34. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube)
QOqUsNS.jpg

This game follows our hero Link as he has just turned of age to receive his cool green clothes in honour of that other Link dude from that other game. But because there wouldn't be much of a plot if we all just ate cake and partied (well that would be a different type of game) Link's sister gets kidnapped and Link has to hitch a ride with some pirates to go rescue her.

This plays like most Zelda games. You play as Link and go around beating up monsters and evil plants, solving dungeon puzzles, and killing bosses and absorbing their hearts (that is what happens right?) You get some cool gadgets along the way like a boomerang and a giant leaf among other things. A large part of this game takes place on the ocean in a boat traveling from island to island.


General impressions:
I wasn't too sure about this game because having only seriously played OoT and MM (I'd tried a few of the handhelds but never sunk many hours in to them) the art style of this one kind of turned me off. It looked too cartoonish. But when I started this list and heard good things about it I decided to give it a try and I was happy I did. I'm still not a huge fan of Link's new look, although he is much more expressive, but I actually enjoyed the light, cartoonish environments, especially the waves when travelling by boat. I also very much enjoy water areas and well... you know. This game does have it's faults, I think the beginning half was very linear and it didn't let me explore, and some of the areas were frustratingly difficult, although that last part is typical Zelda for me. Overall it was really fun and I quite enjoyed it.

Story:
I do enjoy the story in this game and I enjoy the added personal element of Link having to rescue his sister instead of just a kid going to save the world because why not. With that being said, it wasn't super deep and a lot of it was predictable, (SPOILER)especially the Zelda part. As soon as I met our pirate lady friend I was just counting down the minutes until her reveal as Zelda. But the story was still interesting. I did like that it was actually an “after the end” type of thing, but it was still lighthearted ad cheerful.

WlBFHre.jpg
Link is displeased

Gameplay:
As I mentioned above, my biggest issue was them giving me a huge sea to explore and telling me “We can't go that way right now!” It was very linear at the beginning, and the dungeons were too close together for my liking. Other than that the game was really fun, even if some of the dungeon puzzles were confusing. I think this game did a great job of also having some puzzles be solved by objects other than the key item you get for the dungeon, and it made me have to think a lot harder about my surroundings and not just about what I had in my inventory.


World:
I really liked the world, I thought it was bright and vibrant, but with some diversity as well. Sailing the sea was a lot of fun of course and a lot of the towns were lively and cute. I really did enjoy exploring new places and I always got so excited to see where I would go next and what it would be like.


Characters:
Surprisingly strong for a Zelda game. I think Link emotes much more in this game than the others, which gave him some personality despite being silent. A lot of the extra characters had me excited to meet them and learn more about them as well.

Favourite character: Medli B6KlKes.png

I love Medli, I think she's so sweet and adorable and I always felt bad for sending her flying in to a wall because I wasn't sure what I was doing. But yeah I always got super excited when I would see her.

Overall it's a very fun game, and other than the art style is similar to the other Zelda games I've played. It's a bit linear at first but it does open up, the world and characters are charming, and the puzzles are fun.

lN9jhUr.jpg
Love this picture

That's all for today!