The Legend Of Zelda: the Wind Waker HD Review

Hi guys! Gaarasaiyan here again with another review of a game that I’d say is well worth playing. Today we will be reviewing The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for the Nintendo Wii U. If it sounds like you have heard of this game before, as in some years ago, then you’re right. It is an HD Remaster of the original Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker title from the Nintendo Gamecube. It has got the HD treatment as well as a few game changing elements added in. So let’s jump right in shall we?

The Adventure Begins!

The game starts off with a nice introductory cinematic retelling the story of the legendary hero (Link) that sealed away evil (Ganon). When you start you can tell right away that this game has a very different look compared to previous Legend of Zelda titles. It is cel-shaded, and to be honest it’s just simply gorgeous. You start off asleep on top of a tower that overlooks the ocean. Upon waking up,  your sister is there to greet you. She asks if you remember what day it is. She says you it’s your birthday and then she goes on to tell you that your grandma has been waiting for you at the house.

Better go see what Grandma wants. It seems that she has a gift for you, but not one you are too happy to get. Seems in your little island village there is a tradition. When a young boy becomes the same age as the Hero spoke of in the legends he is to dawn the same green garb for one day. After your Grandma is done lecturing you, without actually lecturing you in that way that grandma’s do, she tells you she is going to make your favorite dinner tonight…soup! She then tells you to go back and get your sister. After going back to your sister she gives you a gift, a telescope. She has drawn little seagulls on it. (It’s the little details that mean the most right?) After getting your gift you’re taught how to use it and instructed to look at the mailbox. There you see the postman and your first glimpse at an enemy: A huge scary bird, who seems to have a young girl held in it’s talons. Guess who has to save her? Yup, you guessed it, YOU. But first you need a weapon.

Shortly after obtaining your sword your task is to save the young girl the bird has captured. You go into the woods nearby and fight a few of your first enemies. After having dealt with them you find the young girl who fell from the bird’s talons and has landed herself on a tree branch. Once you finish saving her, you find out she belongs to a band of pirates.

You leave the forest and just in time to see ol’ bird face flying in again after something. That something is YOUR SISTER! Having witnessed your sister scooped up in the birds talons and flown away, you decide to go with the pirates after her. But not before telling your sweet loving old granny goodbye, who previously had given you the traditional green garb, also gives you your shield and a few tears. After your grandma’s tears nearly break your poor tiny heart…

…off you go with pirates whom you barely know. And so your adventure begins!.

A little stealth never hurt anyone…

After a few tutorial-type missions on the pirate ship you find yourself where your sister is being held: The Forsaken Fortress. But how do you get in? Well lil miss captain has an idea, although I don’t think I could ever agree to it. Entrance by catapult, and off through the sky you go until you smack a wall losing your trusty sword leaving you with only your shield.

So how do you get to where your sister is being held? Very, very carefully, and using stealth as best you can. Along with a few spotlights there are guards, who upon spotting you, will throw you in a cell. Stealth is normally not an element found in most Zelda titles, but it works here and works well I might add. Sneaking by hiding under barrels (perhaps solid snake once visited links’ home island) and crawling around carefully you can reach the guards working the lights. It’s here you see another element not found in other Zelda titles: The ability to pick up an enemy weapon which in this case is a stick, a deku stick to be exact and use it against them. Beating the foe senseless with his own weapon, or with one of the other weapons found in a nearby vase, is extremely satisfying. Afterwards, the spotlight is rendered inactive and it’s onward to find your sister. After having dealt with the other guards running the spotlights and sneaking by some very muscular looking pig-men which I believe are the Moblins of this game,

you find your sword and one enemy. Upon defeating the enemy, your next and only move is to proceed through the giant doors where, surprise surprise, your sister resides.

After the cinematic of finding your sister starts taking place, the ol’ giant bird face swoops in and snatches you up. Taking you to the head honcho (which if you’ve ever played a Zelda game before, you know who it is), he nods his head and the bird throws you into the night sky.

Ouch my everything..

You regain consciousness after hearing a phantom voice utter your name. You awake in a boat, but where is the person that was calling your name? YIKES, the person or er.. thing calling you wasn’t a person at all it was the boat!

The boat introduces itself as the “King of Red Lions”, a boat without a sail. Guess what he wants you to find for helping you? Yup, you guessed it, a nice little sail. For he claims he will help you rescue your sister, but a ship without a sail can sail no seas. So off you go on another errand, this time for a piece of cloth. After finding it and paying a pretty penny er.. rupee for it, back to the King of Red Lions you go. Your first destination together, Dragon Roost Isle (doesn’t that name sound terrific and not horrifying at all).

Hey look at the huge Volcan..OHHH DRAGON!

Upon reaching the island you’ll notice it has a huge Volcano, and atop it an equally huge dragon. Getting out of your boat the King of Red Lions decides to hand you another item. It’s a baton, and it’s called the wind waker. You’ll learn more about this item soon. He teaches you the basics of using it and sends you on your way. After a few blown up boulders and a nice run in with the mailman from earlier, you meet up with the chief of the mailman’s people whom are called Rito. The chief tells you of a pressing matter that he must tend to first before he can help you in anyway. Seems that the big dragon is the Rito’s people sky god, and his name is Valoo. Seems old Valoo is in a bit of a bad mood. The Rito people, when coming of age, have to travel to the top to meet with Valoo and get a scale from him. This allows them to grow their wings. You can see what’s gonna happen here, right? Yup, you’re gonna help the Rito people with the moody dragon problem.

Boy it’s hot in here….

After doing a few errand-type chores, you are inside the volcano slaying baddies and working your way to the top. Upon reaching it, you rescue a girl and she gives you your first real item (dah dah dah daaaahhhhhhh). It’s a grappling hook, and its used to swing from place to place and other things. After that, it’s on to fight the boss! Of course you’ll be using your new dungeon earned item – per normal Zelda game recipe. After defeating the boss you get to learn more about your wind waker. You learn to conduct a song with it. It allows you to control which way the wind blows (Who would have guessed right). You return to The King of Red Lions, and he tells you its time to depart. From here on out its the usual Zelda formula: Go here, get this thing for me, go to this dungeon, defeat monster of dungeon and continue on your quest.

So much ocean, so little time.

Aside from your main quest in the game, there seems to be quite the amount of extra content that you’ll have to find by exploring, and that’s no easy task. The map of this world is quite large. The map is broken down into squares and in each square there are sunken treasures, islands, guard towers and other things to take a look at. All in all, for the average gamer, this game can easily take away a month of your time if you try and do all there is to do. If you play just the main quest I guess it could take you about a week or two.

If it’s not broken…..

As I stated, the tried and true Zelda formula is in full effect in this game, but that is not a bad thing. Even though it’s been done before, make no mistake about it, this game is pure joy for anyone to play; Especially a Zelda fan. There are new items added in this remaster that wasn’t in the original title on the Gamecube. Such as the swift sail that makes traveling much faster, and the Tingle Bottles which lets you see some neat snapshots along with getting help from people around the miiverse. The game truly has got a major makeover. The colors are more crisp and everything seems to have been very finely detailed. Not to mention, the game runs at a very smooth 60 frames per second.

…Don’t fix it.

After having played this and reliving a bit of nostalgia from the Gamecube days, I would have to say that this is a Zelda title very much worthy of owning and adding to anyone’s game (or Zelda) collection. I find myself sidetracked often exploring and just being mischievous at times. (Pigs flew in my game quite often). Even if you own the original, this remaster is worth experiencing. If you’ve never played it, THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?! GO GET IT! This is one of Zelda games that feel like some of the old school greats, such as the original Legend of Zelda and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In the aspect that the world seems open and vibrant, there is plenty to explore and discover, and the world seems to truly be alive. I would highly recommend that not only Zelda fans, but everyone not to pass this up! To those that own a Wii U and may have never played a Zelda game ever should pick it up! On a scale from 1-10, I rate this game a 9.5/10.