The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a worthy addition to one of Nintendo's longest running franchises.
Now onto the rest of the game. This game plays how you would come to expect from a Zelda game. Save the world, save the princess, defeat the bad guy, with some interesting new twists. Zelda games have traditionally always been played out on dry land. The Wind Waker introduces something long time fans of Link's adventures have never had to deal with; controlling the wind and sailing a ship around a wide expanse of ocean. This is all set up very well and is a very interesting new appraoch to Zelda games. However, while it is new and very well done it isn't particularly my favorite part of the game because at times it can be very boring to have to take 5 minutes and sail to your location (this is somewhat alleviated later on but not entirely).
The gameplay for this game is of course, fantastic. It consists of combat using Link's traditional weapons; the sword, the bow, the boomerang, etc. It as always, works perfectly and all the items prove to be very useful (especially in the dungeons you aquire them in). Speaking of dungeons, theres nothing new here. You enter the dungeon to gain the treasure, find an item, use it in excess to conquer the dungeon and it also plays a main part in killing the boss. Rinse and repeat. If you have never played a Zelda game this is a good place to start but it may give you the wrong idea about what Zelda games traditionally are. As I had said Zelda games are traditionally played on dry land, involve a horse named Epona and not a boat called The king of Red Lions, and have a more serious rather than cartoony art style.
For someone who has never played a Zelda game, it is very hard to describe the expericne. I consider Zelda in a genre of its own. Its not a roleplaying game, a action, or an adventure but a very well done mix of the three. For fans of Zelda games, this is an easy reccomendation. Pretty much, if you have a gamecube or a Wii and you have never played a Zelda game, crawl out from under that rock and buy this game allready.