The Wind Waker Story takes place in the world of Ocarina of Time,
Hundreds of years after that time period's Link fought and defeated
Ganon. Ganon re-appeared soon after, but Link was no where in sight,
trapped in the land of Termina. as a result, the only way for the gods
of Hyrule to prevent the return of Ganon to power was to flood all of
Hyrule, as a last resort, and the land disappeared into history and was
forgotten...and the Great Sea was formed.
this is the world of the Wind waker chapter of the Zelda Series, where
you take control of a new Link, born on a southern island named Outset.
the story begins on his birthday where he receives a traditional green
garb that makes him look more like the traditional Link. Not too long
after, the action ensues when his sister is kidnapped by a giant bird,
and he sets of in rescuing her, and gets caught up in much deeper
situations, like a talking boat, a female pirate with a big secret, and
the nefarious owner of the big bird.
But enough about the story.
The gameplay is mostly that of a standard Zelda title, this one modeled after Ocarina of Time, where evolution of some of the
characters can be seen from the old Hyrule, and the dungeon crawling
and puzzles are standard to Zelda, but the main thing setting this
apart from older Zelda titles is the way how you traverse the
overworld: Sailing. not too far into the game, you'll get your boat,
and the ability to control the wind, which gives you freedom to travers
the entire sea. However, this is the ONLY way to traverse the
overworld, so until you learn how to teleport, this gets very
monotonous very quickly.
The Graphics are a departure from traditional style Zelda graphics,
dropping the realistic look and adopting a cartoon feel that flows well
with the game, but some older Zelda fans may not be so intrigued by
this design tactic. the cartoon look makes the game appear more for
younger children, but despite that, the game is still a solid Zelda
title.
The controls are fine, I personally had no complaints, so it succeeded in that department.
The replay value of the game is surprisingly high, considering the
bonuses you get after beating the game, and the figurine collecting,
which is quite fun, and will have you wanting to collect all the
figurines. another thing woth mentioning that this is, technically the first 2-player Zelda game, albeit in a limited amount, due to the advent of Tingle, you and a friend can go tackling dungeons co-op style.
All in all, this is a solid game, and is a good game for people to
go back to after the high of Twilight Princess for a lighter feel.
9.4/10.
