Like Metroid Prime, pre-skepticism didn't stop this addition to the series from becoming total greatness.
The story takes place one hundred years following the Ocarina of Time. Here we find a young boy who has come to a certain age, and at that age it is tradition on his island that he shall don the outfit of the hero of time. Not long after his sister is kidnapped, he enlists the aid of pirates, and soon meets up with a talking sail boat known as the King of Red Lions. The King of Red Lions becomes your main source of transportation and usually gives you direction over where you ought to go next.
Do not let the art style of this game fool you. As the plot progresses it actually becomes very dark in tone, actually becoming one of the darkest in the series. I would consider this a positive seeing as how I enjoyed the dark atmosphere of Majora's Mask as well. Along with the good plot comes equally good writing.
The core gameplay and mechanics have remained fully intact from the previous N64 titles. You will go through many locations defeating monsters, solving puzzles, traversing dungeons, and interacting with various quirky characters. You will also be collecting a variety of items and buying new weapons and doing side-quests. The controls are just as silky smooth as the N64 games and one can easily get used to the control mechanics, especially if they have played the previous games. One of the most important items in the game is the Wind Waker, a magical baton that works in a similar fashion to that of the ocarina from the previous titles. As you progress you will come across a few musical pieces needed for certain situations to help with progression. Unlike the ocarina which controlled time, the Wind Waker uses, of course, wind-based abilities such as changing the overall direction of the wind to help you across steep paths or help you progress through sailing.
This brings up another important part of the gameplay: sailing. For most of the game you will be relying on the King of Red Lions to help you get to new landmarks and look for hidden goodies in the sea. Sailing has become the most common criticism of the gameplay, and I myself have to jump on that band wagon. The sea you sail on is massive, and getting to these places can eat up a lot of time and become boring rather quickly. Thankfully once you learn the proper melody you can warp to the many locations you have already visited. Just be prepared to deal with the tedium of sailing before that can happen.
As mentioned earlier the biggest criticism the game was met with before release was it's artistic style. Fans expected a more realistic title and feared that Nintendo was about to shift their focus over to a younger audience. But ironically the game was not only praised for this style, but again this is one of the darkest Zelda games ever created in terms of plot. But I will definitely say that this is certainly a beautiful game to look at. While the technical side of the graphics are great, the art style is what really steals the show. The game is just so beautifully detailed and colorful. The characters animate in a fluid manner and of course look fantastic. The main character actually shows more expressions this time around giving off a little more personality. Of course, as is expected out of the series, the sound direction is still top notch, offering great music and sound effects.
To sum things up:
PROS:
-Beautiful art style
-Same great gameplay and mechanics from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask
-Great music and sound
-Good, dark plot
CONS:
-Sailing
It certainly goes without saying that this is a must own for almost everyone's Game Cube/Wii collection. If you are a fan of the series than you should already have this game by now. Those wanting to go into the series, or just looking for a great game for their console, should by all means look into this game. This is a really big, satisfying adventure that is certainly worth playing.