Monday 15 Jan 2007

Few series can lay claim to the pedigree of the Zelda game, in fact I dare say none can, except perhaps Mario. And by pedigree I mean the number of games in the series that are simply the best of their type. For this action adventure genre I fear that Zelda is so good that no one even attempts games of this type. It has been leveled against Wind Waker that it is a step down in quality from the seemingly universally admired Ocarina of Time. Let me say first, I did not play a Zelda game before this one. For shame you say, and I’d agree, but in my defense I plead third world status and the lack of a Nintendo presence in this country until a few years back around the time the GBA launched. In those days you were ensconced in your PC gaming unless you were a well connected, adventurous importer of games with more money than you knew what to do with. Sony’s PlayStation (and more specifically PlayStation 2 it seems) changed the landscape and quite as many people game on these console things as PC’s these days, with, needless to say, very little understanding between the two groups. Well, the point of that all is to offer some sort of apology for having never played a Zelda game. But at least I can offer a fresh perspective on this Godfather among games.

Rare Beauty in Video Game Form

The immediate beauty of the game is apparent in the wistful music that plays in the introduction, which has no flashy cut scenes or voice acting, just a few mosaic images with some text and the sounds of two flutes playing a tune that seems to remember a time long past. The story goes of a boy of old that was a hero in the land, and it is said that he will rise again when the time is right. It seems the land has fallen on difficult times and has been flooded by the sea. All that remains are small isolated islands populated with people living a pastoral existence where once there was the great land of Hyrule. After naming the boy you play as, you start fulfilling your destiny of defending the remaining land against the evil plots of Ganondorf, and in the process travel the length and breadth of this beautiful sea.

The second thing of rare beauty (which some may disagree with) is the art style. Everything is drawn in a style reminiscent of cell-animated Disney films of yore, with all the charm and whimsy that comes with it. The sea’s waves, the wake of your boat, the cloud formations and the wind gusting through the air are all so deftly animated that they look like something out of a hand drawn film and set you wondering how a game, rendered in real time, can look like that. It’s not the technical prowess that impresses you like in some games, but it’s definitely there, well disguised by the beautiful scenes. While you’re sailing along you’ll see a tower on the horizon slowly grow in front of you, slowly take shape and reveal itself to be a town of some sort, and then you sail up to it, climb off the boat and start walking around the town. You can stop at a high point on some island, take out your telescope and watch the seagulls fluttering around over on the horizon where a giant Octorok is said to swim. That sort of uninterrupted game world is something that you can only marvel at.

A Massive World to be Explored

Of course, the caveat is that it is all very overwhelming at first, or even later in the game. The world is so big that you don’t even know where to start your search for some rare item or character – it’s a bit like the real world in that way. Thankfully your maps help, and your past Zelda knowledge will help too, but if you’re a person who likes things spelled out for you, or a nice linear story (“What should I be doing now, Mr GameMaster?”), then The Wind Waker will be too much. I marvel at the level of depth – things I took as incidental, like the seagulls that flew over my boat every now and then, were actually interactive, and even fundamentally important to the game. If there’s something out there it’s there to be interacted with, explored, investigated. Little hints that Merman the talking fish gives you when you throw bait for him will slowly build into a big picture of what it is you should be doing, or where you should go. Some door that’s blocked by a rock must be filed away in your memory for later because you’ll need to go back there some time to find out what’s in that place. You never know, it could be a whole new dungeon, or just a room with some money. Fortunately, the first part of the game is quite directed so while you’re still figuring out this whole navigation thing you at least don’t go off course and get completely lost in the land. I found myself sometimes completely engrossed in a side quest on an island out in the middle of the ocean, and at other times concerned that I didn’t know really what it is I was supposed to be doing. I did figure it out in the end, but time was when I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of my quest. I’m sure old time Zelda players don’t have this sort of problem, they instinctively know their next step, but those of us, who like Link, are thrown into the wide unknown with only the guidance of a talking ship, are bound to be unsure of the themselves. They will most certainly grow, like I did, and over time come to understand and love this land.

The Wind Waker is not a fast paced game, it is not really an action game per se, since (to use an example from the film world) to be an action movie requires that you have a certain amount of action throughout the movie, otherwise you’re really just a thriller or a drama. The fighting is very well implemented with its targeting and parrying aspects, but the overarching game mechanic is firstly exploration, and then puzzle-solving, and finally fighting. The dungeons in particular are all about solving various puzzles to advance on to the next room. Each dungeon brings with it a whole new set of puzzles as the items Link has grows. Most are of the absolutely ingenious variety, and very few are repeated more than once without being built upon in some clever way. The pace takes some time to get used to for the well-heeled gamer used to fast action-charged games like Prince of Persia or your average shooter, but is also more true to life, and by extension, more immersive. The downside is some things take some time to do in the game – traveling from one island to another can take a little time – and at first I was impatient, but by the time I had slowed myself to the games wistful pace I was enjoying the crash of the waves, the passage of time from day to dusk, night to dawn, dawn to day, and the commensurate palette changes along the way.

The Wind Waker is not a game to be played, it is rather an experience to be had – a timeless fantasy world which is yours to explore. Beware that this is a large and demanding world that requires your full attention and all your curiosity. The action components are certainly not difficult, but Zelda demands things of a gamer in different ways, a certain dedication to details and a willingness to try things and explore every nook and cranny of this beautiful world. It’s quite unlike other games, a world, in every way, unto itself.

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Contributor:	Peter

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