One of the best games on the GameCube and one of the best games of its generation of gaming.
Let's start with the simple stuff, besides my cell shaded graphics complaint that I mentioned when I was younger, now as I look through the games art style, the only words I can describe them as is simply beautiful, the art style they used for this game may be different then all Zelda game's but makes this one so special and I honestly can't believe that I would have disregarded this game just because a different art style. The control style is the usual Z targeting system that they have used since Ocarina of time and it's still works great, there have been a couple new attacks implemented into the combat and it just works great. The Overword, oh the Overworld, oh mama, lol its one of the finest overworlds in this generation of gaming and possibly one of the best ever. I would definitely say the best out of all the Zelda overworlds. The reason I think this way is because of the vast ocean, there are so many areas to explore and the navigation is excellent, so there is no getting lost, or no where do I go. Sure some people could argue that some of the islands were uninspired, like the one through five star reefs, but there are so much of them and some of the islands are very inspired and some of my favorite parts of the game. The music is also amazing in fact may be the best music in all the Zelda games.
There is so much to do in this game, there are a lot of heart pieces to gather and a lot of treasure charts to collect and you will literally be playing at least 40 hours into this game to collect them all not to mention that the whole game is a good 15 hours, so that's a total of about an approximate 55 hours, that's a lot to get done in this game. There are so much temples in this you got the first two that are excellent and after that you must sail back to Outset Island to get the third pearl you need, after that you sail back to the Forsaken fortress to get your sister back and some people might not like having to play the same level over again but I disagree I really liked coming back to finally get some revenge on these guys, because now you don't have to just sit and hide, you can just beat them all up I love that. After that you must beat the temple of the Gods to get the Master Sword, and then beat two more temples and all the temples are pretty enjoyable, except the one with Makar, it wasn't terrible just not one of the best Zelda temples, I have ever played and then after that you must collect all the triforce shards and I really enjoyed collecting them all and then after that Gannon. Well... The boss battle is intriguing, very different than the other ones and I kind of like it. There are three different forms of gannondorf each one you must use the light arrow on one of the blue parts that is on him, all I can say is that I like this boss battle sure it's different but quite fun nonetheless. After that you must fight him one on one with your sword while Zelda shoots the light arrows at him and this is the awesome part of this boss battle after that you finish Gannondorf off by stabbing him in the head with the Master Sword, uhh.. What was this game rated again… oh yeah E. After that you get a good ending, stating that you must not make the same mistake as Hyrule did and I just thought that was really good, and that's pretty much the end after that link go's sailing with Tetra again to go out on another adventure.
Overall if you're looking for The Legend of Zelda Windwaker to be like Ocarina of time or Majora's Mask then you might want to change your tune because it's very different from them, and that's what I love about it, instead of Nintendo going with the same old Zelda formula they switched this one up and I love this one it's truly very special to me. If you love Zelda this is a must have. Don't be like me when I was young and judge this on its graphics because this is truly beautiful and groundbreaking at the same time.