Ray’s Cranky Zelda
Review

No, no, don’t panic. I’m
not giving The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker a bad review. But
I do have a few things I need to
get off my chest.

When The Legend of
Zelda: The Windwaker hit the store shelves in April, it became the fastest-selling
title in Nintendo’s history.
Now let’s think about that for a moment. Nintendo’s history.
That means it’s beating every Mario title, every Donkey Kong
title, not to mention every prior Zelda title. Quite an impressive
feat. And along the way, it’s garnering some of the most ecstatic
reviews of any game since . . . well, since The Legend of Zelda:
Ocarina of Time was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998.

My first complaint is
about all of those long-time Zelda fans who were appalled last
year when Nintendo first began showing visuals
from the new game. Zelda creator and overall uber-game guru Shigeru
Miyamoto and his team decided to go with the trendy cell-shaded look,
and many Zelda fans began squawking. The game was even dubbed “The
Legend of Celda” by industry wags.

My complaint? Why in the world would you object to a Zelda game
looking cartoony? This strikes me as an odd, if not idiotic, objection
for a game series which has felt cartoony since its NES days sixteen
years ago. The hero of these games is a young boy named Link who
dresses like Robin Hood and who spends a great deal of his time talking
to, and about, fairies. Honestly, what did people want The Wind
Waker to look like? Splinter Cell? These anti-cell shading people are very,
very silly and everyone should stop talking to them right now.

On to the game itself.
Miyamoto and his talented team obviously have the last laugh on
the cell-shading naysayers because the game
is absolutely, fall-down-on-the-floor-and-roll-around-like-you-were-just-set-on-fire
gorgeous. If you are a fan of cartoons, especially the classic Warner
Brothers theatrical shorts from the 30s, 40s and 50s, you’ll
be in absolute heaven with The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker, The
colors have the retina-burning intensity of the palette used in Dumbo and the lines and movement have the jazzy quality of a classic 1952
Chuck Jones short. Yep, if you’ve always wanted to know what
it’s like to walk around in one of those gorgeous, color-washed
cartoons, this game is your chance.

As in all Zelda games, the craftsmanship is beyond reproach. The
controls work perfectly, every element of the design complements
the overall whole, and the game manages to feel at once both cinematic
and open-ended.

Any game in their right
mind will have a great time playing this game. Me included (and
I may not even be in my right mind). If you
don’t own a Nintendo GameCube, here’s the reason for
you to buy one (as if Metroid Prime and Animal Crossing weren’t
prior reason enough).

So what in the name of the sacred Deku tree am I cranky about?

It may seem like a real
stretch when dealing with such a polished title, but I’m taking points off of Zelda for lack of gameplay
innovation. Yes, the game is magnificent to look at, and it’s
superbly crafted. However, the game mechanics haven’t essentially
changed since the conventions established in the series by the third
game in the series, A Link to the Past, over a decade ago. The same
bad guy is wreaking the same havoc, and Link must gather the same
artifacts (sword, shield, bomb bag, boomerang, etc.) after rifling
through the same types of dungeons.

Now, I realize that many
game series stick to tried-and-true gameplay formulas. But let
me make my point by comparing Zelda to another
much-venerated long-running series: Heroes of Might and Magic. These
fantasy-themed turned-based strategy games, like the Zelda games,
have had many editions and sequels through the years. The core gameplay
of resource gathering, hero developing and town conquest has remained
the same through its four editions and countless add-ons. However,
unlike Zelda, new editions of the series actually introduce important
new game elements. In Heroes III, for example, a hero’s experience
carried forward through different scenarios of a campaign, so you
could enjoy creating a very advanced character. Heroes IV took this
idea even further by introducing RPG-like elements into hero building,
giving the player even more stake in the characters he was developing.
Other key gameplay changes have been introduced through the series’ life
as well.

By any conceivable standard,
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto is
one of the most creative game gods in the industry. This one guy
is this one genius is behind Donkey Kong, Mario, Metroid, and Zelda.
That’s quite a resume.

What I wish is that the next time Miyamoto and his team decide to
trot out Link with another Zelda adventure, that he applies some
of his awesome creative power into evolving the gameplay of the series
as well as just its technical design.

Do I have specific directions
I’d like to see Zelda gameplay
go? Not especially. Hey, I’m not Miyamoto! I’m just a
guy who plays his games.

I have lots of faith in his talent, and I know that, if he wanted
to, he could make the next Zelda game even greater than this one.

In the meantime, what are you waiting for? Go buy this spectacular
(if familiar) game and start playing it right now.

Screenshots from several
of the Zelda series:

Final Grade:

System Requirements:
A Cranky A

• Gamecube

This
review is copyright Ray Ivey and Just Adventure and
may not be republished elsewhere without the express written consent
of the author. Republication of said review must also contain a link
back to Just Adventure.