The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Graphics

While the graphics in this game are technically very well done, I'm not a big fan of cel-shading. It looks good, and they certainly did it right, but I would have preferred they use the character models they made for Super Smash Brothers Melee, or at least in that style. Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf looked good in that game, but in Wind Waker they've been reduced to cartoony shadows of their former selves.

Gameplay

The game plays a whole lot like the N64 Zelda games, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. It's a typical 3rd-person view, with a moveable camera. There are a number of tools and weapons at your disposal, and they each play an important part at some point in the game. The boss fights were fun, kinda challenging though. I don't recall throwing my controller to the floor in frustration too often.

Replayability

This game encourages you to play through a second time by changing the appearance of Link. The first time through, he receives a gift of special green clothes from his grandmother, just like the ones worn by the legendary Hero of Time (from Ocarina of Time). The second time through, she gives you something but it looks like she's been going to the same tailor who sold the Emperor his new clothes, so you instead spend the whole game in the "normal" clothing you start out in.

Would I Buy It?

I actually used a gift certificate to get this game, but I'm glad I used it on this one and not something else. It was a very fun game, and I'll probably play through it again in the future, this time with a snack other than a 3lb. bag of peanut M&M's (I can't think about this game and not remember that taste). I wish I had been able to get the additional disc that most people who pre-ordered got, but I hadn't realized that I needed to add it to my shopping cart as well, and when I e-mailed Amazon.com about it they said they no longer had that in stock. May have to keep an eye on the used game bins for that one.