The Legend of Zelda: Kaze no Takuto is a beautiful, incredible game. I don’t feel worthy to even be playing it, much less to write about it and try to put into words the experiences it has given me already. But here’s my best shot:

I feel like I’m five years old, and exploring the back yard. Every tree and clump of grass is a new adventure. It’s a feeling that Pikmin tried to evoke directly, but Zelda does it with far more subtlety and effectiveness. After fifteen minutes of running around the first little island and playing with no particular goal in mind, I turned towards the sea, looked at the wind blowing through the grass and the birds gliding through the air, and started to choke up. I didn’t actually cry, but I was almost there, and it wasn’t because of some character’s facial expressions or a shift in the music. It was my realization that this island, this game, feels like it has been drawn from my very own imagination, the way I used to dream about the world when I was a child.

I’m trying not to be overly dramatic, but the new Zelda is more touching and charming than I could possibly describe. As an art form, games rarely invoke emotion. A few have managed to scare us, and those were truly revolutionary for their time, but this is the first time I’ve felt other emotions from a game, the way I can from an excellent movie. Mainly, I just feel a constant joy. Every funny character that I can’t understand, every surprised look on Link’s face, every cool new weapon that is implemented in just exactly the right way, they all bring a big, wide, honest smile to my face. I’m a very cynical gamer, but Zelda has me jumping up and down at the thought of what might be around the next corner. This is gaming magic, and it’s in a class of its own. Not to bash Rare after they’ve gone, but Kaze no Takuto makes Star Fox Adventures look like a steaming pile of you-know-what. The excitement, the utter glee, the soul that was missing from SFA is so abundantly present and overwhelming in Zelda.

Beyond all the metaphysical stuff, Kaze no Takuto is also a major step up for the traditional Zelda gameplay. There are tons of new features and concepts, most notably the boat and an enormous sea to sail it on. Yes, this is how you’ll get from place to place, and the sea’s immense size gives quite an epic feel to the game. The sea is made of 49 square sectors on the map, each as big as Ocarina of Time’s Hyrule Field. Not every sector has a big island to explore, but they all have something notable to visit, and obviously, secret areas are practically everywhere. In fact, the world is so huge that I’m hoping for some kind of airship or at least a way to make the wind blow harder. As it is, getting from one island to another can often take ten or fifteen minutes...plus all the stops along the way, if you’re as easily distracted as me. (I have the same problem in GTA: Vice City.)

Beyond the newfound overworld freedom, there are several features from past Zelda games that have been markedly improved. It’s almost like my own personal list of gripes about the N64 games was gone through point-by-point for Kaze no Takuto. Sword combat is considerably more complex and engaging; Link can use multiple attack combos depending on what direction you press on the control stick. There are also new instant-death attacks that can only be done by pressing A when your sword glows, which seems to happen only when enemies are in certain positions and certain distances from Link. The disposable weapons are also a great touch. Some enemies drop their weapons when hit, and then you can pick up their weapons and use them to finish off the baddies or even to solve puzzles in that room.

The camera has also been improved with a new fully-controllable “free look” mode. By pushing left, right, or down on the C-stick, the camera becomes unlocked from behind Link’s back, and you can move it 360 degrees and zoom in and out. It definitely makes some areas easier to navigate, and the camera controls very smoothly. If you want to go back to the traditional behind-the-back view, all it takes is the slightest pressure on the L trigger.

Finally, Link’s moves have seen several improvements. He can crawl around at any time as long as his hands are empty, and you can even enter first-person view while crawling around for some really funny viewpoints. Link can also press against walls and peek around corners, a la Solid Snake. Using movable blocks has become much less confusing, now that the controls are split: pressing A makes Link climb the block, while R makes him grab it for pushing and pulling. Swimming has also been simplified; just using the control stick will move Link at full speed (which is admittedly not that fast). If I have any complaint about the control so far, it’s that the boat can be difficult to steer over small distances, such as if you’re trying to sail into a specific point in the water. Link himself feels smoother and more dependable than ever before while on foot.

The music sounds better than ever. It’s fully dynamic, and of course, different songs are used to convey different emotions. There are all kinds of remixes of past Zelda tunes, some so subtle that I didn’t realize familiar musical phrases until I’d heard the song several times. The music that plays over the introduction sequence is jaw-dropping. Sound effects are exactly what you’d expect, with many being reused or retooled from past Zelda games. The voices are still limited to exclamations and the occasional “Thanks!” from a shopkeeper, but many of the voices are funny as hell, just like the characters they belong to.

And I’ll finish with the graphics. You’ve never seen a game like this, period. To call this cel-shaded is all but inaccurate; Kaze no Takuto looks nothing like any other cel-shaded game on the market. Instead of thick black lines drawn around every polygonal model, the polygons themselves are almost difficult to make out. The character models in particular are amazingly smooth and round. The lighting effects are as natural as I’ve ever seen, and the game really knows how to show them off when it wants to. The glow coming off hot lava actually resonates all over the room, and you can watch it move and shift as the lava ebbs and flows. Shadows are also extremely well done, and Link’s own shadow is among the best I’ve ever seen in a 3D game. By far the most impressive thing about Zelda’s graphics are the tiny little details that seem to be thrown about everywhere you look. If you got a kick out of seeing Samus’s hand through the X-ray Visor, you’re going to be in heaven with Zelda, because it’s chock full of that sort of thing. Just looking up at the sky, you’ll see birds flying in random patterns, gusts of wind that loop and twirl, and clouds drifting from one side of the sky to the other. Yes, those clouds you see in screenshots are actually in constant motion. The effect is most striking during a thunderstorm, when big rain clouds move rapidly through the air while growing and shrinking. By far my favorite graphical moment thus far is sailing full speed across the ocean and using the C-stick to spin the view in a full circle around Link and his boat. The draw distance, the wind effects, the lighting, the beautiful stylized water, it all comes together to paint one fantastic picture.

Should you import Kaze no Takuto? If you speak Japanese at all, yes. If you know other people who are also importing, yes. If you don’t know the language and don’t have access to anyone who can help you in a jam, probably not. The overall story is pretty easy to make out from cut-scenes and facial expressions, and for the most part, the game gives useful clues as to where to go next. I don’t care that much about missing out on the dialogue itself, although there does seem to be an awful lot of it compared to past Zelda games. Regardless, I’ve already gotten stuck once or twice from the language barrier, and anyone not extremely familiar with the franchise will probably have even more trouble than an expert like me. To sum it all up: importing is going to offer its own challenges, but March is a damn long time to wait for the game of a lifetime.

And that’s exactly what the newest Zelda is.