Thanks to "The 3rd Children" for the following article.

Arriving home today, a week after the initial Japanese release of Zelda no Densetsu - Kaze no Takuto, or The Legend of Zelda - Takt of Wind for those not suited to the Japanese title, I spotted a white rectangular envelope on the table. Zelda had arrived.

With little sleep and even less patience in waiting, I frantically shed the envelope and gazed in awe at both the game and the compilation disk now resting firmly in my grasp. One slight hint of disappointment came; however, from learning that the game's card cover was not in fact holographic, as I'd previously believed. This, fortunately, was cast aside once I inserted the game into the GameCube and pressed the power button.

The familiar Nintendo logo, blue as with Luigi's Mansion and Super Mario Sunshine, followed the GameCube one. From there the game's title screen was displayed - a pan of the island from which Link comes (Puroro, I believe) behind the game's logo beautifully animated to illustrate the boat in water. After admiring the cel- shading for a minute or two, I hit start and began my adventure.

Takt of Wind begins with hieroglyphic images being displayed perfectly complimented by a slow rendition of the classic Zelda over-world theme. Although not knowing Japanese, I was unable to decipher the Hiragana explaining the story, however various websites have aided me in understanding the story setting.

The beginning tells of how a great evil once threatened the kingdom of Hyrule and that a youth in green, the hero of time, arrived to vanquish this power who was then sealed away for all eternity. It then tells of how this great evil, which one can assume only to be Ganon (this is made obvious by the evil being denoted as a pig-like creature), escaping the seal placed upon it but of no hero in a green tunic arriving to defeat him.

The hieroglyphics then tell of how the people of the kingdom prayed for a hero to save them, but sadly their prayers were unanswered and Hyrule vanished out of all knowledge, as did the legend of the Hero of Time.

Just a short theory, but perhaps Link did not arrive to defeat Ganondorf as he was given back his childhood by Zelda, therefore erasing him from existence in the Adult Link timeline, allowing Ganondorf to freely seize control of Hyrule. I know this has many gaps and isn't explored fully, but these impressions are intended to give a brief overview of the game through my eyes, not explore timeline theories.

Once the legend has been told, the game kicks off showing a young blonde girl leaving a house on Puroro and seemingly searching for someone. Of course this is Arill, the younger sister of our hero Link and naturally our hero is tuckered out somewhere taking a nap. Arill promptly locates him atop a sort of tower-structure and Link awakens.

I'd like to take this time to note how strange it is seeing Link in clothes different to his traditional tunic, and also without the hat he does look odd. Still, it made a nice change and I had little doubt Link would be back to his usual self in no time at all.

His attire a blue shirt with yellow pyjama bottoms, Link tiredly rubs his eyes and learns from Arill that he's to go see their grandmother. After some dialogue exchange, which I was unable to read being illiterate in Hiragana and all, you finally get to control Link, pyjamas and all. So off I went, down the ladder and across the dock to the mainland where a number of beautiful little distractions awaited me - not least a clumsy youngster with a large glob of snot hanging from his nose, which he disgustingly sniffs up once you, began to speak to him.

There are around four or so houses to visit on the island. The first in sight appeared to be two joined dwellings. As I ran towards these two Links? footprints were left in the sands on the beach and, believe this, didn't vanish. I know this may not be something you'd consider odd in a game in this age, but it really did add a touch of realism to the game, this isn't even mentioning the crabs, which scatter about the beach and burrow into the sands as you come within certain proximity.

Grass and trees is also a prominent feature on Puroro Island I noticed upon nearing the two joined houses, but more on that later. An elderly man was seated upon the doorframe and called to me as I came near. He then explained the process of "L-targeting", similar to the Z-targeting in the Link's N64 incantations. The ground level house would be my first stop and I proceeded inside.

Within was a tanned man who seemed occupied in hitting his hands against a block. As I came in he stopped and said something to me before resuming his activity. I ventured around the inside of his house, curiously admiring the pots and shark jaws he kept mounted upon the walls.

By rolling into the walls and causing a rather loud thud, amplified by the clattering of wooden planks fixed to them oddly, the fellow's attention was grabbed and so began a long string of talking which resulted in a question being asked. I assumed this was either yes or no, and selected yes, then found myself in a circular area of the room before him grasping a sword firmly in my hand. Time for a spot of training.

The training consisted of the man explaining the various methods of attacking and Link carrying them out at your command. I had minor difficulty with this seeing as, like everything, the commands were Japanese. Button images were utilised in the dialogue though and made this a little easier. One amusing thing is that when you attack incorrectly, he hits you with his stick and screams at you, or rather crows. Either way, it's quite funny.

Once you've completed the training sequence... nothing. I expected at least a sword, but obviously this was not to be and I left the man's house in search of other activities about the island.

Next door to the fighting man's house, up a ladder, the man from before can be found, becoming incredibly frustrated about the amount of noise coming from the fighting man's house... It was funny to watch him throw a temper tantrum and start smashing his foot down against the floor in a rage as the house shook a number of times whilst he was speaking.

The camera in this game can be rotated 360� and zoomed in and out just as Mario Sunshine via the c-stick. Pressing up will activate a first-person viewpoint pending a small eye is displayed beneath the on-screen inventory. Link auto-jumps as you'd expect and rolls when running when you hit B.

On my travels, I came across a strange man on his hands and knees who explained, through use of R in the Japanese text that by pressing it I too could crawl, something which became essential a few minutes later when the pigs were sighted.

Ah yes, pig catching. About the island there are a number of porkers who, when caught and returned to their pen, will earn you a rupee reward from their owner. This was quite amusing for a while but be aware that these pigs are incredibly evasive of you and will prove difficult to grab hold of.

Other inhabitants I spotted of Puroro Island are a woman carrying a pot on her head and a chap gazing bewildered at tall grass surrounding him. I vowed to trim this for him once I located a sword.

Birds will swoop about above the island and in the distance and swirls of wind will come passing by randomly. All very nicely animated, I might add. But having admired enough scenery, I set off for grandma's house before, I feared, Arill would find and scold me. This game is so realistic it was believable that something to that effect would happen if I lagged any longer.

Grandma's house is built on two levels. Downstairs with the kitchen and upstairs with the bedrooms. Outside a balcony borders it and hangs over the ocean. Upon climbing the ladder upstairs, grandmother is waiting and a cut-scene plays out.

In this scene you receive the green tunic. Another amusing moment is when Link shows his discontent at having to wear it. It appears today is Link's birthday and that all boys receive the green tunic of the legendary Hero of Time on their 12th birthday, quite a nice reference to Ocarina of Time there, I must say.

From grandma's house, I set off back across the island to find Arill, bumping into the clumsy youngster once again and engaging in conversation just to enjoy that running nose of his. When I got to Arill another cut scene began where she gave me a telescope. What an interesting item.

I stood atop the tower and assigned the gift to Y, then began to look around the place. You can zoom in and out with C up and down. One minor complaint I have here is that the viewing area is, whilst realistic, definitely a little too small for my liking. Oh well, a minor drawback in a so far fantastically involving game, regardless of the language barrier.

As I looked about the island, I came across a half-bird/half-man postman who was delivering to a mailbox located just outside grandma's before a row of small trees. Fixed in the telescope's gaze, he began to flap his wings wildly and took off. A cut scene then played with the telescope moving upwards to focus on a large bird in the sky that was carrying something in its claws.

It then cut to a pirate ship which shot a cannonball up towards the beast and caused it quite some distress before dropping what it was carrying - a young girl. She fell down into the forest area of the island atop one of two peaks joined by a broken bridge. The telescope view then cut out and Arill was shown looking quite distressed, it was clear she was concerned for the girl.

With the pirate ship looming on the horizon, I leapt from the tower and ran towards the winding path, which led me to the peak opposite the forest. I was halted, however, quite frustratingly, by a collection of trees blocking the path. I'd have to find a sword! By now the involvement level had raised several notches and the level of urgency to locate this girl for Aril?s sake was rising by each passing moment.

But where to find a sword? I'd scaled most of the island and returned nothing. Lost and slightly dejected, I made my way back down the path, leaping onto a roof of a house to collect a visible rupee before landing back at ground level. A sword on the island was going to prove difficult to come by.

But yes, of course, the man with whom I'd previously learned from, the fighting man, had a sword I could use, it was just a case of obtaining it. I decided to go back to his house and talk to him again, perhaps he'd set me a task to complete and then give me a blade.

At his house, we ended up duelling again. This time I learned a set of new manoeuvres such as the spinning attack and an evasive move. The evasive move is an addition to Link's battle options that can be performed when his sword glows green. Pressing B then will advert an enemy attack and slash at them with the sword from behind. Once the second training stage was over, I was thankfully rewarded with a sword. Basic looking, yes, but a sword nonetheless.

When doing battle in this game, each hit landed with the sword will result in a musical chime, which gets louder with each following hit. This is a nice touch and really needs to be experienced by the individual to get a feel for just how nice a touch it actually is. It takes combat to a whole new level of involvement, one might say.

I slammed the control stick forwards and swept across the island, along the path and back towards the tree blockage, slicing up any bushes, blades of grass or other trees in my way. Once arriving I took three of the obstacles out in one swing and ventured through.

I continued travelling upwards further via a second winding path and eventually found myself at the top, faced with a second climb, which presented a breathtaking opportunity to view the ocean and distant islands, and a bridge that led me across to a dark opening - the forest entrance.

Running across the bridge was impressive. The physics engine in the game caused it to sway convincingly as Link jumped across the gap and landed. On the other side I took the liberty of cutting a few blades of grass before embarking into the forest.

The forest surprised me, actually. It was indeed very large and indeed -very- green. A thin mist hangs in the air; blades of grass swamp the ground area and a thick assortment of trees form the basis to confuse those who don't watch where they're going. After walking about for a while, one will come across a) an enemy and b) a huge egg-like stone. The stone I could do nothing with at this current time - somewhere to return later, definitely.

The music immediately changes when an enemy nears and sad to say, didn't last very long. This particular enemy, a black goblin-type creature was easily dispatched considering it was unarmed. Once defeated it exploded into a cloud of purple and black smoke and left a rupee for my collection.

After collecting it, I proceeded around a raised platform and up a fallen log where I met two further enemies, dropped from above by two birds, once the girl, hanging from a tree branch, came into sight. These two were not armed and finished off easily as the one before.

L-targeting in Takt of Wind works via a yellow arrow, which becomes red when a target is well, targeted, identically to Ocarina of Time. Nintendo created a good system and it's unwise to tamper with perfection.

The girl then stirs in the tree before the branch breaks and awakens her rather amusingly. Another pirate enters the woods and meets with you both then. Some textual dialogue is exchanged between the two and you three exit the woods, only to be called to by Arill who is on the other side of the bridge.

A cut scene then plays out, a happy exchange between Arill and Link is interrupted by the same bird as before swooping down and snatching a bridge-crossing Arill from right under your nose. Link is clearly distressed by this and takes off in pursuit of the bird, nearly plummeting from the edge but rescued thankfully by the pirate girl, who is named Tetra by the way, at the last minute.

The two watch as the bird carries Arill off into the distance and Link then reaches out to her with his free arm. This scene was difficult to watch for me without a lump formulating in my throat, and I am unable to even understand the text.

You then find yourself at the beach with the pirate ship close to shore. Tetra and the other pirate are standing there before you, it appears they're willing to take you to where the bird has taken Arill, but for some reason they aren't going anywhere when you talk to them.

It then dawned upon me that a shield must be required in order to take off after your sister's captor and luckily enough I remembered the shield sitting upon a wall upstairs back home from when I'd first met with grandma in the game.

I took off again, bumping as expected into the runny-nosed young kid and having one last chat and laugh at how disgusting he was for the road. I burst into grandma's house; totally ignoring her standing there downstairs and climbed the ladder to the upper region of the house, but the shield was nowhere to be found. Fiddlesticks.

I dropped down from upstairs and the game faded into a cut scene where an overly distressed grandma handed me the shield. She seemed to understand what had to be done, but was upset about the way things had turned out. Oh well, no time for misery now, I had my sister to save from the clutches of that pesky bird!

Ariving back at the beach, I spoke to Tetra and found the game in yet another cut scene of the pirate ship setting off. The Island inhabitants were gathered on the beach, waving me goodbye. Thankfully my favourite character, the booger kid was also present, the snot dripping from his nose bobbing about as he waved. I'd be coming back here to visit him as soon as possible.

Link then notices grandma gazing sadly at him from on the balcony of their home. He runs to wave at her but she seems not to notice. Rather she's caught up in her sadness of him leaving. There's then a beautiful scene with Link gazing back at her as the ship sails away and the wind blowing his hat about in it. All doubts you have about Link's character design will be dropped when you see this scene, trust me.

You are then allowed to walk Link about the ship, speaking to the various pirates and venturing below deck where you meet a short ugly fellow who leads you to a room within which are numerous platforms that can be raised upwards via a switch and dropped down with another. He swings from platform to platform utilising the hanging lamps in true Indiana Jones style and then stops at the other side expecting you to follow.

This proved quite tricky for me, and embarrassingly my sister was the one yelling at me with when to tap A and let go to land. Nevertheless, once across you gain access to a room holding a chest. Within the chest is a purple ghostly bag, which appears to be able to hold eight of something. I'm guessing bottles.

When you arrive back on deck it's nighttime and the ship has reached its destination, a well-guarded fortress. In the crow's nest, Tetra points out the bird's is resting on the island and then devises a method of getting you across - the ship's catapult.

Link struggles so valiantly to escape the barrel the pirates have seated him in atop the huge catapult, but his attempts are pointless and he's shot, rather loudly, across the gap between the ship and fortress. He lands painfully against a wall, losing his sword in the process and getting soaked to further contribute to his annoyance, as evident by the face he pulls once he climbs out of the water.

Three or so spotlights, I never counted, scan this area for intruders as well as a host of Moblin guards. Your sword is shown to be rather high up on a ledge and a doorway apparently leads to it. Your job is to use stealth to sneak through the fortress, eluding capture, and reclaim your sword, or so it seems from playing this far.

This dungeon appears to be serving as an introduction to the game. Link can sneak around in barrels to avoid being sighted by Moblins, who by the way are not as dumb as they look. Should they spot Link, or Link be spotted by one of the many searchlights, he'll be thrown into a prison cell.

To escape he must crawl through a series of tunnels, the entrance to which is hidden behind a jar on a bookcase. But alas, this game is a Christmas present from my parents, and my time with Zelda had now come to an end until Wednesday. Parting with this game was by far one of the most difficult things I have -ever- been required to do. It hurt more than a swift kick to the 'nads, let me tell you.

The Legend of Zelda - Takt of Wind is by far one of the most rewarding, graphically stunning; emotionally involving titles I have ever been fortunate enough to play. My hat, if I were wearing one, goes off to the magnificent directing skill of one Eiji Aonuma and the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto. Nobody else could have returned such a polished game that is an absolute pleasure to play.

I thank you especially for the boy with the running nose, who is without a doubt one of the most disgusting and brilliant creations in any game thus far. Well done, both of you. Link is back and better than ever. Celda? Call it what you like. Those in doubt need five minutes with this title to fully appreciate the joys of playing it.

Thank you Nintendo.

Import? Oh yes, without a doubt. To be able to read this game would surprisingly do nothing to enhance my opinion on it. The emotions conveyed by the characters are enough to tell the story without having to read at all. But if you really can't stand sitting through masses of Japanese text and insist on reading through every single word of the story, I'd have to insist you wait for an English release, but if you do you're missing out this Christmas, trust me.