Absolutely fantastic... and frustrating!

I've just finished The Wind Waker, the latest installment in Nintendo's famous series The Legend of Zelda, and even though I'm a Zelda fanatic, I can't help but have mixed feelings about this game.

On the one hand, the cute toon-shaded graphics are stunning. The gameplay, with its inven tive battle system where the hero and his enemies can pick up weapons dropped by other enemies, is irreproachable. The sounds, moods and music are captivating, even though there's no voice acting... but who'd want to hear Link talk?

On the other hand, it's not even that the game is too short, because actually the world is huge and the side quests numerous (although some might be a tad repetitive), nor that it lacks the traditional time/space warp (such as Overworld/Underworld, Young Link/Adult Link or Deku/Zora/Goron Link). It's that there are only five and a half dungeons! This can only leave you begging for more.

And this is what is so frustrating! The Wind Waker could have been one the greatest game ever made, but sadly it's not quite it, and I have no choice but to face the fact that it lacks the dimension of an Ocarina of Time, to name but one... So Mr. Miyamoto, when's the next one coming out?

9/10