It seems the Wii U might finally be finding its feet with the release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. Having never played the original, I decided to roll up my sleeves, get my sea legs on and find out for myself whether all the fuss this venerable series gets is well-deserved.

As this is my first time playing, it’s difficult for me to highlight where the game has been changed and if it’s for the better, so this review is more of an unbiased look at whether or not The Wind Waker HD is a good game. You’ll be happy to hear that it is a very good game. Nintendo manage to combine boundless exploration with linear, exciting dungeons in one cartoon-ish package.

It terms of story, even though I haven’t played a Zelda game before, I knew what was going to happen. Link, a small androgynous boy living on an isolated island that doesn’t seem to have anywhere that sells bread and milk gets whipped off his feet and dragged all over the ocean by a whopping great adventure. When his sister is kidnapped by a giant, evil bird, Link has to save her by gathering ancient powers from several vague deities with the aid of a talking boat with a very stern face (badumtish).The story is what it is, a framework to support the meat of the game, which is the exploration.

Obviously, Link has business he has to attend to. The adults are all far too busy standing around in the same spots all day, so his sister’s fate is down to him. However, nobody begrudges him for spending thirty or so hours sailing around the world like I did. I heard that some people didn’t like the sailing in The Wind Waker, but for the life of me I don’t know why. You are given a fairly expansive game map, a method of controlling the wind and a boat. There is so much to explore that I found myself picking a random direction and just seeing what was there. Nintendo very cleverly withhold fast-travel, meaning that if you want to cross to the other side of the map, you have to sail. This makes the world feel far vaster than it actually is. You’ll find yourself bobbing along, only ocean to be seen all around you and you’ll feel like you’re off on an adventure.

One problem with the exploration is that a big part of the lure of searching through the entire map is treasure. You gain treasure maps as a reward, and as you sail around you’ll see many a chest that you can drag up to your boat and open. However, I hope you like 50 rupees, because 50 rupees is literally all you’ll ever get from treasure chests you find on the open waters. I lie, sometimes you get 100 rupees. When my wallet was full, which it invariably was, I just ignored the chests, which sapped a little something from the intrigue of exploration. On the other hand, when you are rewarded for exploring the map, such as when you find a fairy island which improves something about Link, the amount of bombs he can hold for example, the satisfaction you receive is enough for you to want to get your sail back up and continue.

One aspect of the game I didn’t expect to like was the dungeons, but I found them hugely enjoyable. The puzzles all required at least some deliberation, and every item found is put to use. They do get a bit formulaic at times, and the structure of each dungeon felt increasingly familiar. You solve a few puzzles; you get a new item; you solve a few more puzzles; you get the boss key; you fight the boss. The bosses were colourful and varied and were generally enjoyable to fight, but again the fights can feel formulaic. Here’s a hint: use the item you got from the dungeon and either hit the boss’s obvious weak spot or something around the boss that could possibly trap or hurt it.

Visually, it’s a beautiful game. The cartoon-ish graphics really serve the game well, and everything feels handcrafted, especially when out on the open sea with the ever-changing sky rolling out before you. The characters all have their little quirks, like the Inuit merchant or the boy who desperately needs a tissue. The environments are all imaginative and charming and everything feels so soft and welcoming.   I suppose I can categorically say that the HD remake is a visual improvement on the original.

A feature that has been added to the Wii U version which I love is the ‘tingle bottle’. Basically, you can take photos within the game or you can simply just write a note, then you can stuff it into a bottle and throw it into the sea. It’ll then wash up on a beach in some random stranger’s game world. In the same respect, you’ll often find tingle bottles in your own world from other players. It’s such a lovely feature, because as you read somebody’s inane scribbles or sigh at a picture of a pig that somebody sends you,  you’ll feel like a small part of a massive community of people all sailing identical seas and fighting identical bosses. It’s great to have the ability to share your experiences with people you never have to actually talk to.

An issue I do want to raise is with the price Nintendo are charging for this game. This game is an upgrade of a previous game, and there’s kind of an unwritten rule when it comes to releasing remakes: you charge a fraction of the price. The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus HD bundle was never the price of a new release; same goes for The Prince of Persia Trilogy HD. I don’t know how Nintendo have the cheek to charge £45 pounds for The Wind Waker HD, as if it were a new release. Due to the fact that I’ve never played it before, I got round the price issue by treating it as a completely new game, but if I’d played it before I’d be insulted by the price-tag.

Price aside, I loved The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. As next-gen arrives, more and more games will seek to implement a large, bustling open world that requires exploration. Often, games fail at making a world feel big because they make the landscape huge, but give the player fast-travel systems from the off to zip around the map with, defeating the purpose of a massive open world. Hopefully, next-gen developers will take inspiration from The Wind Waker HD and deliver games that emit the sort of pleasure I received from this remake. I just wish I would have played it the first time round as an apple-cheeked little boy and not the cynical misanthrope that playing hundreds of awful horror games has made me.

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