Release: 31st October 2013, Nintendo Wii U
While The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD may not be the epic looking Zelda game that was teased during the initial announcement for the Nintendo Wii U (visit our Nintendo Wii U launch games page to see what we’re talking about), it is the first full Hyrule based adventure to make its way to the next generation console. It’s a direct recreation of the game that was first released for the Nintendo GameCube back in 2003, but this time around it’s got supped up HD graphics to reintroduce the game to the modern gamer.
Storyline:
The game sees Link take to the open waters of the Great Sea in a quest to save his sister and defeat the ancient terror of Ganon. The challenge sets link against a vast horde of Ganon’s forces as he strives to solve the mystery behind the Master Sword and the Triforce of Wisdom to return order to the flooded kingdom of Hyrule.
Gameplay:
The first good thing to say about the game’s upcoming launch is that because it’s a recreation of a previously released game, we already know a hell of a lot about how it plays, which is to say amazingly. It was crowned the Game Of The Year in 2003 by GameSpot and received more positive reviews than the Cameron Diaz car wash scene from Bad Teacher with IGN giving it a 9.6/10 and Metacritic giving it an overall 96% from 80 reviews.
The gameplay engine is the same as the genius system that was introduced on Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 and more recently the Nintendo 3DS. You control a young adventurer called Link to move around the islands of the Great Sea with your sword, shield and all manner of other tools and weapons to progress through the game, solve puzzles and battle the evil forces of Ganondorf.
One of the most useful features is the ability to lock onto an enemy or object to make sure you hit your target in a battle or to solve a puzzle. This is added to by the dodge function that was built into The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker to allow you to outmanoeuvre tough enemies and strike back while they’re overextended.
You also get clues on how to proceed through the game from Link as he turns to look at useful objects to solve a puzzle. Although possibly the sweetest land based gameplay element is the ability to use the weapons of certain dungeon bosses for yourself, giving you an edge as you progress through the game.
With the Wii U controller screen you’ll get to either control your inventory or play the game off TV, which is one of the best parts of the new Nintendo console. When playing it on the TV you’ll be able to gain quicker access to items and weapons and with the screen play option you can continue gaming when your other-half insists on turning you off in favour of The Apprentice.
Graphics:
From the look of the trailer it’s fair to say that it’s going to be more of the super crisp, unique 3D cartoon style of the original, but with a hell of a lot more definition as the Wii U version takes it up to 1080p. Movement is flowing and beautifully animated with great detail and embellishments. Artwork is cel shaded to bring the comic book cartoon style of the game to life, which is added to by real time lighting effects and blur to create the depth and a sense of 3D within the cartoon like environment.
Music/sounds:
The music seems to be a little on the twee side of the spectrum with pipes featuring heavily in the mix in the trailer, although there’s also a great adventure theme tune. The sound effects are slick, but the lack of voiced characters kind of makes the game a little dated with the power of the new console. If Lego City Undercover can pull off voiced characters throughout then there’s no excuse for other games anymore.
Release date:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD had a release date on the Nintendo Wii U on the 31st October 2013, which gave gamers enough time to save up and get their orders in following the initial anouncement.
For some gamers that played the original GameCube version, the re-release might be a slight disappointment as it doesn’t offer them the new Zelda experience that we’re all waiting for. While for others it’ll be a nostalgic trip down memory lane, with improved graphics and display options. However, for gamers that missed it the first time around or are too young to have stood a chance to play it before, the port of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD to the Wii U is a significant entry to their gaming wish list.
Read our The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD review to find out just how good the game turned out to be.
