THE GOOD:The storyline
What you get for your money
The unique graphics
The battles
The sidequests
THE BAD:
The easiness of the dungeons
The time it takes to travel to another location
SUMMARY:
The game has many good points, and only a few bad points. It is one of the better RPG games out there on the GameCube, and had received a number of Gold awards from Games magazines.
The storyline
Like the other Zelda games, the default name for the main character is Link.
The game starts with an old legend of a time when a great evil threatened to rule the world. Just at the right moment a hero came, who is very resembling to Link, and used the Master Sword to drive the evil away.
The game starts with Link being awoken by his younger sister Aryll, and he is reminded it is his birthday, and that their Aunt has been waiting for him for quite some time now.
When you enter her house, she gives Link his birthday present, clothes. 
They are very similar to the ones of the hero in the legend.
The Aunt sends Link off to retrieve Aryll, when you go to get her Link looks through her telescope and sees a girl, who is being chased by a big bird, being sent flying into the forest, Link goes in to rescue her.
When Link comes back with her the bird returns, only to steal Link's younger sister Aryll. Link tries to catch up with the bird but misses his chance and loses Aryll.
Determined to rescue his sister, Link looks for a way to save his sister. Soon after he learns the girl he saved and the people she is with are a group of pirates who were travelling on their ship when the bird attacked them.
Link joins their crew, to find and save Aryll.
What you get for your money
The game is very cheap to buy now, it should be under £20/$40 anywhere you look for it. When you buy the game, a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is included, so you are getting 2 for the price of 1.
If you buy the game with Ocarina of Time included the price range is generally from £8/$16 up to £20/$40, depending on how new the discs are.
If you buy the game as one disc, not including Ocarina of Time the price range is usually £4/8 up to £10/$20, once again it depends on the condition of the disc.
Whatever the condition of the disc though, the game is old now, but it is also cheap and definitely worth it for Zelda fans and new RPG gamers. It is easily affordable and makes a nice gift/treat.
The unique graphics
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has unique graphics, they differ from the other Zelda games and RPG games.
The graphics are cel-shaded, which gives the game a cartoon style for the objects, background, characters and effects.
Some people really like the idea of the cartoon-style cel-shaded graphics, and others hate the idea. Most hardcore Zelda gamers aren't too fond of the graphics this game has to offer, because battles and dungeons don't feel as intense and serious as they would in other Zelda games. Most gamers like the change in graphics and a number favour the Wind Waker graphics to the graphics of Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess.
Some of the objects in the game look very sketchy, for example the barrels or house windows. If you use the telescope, an item you can obtain in the game used to zoom in on areas of landscape, you can see the black outline of the objects and enemies.
The effects in the game are cartoon-style too. For example, when a bomb explodes orange swirls and red clouds explode out.
The characters can be very amusing due to the cartoon-style graphics and what can be done with them. For example, the emotional faces and expressions of the characters are more comical, making the game more entertaining.
The battles
The battles in this game can vary from 5 seconds long in which 1 hit will end the battle, usually the case when you are trying to get to a part of a dungeon, to 5 minutes long, usually the case in pre-meditated ambushes or boss battles.
The battles that take one slash of the sword to win are boring and are purely used to pester the player, like I said if they are trying to reach a particular destination.
The longer battles however, are very enjoyable and intense, for example boss battles or being ambushes by a lot of enemies. For hardcore gamers these battles won't possess much of a challenge, but for other RPG players and newer gamers these battles can be challenging and could take a few tries to win.
When you are ambushed by a lot of enemies you have to keep focused on all the targets, because when you get hit you hold your sword down, so you can't attack while you are flashing red. This is the problem, depending on the times of the enemy attacks, it could be a while before you score another hit.
For the boss battles, like in previous Zelda games, there is a certain strategy you have to use to take out the boss. Some of the strategies aren't straightforward and require you to think about the enemy you are fighting. The game is more challenging because of this and has the player hooked for a longer time.
The special effects in battles make them very fun to engage in. The emotions of Link and the enemies in battles make them more realistic, never mind the cel-shaded graphics. 
The sidequests
There are a number of sidequests in the game to keep you occupied with, and they are long but also enjoyable, which will have you trying to complete them all.
The main sidequests of the game are collecting all the Pieces of Heart, visiting every island, hunting down all the big octos that terrorise the seas, and salvaging all the treasures from the sea floor. Each one of them can take quite a long time to complete, but you will want to finish them, they are all entertaining and get you hooked on them very easily.
There are a total of 44 Pieces of Heart to collect in the game, they are scattered across the many different islands you can visit in the game, and there are various methods of obtaining them. These methods are generally by defeating a certain army of enemies, discovering them hidden from the average travellers view, completing a side quest or completing a mini-game.
There are a number of reasons why you would want to collect Pieces of Heart. One reason, usually the one for the hardcore gamers, is that they are essential to increasing Link's health. With each four you collect Link gains another heart to keep him alive and standing after a battle.
The other reason anyone will find is because they are fun to try and collect. Fighting a ton of enemies at once is great for the players who enjoy an intense battle, you'll probably find you will save before the fight so you can play it again. I know I did.
Not to mention the other methods of obtaining Pieces of Heart. The sidequests and mini-games are always a fun distraction, they are either amusing or challenging. You'll want to complete them all the same though, they are addicting and fun.
The map you recieve is of the whole ocean, it is a 7 x 7 grid of squares. Each square is an island you can visit. That means there are a total of 49 islands you can visit and explore in the game.
Some require certain conditions to be met in order to enter them, or fully explore them, and others are simple patches of land anyone could land on. Either way though, every island has it's purpose, some islands have items vital for completing the game, some have mini-games and others have easter eggs or other little secrets.
Once you have explored a few and found something cool on them, you'll want to visit them all to see what they have in store for you.
The big octos are large, white octopus monsters that stay underwater in certain parts of the sea, waiting to ambush the unwary traveller. They suck them in and shoot them miles away, leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere. This goes for you too, when you encounter one you have a certain amount of time to take out each of it's eyes. If you fail to succeed, you are taken in and left stranded in some random place.
What makes the big octos a worthy sidequest to complete is that it is fairly challenging for any one. The battles with them aren't a test of how mad Link can go with a sword, but of how accurate you are with a bow. They are fun to practice your bow skills, and each big octo had a different number of eyes, so defeating each and every one of them is a goal hardcore gamers would want to achieve.
You can also go salvaging for treasure in random places on the map, and find valuable goods from the sea floor, using a crane to search under the water.
There are 42 different treasures to find on the map, you can get an individual treasure map for each one to find their location.
The maps show a small fraction of an island and the red ring which highlights the location of the treasure at that island. It is up to you to recognise the island.
Money and Pieces of Heart can be obtained from the treasure chests you find.
The treasures can be quite hard to find, they can be a quite a challenge. They are good distractions to try and find though.
The time it takes to travel to another location
This is my biggest problem with the game, and for most people also. Each square on the map is an area of sea, and some land. The problem is that the area of sea is very large. It can take a number of minutes to get from one island to another, not to mention how bored you will probably be while you are travelling there.
The only thing to see while you are travelling is the blue of the water, and a few gulls in the sky, that's it. You may occasionally bump into an enemy while sailing, but they are easily taken care of. You don't have to control the ship at all either while you are travelling, you just sit there while the boat ploughs through the water.
If you are impatient and can't wait very long to get into the action then you should really reconsider buying this game. Nearly all of the travelling done is via the boat on the sea, and it is done a lot too. This is the one big problem with the game I find.
Game rating and comments
I would give this game a 4 out of 5. It is a very good game, especially if you have never played it before. There is lots to do, the storyline is interesting and the gameplay is addictive.
The only problem is that you have to be patient in order to get to the good parts of the game. I think they could've made the area of sea for each island a little less than they have done.
The game is well worth it's money, and makes a good gift for a family member or friend who is a fan of games.
Overall I would recommend this game to a buyer because it is very good for the first time played and has good replay value.
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