A fantastic assortment of great story, gameplay, and characters and a package you'd expect bearing the name 'Zelda'
For those living under a rock, the story follows one of the longest running series around, that of the Legend of Zelda. You essentially guide your trusty hero, Link, through many overworld trials and underworld dungeons (oh, an even airborn ones) on a quest to save the Land of Hyrule, once again, from the clutches of evil. Is there anything particularly new? Yes and no. There are a few new items that add many fun to thrills to the game (the two handed hookshot and spinner, for example) and the depth of the dungeons are much moreso this time...but also there are many traditional elements that remain the same from other incarnations in the series (multiple dungeons with items in each one needed to get to the next in a particular order that flushes out the story). There are a number of free-roaming side quests you can do as well.
Is this 'more of the same' a bad thing? NO. There is more than ample originality here to get you going, more than ample "wow" moments to keep you satisfied...plus amazingly in depth dungeons to solve. These dungeons are some of the most imaginative fantasy/adventure dungeons and domains ever experienced. Nothing is completely cut and dry, this works for everything. More than a few times you'll do something and figure out the puzzle after pondering it for much longer than you expected, the "ah-ha!" moment as they call it. And the best part is, the dungeons never got old. They were a blast to explore and figure out.
The controls worked well on the Wii I thoughts. There really wasn't much for a learning curve, and they weren't difficult to use. On the contrary, I took them right off like it was completely natural--an amazing feat considering it wasn't designed originally to have these controls. The fishing alone is almost worth the price of admission and the best fishing experience to be found on the Wii thus far (an odd statement to be made, for sure). Some people would have liked to have real-time sword modleing instead of slashing mimicing a button press--but that isn't how the current incarnation of Zelda titles are played. Maybe in the future they will do a close third person on first person version with real live sword fighitng--but in this game it is only PART of the game, not what the game is based on. All told, it works well.
I've heard some gripes about the graphics not being much better than a great gamecube title. Well, true enough, we're not looking at PS3 or XBOX360 level graphics--but never once did I stop in my playing and think "Gee, look how pixelated that is, gee that just isn't as clear as I'd like it". The graphics are actually good (especially in 480p) and never detract from the experience.
So, if you have a Wii, are looking for an awesome adventure game to keep you enthralled, and have about 40-50hrs to burn--Zelda is for you!