Ah, finally it arrives. The long awaited new Zelda game, the first for the Cube. There has been so much discussion about the game for being childish, with its new cel shaded graphics and Disney like feeling, but I can doubtlessly say that fans of the adventure genre and especially we who are fans of the Zelda genre will not be disappointed.

A lot of fighting is necessary in a Zelda game. Nice light effects!

The story revolves around a young boy, Link, who lives on a small island with his grandma. Surrounded by the Great Sea, they live a life in peace and harmony. As a sign of courage every boy at the age of twelve dresses in green clothes to commemorate the long lost Hero of Time, whose legend is told all over the world. The young Link we are playing is oversleeping on his birthday when his sister, Aryll, shows up. Link's sister lends him her telescope as a birthday gift and tells him to return to his grandma. From there, you're in control of our new hero.

The game features, as always, great bosses. Sadly most of them are no challenge.

When the camera sweeps in over Outset Island and you see the green, green grass moving in the wind and the seagulls flying above the small, wooden houses you will be amazed. The feeling is great and everything is very new and fresh. Using cel shading was a brilliant and brave move by Nintendo that gives the game a style never seen before. Nothing is frozen or stiff anymore; instead, everything is animated, from the clouds to the eyes of Link, and it works perfect. The new style brings more life to everything and maybe most of all to Link. You have a great draw distance and the clear, crisp graphics give you a true big-world experience. The game is filled with brilliant effects as well, like the dust when you run and the black and purple explosion when you slay an enemy. You will find jaw dropping particle effects, plenty of real time lightning and an overload of other graphical touches that really bind the game together. Many of the cut scenes contain great storyboarding and some really make you laugh when the story unfolds in a particularly pleasant way. I think some inspiration came from LucasArts' Monkey Island, both in the graphics design and in the funny parts. There is really nothing to complain about in the graphics department, it is all well done and it takes the series to another level. It moves at 60 frames per second and it never slows down, which is impressive, especially when facing one of the many gigantic bosses in the game. But most impressive of all is its design. The design on characters, symbols, houses, dungeons, weapons, yes everything is so beautiful and original. Every little detail, like the colours and patterns, are thought through to perfection. And together with highly impressive technical achievement it results in one of the most beautiful games in a very long time.

The camera is excellently executed. It follows Link around and cuts to a better view when something is blocking the camera instead of trying to zoom away. This results in much less cursing when you play, something that's always appreciated. But Nintendo has been extra kind with this Zelda, because they also included a free camera mode. You can pan and tilt the camera for almost any view you want and it really helps you in some moments, especially when you sneak around in the beginning of the game.

Oh yes, the deku leaf is very fun and definitly here to stay.

It all looks, feels and sounds like Zelda. The menus are good and easy to navigate, although I wish they would have added a way to switch items without accessing the menu. You have three places to add whatever items or weapons you like and there are quite a lot of them. The dialog is definitely one of the best of any Zelda game; it is rich, warm and not one of the characters is overseen or less important. Personally I really like the story. It unfolds nicely and is quite realistic in a way. There are some nice twists and turns that will make you smile with satisfaction. I would also like to add that some of the best Zelda moments ever are awaiting those who play it. It is very comfortable to control Link: he jumps, runs and steers just as you want him to. The control is very precise and almost never a problem -- much credit to Nintendo for that. Link has also been better trained this time, as he can now sidle against a wall, and his head and eyes take aim at important things to help you along the way. As I mentioned before the graphic style really brings out more character from Link. It's a real treat to watch Link grin, look, smile and scream in the many different parts of the game.

We had the same expression on our faces when we saw you for the first time, buddy.

The audio aspect of the Wind Waker is overall very good. There is a lot of music for all the different places and you will hear both classic tunes re-written and songs you've never heard before. They create a great mood for the game for every situation. The music succeeds in adding heat in the lava temple and a mystery feeling to the dense, dusty forbidden forest. It guides you humming over the sea, especially when dawn comes and the world yet again awakes. In the battles the music accompanies you when your sword lunges into something evil that stands in your way, in a very cool and cartoony way. The sound effects are pretty much what you expect and the noises that the characters make when you talk to them gives hints about the way they are. It all ends up in a etty neat and packed sound picture, which goes hand in hand with the graphic and design.

Sneaking in the night, very pleasent.

So let's talk about the gadgets, the items that make every Zelda game worth playing. There are some new ones and some real classics. First of all you will be using the Wind Waker, a baton that lets you direct the wind. It's an item that you use a lot and plays a big part of the game, therefore the title. It works similar to the ocarina in Ocarina of Time and there are plenty of melodies to learn. It is not as fun and is more frustrating than the ocarina but still very cool. Bombs, arrows, sword and shield are of course the traditional equipment for any Link but this time you will also dust-off the old boomerang and some other retro items. I will not spoil the fun in finding these items by revealing them, all I will say is that they are worth finding. Combat is more fun than ever in almost every way. You have a new counter attack that can be launched with a well-timed push of the button. It helps you, looks great, but also makes the battles easier; something we will talk about later. Another here-to-stay addition to the battles is that you can knock away the enemies' weapons. They will then run to pick them up, and so can you. You can beat them to it, take their weapon before them and let them taste their own medicine. To increase the difficulty in the battles it would have been interesting to let the enemies be able to knock away your weapon, leaving you with only your secondary equipment. Maybe in the next game? They can also pick up each other's weapons and everything is just really well done. When you lock on enemies you can also jump, sidestep and roll. The lock-on system works very similar to Ocarina of Time but better, and it helps you fight some really great battles. The lock-on improvements makes it easier to lock on to enemies from far away, and together with the new free camera it adds up to some sweet fighting.

Early on in the game you will find a boat (actually he finds you), that will help you both to cross the sea and guide your way to what you need. Yes, the boat talks and can be seen as a substitute to Navi in Ocarina of time, at least in the beginning of the game. Oh, and yes, to cross the sea. The whole concept of the Wind Waker is to sail, and boy you will sail! There is a vast sea, filled with islands that contain both story related stuff and a lot of side quests. You will play games, like target practicing, flying and different sink-the-ship games. You will enter deep temples, in various styles, filled with classic Zelda mind games. You will visit populated quest filled islands and forgotten solve-a-puzzle islands, find plenty of treasures and talk to some of the funniest persons ever in a Zelda game. On top of that it all looks incredible as mentioned before and it has a great flow to it. Yes there is something for everyone in this game; a favourite of mine is the "holes" here and there that lets you fight dozens of monsters for a piece of heart or maybe a treasure chart. To travel the sea you "only" need to alter the wind with your wind waker, set sail and you are gone. Now it is time for the first negative criticism of the game. To set the wind direction and have the boat sail assigned to a button may not seem so tedious, but it is after 20 hours of playing. If you miss something or need to turn around to sail the opposite direction, you need use the baton, conduct the tune, wait for the animation and then you're free to sail back. Compared to turning Epona around or just running the other way it takes too much time. There are some temples later in the game when the same problem appears -- you have to conduct a tune all the time to solve the puzzles. Even if those are pretty small problems it would be wrong to overlook them.

He's so proud, as he should be. But i'll bet he's also thinking about the old days when his adventures were actually hard to accomplish.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a great game. Vivid story, excellent graphics, unique design, great music and some of the best characters ever in a Zelda game, but it suffer from one BIG flaw. The game is so damn easy and that makes me furious. First of all, the fights, they are as fun to play as they are to watch but not challenging at all. The tempos in the enemy's attacks are slow and also very predictable. The huge and fearsome boss battles are only fearsome until you realize that every boss is easier than the first boss in any other Zelda game. I may be exaggerating a bit but I am very close to the truth. Of course it depends on who is playing but I can't imagine any player experiencing any difficulties with this game. C'mon, if you don't die ONE time in a Zelda game there is something seriously wrong. Next are the puzzles. Some puzzles make you think twice but not many. The many puzzles and problems are often very clever and nicely designed but the solution is always very close. If you get a new item in a dungeon you can expect to solve the rest of the puzzles with it and also use it defeat the dungeon's boss. While this is not bad normally, in this game it is. It's like they are giving you everything that a game is supposed to have and more, then they almost ruin it by making it almost insultingly easy to complete. If they had just multiplied the damage from the enemies three times, it would have been a good start. It sounds very brutal to be so upset about the difficulty of the game, but isn't that what you are playing for, the challenge?

Get used to the sea pal, you will see it a lot. Racing for rupes and maybe a peace of heart is very fun though.

Another flaw is that the game is a little short. If you complete it all you will play for 30-40 hours but to just finish the story and the most obvious side quests doesn't take more than 10 to 15 hours. When I had played half the game I started to feel a little stressed. I could foresee the progress of the game and I knew that if I followed the main story right on it would soon be over. I also felt the pressure that Nintendo experienced to get the game out, much like with Super Mario Sunshine. It is not as if there are no temples or dungeons, they are just a little small and compact. There are plenty of major things to find but they come too close to each other. You'll feel that there wasn't any time to do an extra turn in the story like in A Link to the Past or to make it real dynamic like when Link grows up in Ocarina of Time. Everything is there, only shorter and more compact. If it is because of the small discs or the stress to get the game out I don't know, but you can feel and see the end early in the game. This is if you only look at the main story. If you play the side quests and enjoy the great sea and don't rush the main story it is absolutely a lengthy game. But I wish there had been 70 % main story and 30 % side quests, not the other way around.