The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Whenever I mention this game, everyone around me immediately seems to say, “Why do you want to talk about that horrible game?” I only know of a few people that seem to actually like this game. Why? Simple. No one ever gave it a chance. This game died before it ever even was playable.

Before I continue, I must make one comment. And that is that I do realize that not all people that hate this game never played it. To those of you that have played this game, and still not liked it, I realize that you do in fact exist. My apologies if I made you angry. Now, back to my article…

And the main reason for this seemingly almost universal hate of this game stems from one singular fact: the graphics aren’t “real”.

I completely understand this though. When the game first came out, I was one of the skeptics. I too thought, “What happened to the graphics?! Is the art director a child?!” And for a while, I didn’t play the game. Yet I did eventually, as I decided that I might as well try it, just to see if the game was as bad as I expected. Well my expectations were completely destroyed, by nothing other than a great game. True, I even still don’t like the graphics very much, but once I got used to them, they didn’t seem to bad. In fact, in some situations, I actually liked them. I do have to admit that facial expressions, among several other things were done quite well. If the art director was in fact a child, then this was one extremely talented kid.

Another thing that many people seemed to hate is the fact that in this game, Link is merely a child. And I must say that I too agree with this. I really didn’t like the fact that Link appears to be even younger than he was in Ocarina of Time (the past version of himself). One major thing about him being a child is that he is so small. Everyone else (except for the other children in the game) is hulking over his, what appears to be, three-foot height. At some times it seems almost pathetic.

Yet even though there were these things, I still played the game, beat it, and liked it a lot. And that is because of two main reasons. One: the game play. And two: the fantastic storyline.

While I didn’t overly like the way the game looked, the actual game itself more that made up for it. The weapons, the items, the dungeons, the fighting system, all worked seamlessly together to form a very well made game, worthy of the name “The Legend of Zelda”. The ability to pick up enemy’s weapons, being able to basically fly, the sometimes confusing puzzles mixed in with creative designs for dungeons, and especially all of the techniques, abilities, and combinations that could used in battles made a very fun, interesting, and very well-made game.

And then there’s the story. In my mind, the story is the best thing about this game. I can’t say too much without ruining it, but I will say this: if you like The Legend of Zelda, you will want to play this game. The story is a very important inclusion to the overall story of the series. And oppositely, even if you have never played another Zelda game ever, you will find the story very fun and interesting, constantly making you want to play more to see what happens. And that’s just the main plot. The innumerable side quests, minigames, and random other extras make this game have great replay value, as well as getting you sidetracked often throughout the story.

So overall, I have to say that this game really is quite good, if only given the chance. True, some don’t like the graphics, but this shouldn’t be the one thing to deter you from this great game. Even if you find it looks kiddish and pathetic, I urge you to still try it. Between the amazing gameplay, the fun characters, the plethora of extras, and the gripping story, I can almost promise you that you will like this truly underrated game.