The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker was released back in 2002 for the Nintendo Gamecube. Over a decade following its release, Nintendo has decided to bring one of its finest Zelda games back on the Wii U in glorious HD for the first time. When the game was released, Wind Waker received critical praise due to its cel-shaded visuals. For some, the shift to a somewhat cartoon-ish art was criticized, but the gameplay and the colorful art style drowned out the negativity quickly. With the release of Wind Waker HD, many fans are wondering as to what kind of additions Nintendo did for the game aside from its revamped visuals. Did they add anything new to make it more refreshing to fans?
Let’s find out what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.
HOT
Beautiful Visuals
Often times when a developer decides to remake a classic game, they rarely revamp everything. Some simply decide to make the textures a lot smoother and ease up on the rough edges to make it look HD. Everything in the Wind Waker HD was revamped, making sure that when fans see it on their 1080p HD TV set, they will be blown away by the improvements courtesy of Nintendo. For fans who have played the original, the difference is very apparent. The art style has been improved where the color accuracy to the cel-shaded graphics become very clear. Unlike the Gamecube version’s poor lighting and shadows, Nintendo added it in Wind Waker HD to make the colors more vibrant, thanks to the technological advancements we have now. As you go through the vast seas, the land of Hyrule and the different places in the world, fans will be amazed on the work Nintendo put in this game to show that it really is a HD game.
Still one of the Best Zelda games around
Aside from Ocarina of Time, the Wind Waker HD is still considered as one of the best Zelda games around. From its perfect storyline through to the variety of gameplay that fans played before, all of those will be found in Wind Waker HD.
For the new generation of gamers who missed out on the Wind Waker HD, the game was set in a world outside of Hyrule this time. The Kingdom everyone has seen in almost every game is not the world players will venture to but instead, a vast world in open seas. Without spoiling much of the story to newcomers, Wind Waker HD will focus on a boy from an island that will relive the story of the Hero of Time who cast out the evil from the land. As always, iconic characters like Ganon will be making a return in the game, but the mystery is still there as to what plot he threatens the world.
Exploration is one of the key things I love about the game. With the world that seems vast in the Wind Waker HD, players will be spending time scouring through the high seas as they save the world. While on the mission, players will have a boat that will allow them to traverse different islands. In a world as big as in The Wind Waker, players can expect to uncover a lot of secrets if they wish as long as they take time to search every nook and cranny of the game.
When it comes to the dungeons, I must say that it’s still fun to clear and thanks to its visual upgrade, it makes the experience even better as it feels refreshing and new. The iconic puzzle solving gameplay introduced in every Zelda game is still present to make clearing dungeons challenging. At the end of it, tough bosses can be expected. As for tools, there are new ones introduced in Wind Waker like the Grappling Hook and Deku Leaf, while iconic ones such as the Boomering and Bows are there too.
Slight New Additions
In addition to its pretty HD visuals, they added two more things to further enhance the gameplay. Veteran gamers who believe the original Wind Waker was a push-over due to its easy difficulty, they can play the HD version in a much tougher difficulty through the new Hero mode where no hearts will appear on the field and Link can only get damaged twice.
Taking advantage of the Wii U’s MiiVerse, Nintendo also added the ability to interact with other players through the use of a Tingle Bottle. When players reach Windfall Island, they will get a new quest that involves rescuing Tingle. As soon as players rescue Tingle, the ability to leave a message in a bottle will be possible where players around the world can see it adrift on seas. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, we haven’t found any bottles.
