Over the next week or so we'll have a couple of Mini Reviews boasting some of our staff's opinions on The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Here before you is the second by Dringo and at the end of it all we'll have a full PAL review for you too. Lovely.

Mini Review:

There comes a time when something so good happens that words fail it, The English can only muster Awesome and the French could say redoutable, but Nintendo use a far more accurate word� Nintendo say Zelda. Yep that's right the fabled greatest game of all time has finally made its cel-shaded debut on the Gamecube and it is everything we wanted plus more� much more. It successfully combines the epic adventure of Metroid with the addictive fun of Mario, in a game that you just can't stop playing but you'll want to, because you know the more you play the quicker it is all over. And a game that makes you feel like this is something truly special indeed.

The Wind Waker is an excellent addition to one of the industries most prestigious game series. It manages to take a bold and beautiful new step with the gorgeous cel-shaded style whilst still retaining it's magical essence. The storyline indiscretions of the past have been, at last, sorted out. The hero of time fought evil from the land of Hyrule (Ocarina of Time) and it was told that when evil reigns again the hero shall return. But the hero didn't and the beautiful land of Hyrule disappeared. 100 years later and all that remains is a vast ocean with many small islands, upon one of these islands it is tradition, that, on the coming of age, young boys shall dress in the green tunic of the legendary hero. You play as one of these boys who, shortly after receiving said tunic, is forced to watch his sister get kidnapped by a giant bird. As your character attempts to rescue his sister it becomes increasingly apparent that there is more going on than meets the eye.

Probably one of the strangest effects Zelda has on you is via emotion. You genuinely feel for the characters in the game, each one with their unique story and now with the cel-shaded graphics allowing for more reaction in the face we feel even more. If you try and tell me that leaving your grandmother at the beginning of the game didn't leave you a tiny bit sad then there maybe something wrong with you. Of course it isn't just the reaction of characters that effects you emotionally, it's the exploration. Zelda's worlds are so brilliantly designed that you'll want to see if you can go round the back of the bomb shop, or how far you can clink to the edge of the cliff before you fall in. The desire for exploration is highly compelling, I genuinely can't think of another game where you are faced with a million blades of grass and instead of just walking through them you must chop them all down, just to see if there is more hidden within than the odd rupee (Zelda currency). It's the same with the sea journeys, you see areas where you can dig for treasure, you know it's a rupee, it nearly always is, but you must check anyway, even though you can't carry anymore.

Zelda's unique marriage of aggressively addictive gameplay with an epic storyline is equally present in this game. The storming level design, perfect controls, intriguing puzzles and touching character interaction of the past incarnations is back in full force but along with a host of new ideas. The concept of water based travel is totally new to proceedings, controlling the wind to direct your talking dragon vessel is great fun although confessingly long haul journey can become slightly mundane. The concept of wind control is hardly surprising; Zelda games always feature a new item that keeps the series feeling fresh with past examples including masks and the Ocarina. The wind allows you to do many things, the ability to float via the deku leaf relies heavily on the wind and there are many times when you just need to move something via wind control.

Zelda is also a game that makes use of the GBA-Gamecube link up, your friend gains the ability to control Tingle who will aid you by dropping bombs on potential baddies. But of course, as hard as I try, I just can't avoid the Cel-shaded visuals, the expressions on Link's face during certain situations are beautifully rendered, Link has always been the silent type so it is difficult to know how he feels, this expresses things perfectly. The only criticism I can find is that often, when you are at sea where there isn't much to look at the game can look rather bland. But then a tornado or a volcano will come into view and you are left staggered once again. Criticisms towards the game are only made by die-hard Zelda fans that don't like change. One of these things is dungeon size. They are considerably smaller in comparison to Ocarina of Time and Zelda fans criticize the game for this. But I am one of these Zelda fans and I often found the previous Zelda dungeons too long and tedious, to see a more fast paced but equally challenging dungeon is a great change for the Zelda series.

So I've attempted the impossible, reviewing a legend. A massive adventure that purifies what gaming is all about� good, honest fun. I would just like to end by saying thank you Nintendo, thank you for creating something that sums you up perfectly� brilliant.

Score: 9.8

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