The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Nintendo GameCube

Nintendo’s… The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Nintendo GameCube

Nintendo’s “Legend of Zelda” franchise is royalty in the video game industry. Sure, Mario is more widely recognized, but “Zelda” has the most devoted following.

The series’ latest entry, “The Wind Waker,” is a worthy addition that will give fans the fix they’ve been waiting for.

While many are worried about the game’s new look – gamers have been pissed about how “cartoonish” it is ever since Nintendo released the first screenshots – it’s all for naught. The visual style is a startling change, but it’s also a masterpiece. Everything looks perfect – smooth, vibrant and eye-poppingly three-dimensional. It is one of the best-looking games on any console.

My only complaint is that the quest, while it still towers over that of most games out there, has not been comparably reinvigorated. I was disappointed at how effortlessly I breezed through some sections of the game – not because they’re easy, but because the makers are still using the same tricks they’ve been using for the last couple games. Veterans will sometimes find themselves instinctively knowing what they need to do – activate a switch, find something to swing from, or conduct a song – when they enter a new area.

Of the series’ many old habits, the one that’s most disappointing to once again encounter is the quest’s occasional degeneration into unrewarding detours and tedious errands. I don’t know if these runarounds get tossed in just to add to the game’s length or what, but they get pretty annoying.

This is not, however, to downplay the fun of the whole thing. The familiarities and foibles are far outweighed by the general majesty of the adventure.

The crew at Nintendo has gone to great lengths to wrap the game around a credible piece of storytelling. It begins on your character’s birthday, the day you don a familiar green outfit in honor of a certain legendary hero. Just about the time you’re all “Linked” up, a giant bird snatches your little sister, along with several other young girls, and takes her to a fortress across the sea where Ganondorf, villain of old, back from wherever Link last banished him to, is putting his latest evil plan into effect. And so you’re off.

Navigating the enormous, unruly sea presents the only major change in the quest formula. You move between islands via a sailboat with a talking dragon’s head – typical – and a magical conductor’s baton, the Wind Waker, which allows you to control the direction of the wind when you play songs you pick up along the way. To make it to the final battle, you’ll have to befriend pirates, bribe fish and gulls with bait, find sunken treasure and tame hurricanes, all while fending off sharks, squids, bird creatures, cannon-equipped enemy boats and other baddies. It’s overwhelming at first, but once you get your map going and your objectives start falling into place, it’s a good time.

With the arrival of “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker,” GameCube has become a good investment. Exciting Cube titles were slow to come at first, but now, with this and other must-play exclusives such as “Metroid Prime,” “Eternal Darkness,” and the “Resident Evil” series available, gamers who don’t have the system are missing out.