my hand when the Gods acknowledge me as the chosen one...for the second damn time. Seriously, *bleep* you Nintendo.




OK, now that my rage-filled rant has ceased, I shall conclude this long ass review. I love the game, and although it doesn't live up to Twilight (I know it's good, can't wait until my brother and sister buy it...aw...) and Ocarina, it becomes third on my list of Zelda Games I've played. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to apply for Carleton College, and all you guys can kiss my ass...especially Adam Sessler.

Final Score: 4.6 out of 5. (Yeah...take that Sessler.)

THE BAD:
No cheats, I didn't like that you really couldn't do anything special except play the game in your pajamas after beating the game once. I didn't like the fact that you could only use one sword.

SUMMARY:
Overall I loved this game. It was very easy to understand and you didn't even have to know anything about the Legend of Zelda to know what was going on. The graphics looked kind of ridgity which I liked. The battles were good. There were limited sword attacks that you could use. I loved the idea that the secrets of Zelda and the King of Hyrule was kept throughout most of the game. The little fairy guy Tinkle was very helpful in the game, with the gameboy advance connecter you can control tinkle in the gameboy advance and your player in the gamecube. Tinkle can throw bombs at your opponent but at a cost of some rupees. In the end this game was almost perfect.

THE BAD:
You can't explore Hyrule, the second major flaw in Zelda games.

SUMMARY:
This game is a connection point that gives completion to all Zelda games except Twighlight Princess, making it a must-play for all zelda fans, it tells where Link got his boat in Links Awakening and tells where all of the Zelda games fit in. I have to admit that leaving out Hyrule was almost as bad as Zelda II, that game stunk. This game gives you all the old weapons and even some new ones like the new enemy weapon feature, the boat rocks, though enemies on the sea and the Forsaken fortress(first run) were a little too tough to handle, the bosses will rock your world and if you're looking for something to do in your spare time, try the mini-games, the main game ist'n that time-consuming, but if you're an adventurer like me and like to complete the game in every sense possible and not possible than this game can take entire days of nonstop gameplay. Enjoy!

THE BAD:
Although the sidequests can keep this game from being called "short", there weren't very many dungeons, and the game was overall, much easier than Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask.

SUMMARY:
This is by far, the best game on GC, and probably will remain so until Twilight Princess comes out. I have just one thing to say to those who refuse to play this because of the "childlike" graphics: Drop DEAD. The Cel-shading graphics allowed for easy control and added more expression to the characters than all previous Zelda games. Besides, think how terrible that whole big ocean would look if they used realistic graphics. No, this game needed Cel-shading. As for the rest of the game, the story was more than satisfying; a typical Zelda plot. As I said before, there weren't many dungeons, but there were many more monsters, sidequests, items, and weapons than other Zelda games. This game was what made me decide to buy a GC, so I recommend this game for any fantasy/adventure fan.

THE BAD:
A few parts can get a bit too easy, is also a little bit short for a Zelda game, no real character voices, sailing at the beginning is extremely boring.

SUMMARY:
My first thought at this game was "wow!". When I first started playing it, it was hard for me to put down the controller because the gameplay hooked me in. Now im not saying that gameplay is the strongest point in the game or anything, but it certainly doesnt lack in any areas. If so, then not by much. As the game progressed, The Wind Waker never ceased to amaze me. It was the second Zelda game that I actually had the nerve to beat and because of it, I was encouraged to try out the others. If you really are looking for a fun game thats somewhat lenghty and a classic, then this is your choice. Major price drop has occured as well, so its now cheap to pick up and play.

I would definetly recommend this game to any Zelda fan out there because it really is a solid game. From the beginning to the ending it is quite fun to play, and I didn't feel like I was doing homework and was forced to play it like Majora's Mask (N64). Overall, it is a really fun game to play no matter what age group you are in, and even though its not that long as I expected it, you'll need some time on your hands in order to complete everything.

THE BAD:
Links head is a little to big.
It's pretty short.

SUMMARY:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is the first Zelda game to have been released on the Gamecube and it wasn't a dissapointment although it certainly was different. The new cel-shaded feature gives more emotion to the face of Link and all of the people you see through out the game. The controls are pretty symple and you have R-targeting instead of Z which is ok. The sound is pretty good and matches the scenery around you which is also good. There are a few secrets you can get in the game for doing various things. I think the game is a little on the short side as it only take a few days to finish.

Overall itis one of my all time favourite games and i still play it through every so often.