15-May-2003 This is the best Zelda yet! It will literally blow you away We've been enjoying tons of games lately that give you huge amounts of freedom, but have no particular aim in mind. The fun of these games, whether it's GTA or even something as competitive as one of the top fighting games, is down to endless experimentation.
These sorts of adventures are terrifically exciting with lots of potential - perhaps the ultimate being the massively multiplayer online RPGs like EverQuest. You don't need much of a plot, merely guidelines of who you are and what you can do.
At a point where we're getting used to so much freedom, you'd think it would be impossible to enjoy restraint all over again. However, when restraint is treated as guidance or direction, this can lead to some huge moments in a game.
Zelda for Cube has forced the message home to CVG that on occasion, allowing creators to control the drama can still deliver great moments, even ones that we'll still be talking about years from now.
WILD FRONTIERS The Wind Waker journey grips you because you're always on the brink of discovery. This can be as obvious as exploding rocks to find the entrance to a cave, or as mysterious as entering the mind of a bird to seek out pathways. In between carrying out specific A-to-B missions for characters in the game, there are always new threads being woven into the bigger picture.
It's a lengthy and sometimes tiring quest, but it's designed so that occasionally some of these threads will suddenly point to an answer that's right under your nose. When this happens it's really exciting to have solved a small part of a puzzle, all the more so because the solutions are well hidden until the time is exactly right for them to become clear.
It's easy to know when you're getting close to such moments in the game because you start to get a nagging feeling, and the pace slows right down as you realise that your rate of progress has ground almost to a halt. Time to get excited!
THE HYRULE REWARD SCHEME Rewards for your inquisitive and playful attitude towards the game come in many forms. In a way that you might expect, the most obvious milestones are encounters with Ganon's most fearsome guardians, those monstrous creatures that guard items of huge value to Link.
These can be conundrums in themselves - as with every Zelda game, evil guardians don't flag up their weak spots. Sure, your combat skills must be up to the job, but it's not often that striking something directly with a sword will count.
What's terrific about Zelda games in general, and it's true again in Wind Waker, is that clues are always close by, but you won't see them unless you know what to look for. Usually you find yourself in possession of one half of the puzzle - a mirrored shield, for example - and its collaborator is right under your nose.
First, you have to think things through but simply realising what can be done only brings you to the very start of working things out. It's like being handed a cracked code then being asked to unscramble a stack of strangely-encrypted messages. Your brain never stops whirring in Zelda, a buzz that has become kind of scarce in games recently.
TUNED UP The centrepiece of so much puzzle-solving is Link's baton, The Wind Waker, used to summon a range of special but practical magic. Instead of huffing out melodies on his ocarina, Link conducts the very essence of songs in the air. Hyrule's magic responds to meaningful strokes of the baton as it slices the air, and comes to the aid of its hero.
Link can dictate the direction of the wind, enter the mind of other beings including ancient statues, and make day become night - and these are just a few of the baton's uses. Knowing the appropriate time to use this magic is the key to solving the whole game. Wind direction is especially useful because a large part of Wind Waker has Link navigating the Hyrulian Sea in a tiny sailboat. Of course, this is no ordinary sailboat.
DID YOU JUST SAY SOMETHING? Introducing The King of Red Lions, a wise-ass talking boat. KORL agrees to help Link in his mission, recommending the next best place to go and expressing his general boat-like outlook on situations. You'll be spending many hours on this boat, as it's your only means of transport between islands.
Ferrying Link this way and that isn't all KORL is good for. With the right equipment installed, Link can 'fish' for treasure wherever he sees lights glowing from the ocean depths. KORL can also adapt to fire a mean-looking cannon for defence against pirates, or to blast through the gates of a fortress. He's one clever boat.
When you first set sail with KORL, the size of the ocean is intimidating. The first place highlighted on the map takes you around five minutes to reach - which is a long time to sit tight, doing nothing much except maybe sing Life on the Ocean Waves.
In fact this life doesn't stay so peaceful after all. As time goes on, the waters become infested with monsters, ranging from sharks to giant hovering uglies we're not sure the name of. Avoiding them is reasonably tricky, but not impossible. Sharks and other floating obstacles can be hopped over using the R trigger. Bigger enemies are fun to take out with the cannon!
IT'S NOT A GAME, IT'S A CONTINENT! So, sailing... great! But Zelda games are mainly about dungeon exploration, and the clever traps encountered within. Indeed, dungeons are found in most of the islands that litter the vast ocean and you'll be doing lots of to-ing and fro-ing between them.
When we say the dungeons in Wind Waker are on a par with those in previous Zelda games, we mean that they are genius. The combination of awe and bewilderment experienced as you first enter one of the dungeons in Zelda has no equal in any other game series, period. But what GameCube adds is atmosphere like you won't believe.
When A Link To The Past was created, all Nintendo had to consider was the puzzles. This was entertaining, of course. Then in Ocarina Of Time we were given a taste of what it felt like to be inside dungeons, be surrounded by the heat of a volcano or peer through the mist.
For Wind Waker the sensation of being there is 10 times as powerful. It builds a colossal sense of scale, and the sounds reverberating all around create untold suspense. But most of all it seldom looks like a typical scene from a videogame. It looks like a cartoon come to life, and the same goes for all the characters and creatures you meet throughout the game.
COOL ENCOUNTERS Of course, with such a radical cartoon style we can't tell you that The Wind Waker looks realistic, but it's certainly bursting at the seams with life. And what life this is! Whether it's the slobbering bottom lips of the pig-faced Molblins, wind-blown dust motes on Dragon Island, or the humorous expressions on Link's face that change to match the situation, it doesn't disappoint.
Obviously the dialogue is set in stone, but it manages to adopt a cheerful or ominous tone in all the right places. The result is that you feel well and truly encapsulated inside a Legend - the theme, and indeed the game itself.
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