The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

"A Great Start to the 3-D Zeldas"

Ocarina of Time is the first 3-D Zelda that Nintendo decided to make. Taking advantage of the technology of 1998, Nintendo created the first 3-D Zelda that was a true master piece to the series and wowed all who played it. Ocarina of Time was a huge step from the original Zelda. Ocarina of Time took advantage of 3-D graphics and improved on a lot of stuff from the first two. In this Zelda game, you had the freedom of roaming Hyrule Fields on horseback, new items to use, better graphics, great dungeon and boss designs, and a lot of puzzles that we all know and love. Ocarina of Time is a true master piece and definitely one of the greatest Zeldas. I am sure that you'll recognize a lot of the similarities and differences between Ocarina of Time and the original classic Zelda titles. Another thing that I like about this game, is that Nintendo finally decided to stop making it so easy to die. I'm serious. The first two Zeldas had mean enemies that could kill you in a couple of hits. This Zelda lightens the amount of difficulty that you die, but you rarely die in this game, so that was a little too much of an improvement that Nintendo made. There is one thing that I absolutely loved from the original Zelda that I wish could have been in this game and the other Zeldas. In the first Zelda, you could buy dungeon keys for 100 rupees if you needed a key and couldn't find it. I think that should have been something that Nintendo continued to work with as that was a great thing that made it possible to navigate a dungeon if a key could not be found. Ocarina of Time is the result of many improvements and things taken out from the earlier Zeldas however, that does not take away from the wonderful experience this game will provide for you.

Story 10/10
Right, so basically, this story pretty much follows nearly all of the other Zeldas except the second one. Link must collect items, solve puzzles, and rescue people in trouble in order to stop the notorious Ganondorf from getting his hands on the Triforce of Power. And more importantly, you have to rescue Zelda from the clutches of the evil King Ganondorf who always kidnaps her. The story is based around the three Goddesses and the Triforce. You must collect objects that have to do with the Goddesses and powers that are given to you by six sages. There are plenty of towns and stuff for Link to do. Also, the NPCs really make this story excellent. I know a lot of people don't like to talk to the people in town, but they add to the story, make it realistic, and sometimes give you a very good laugh. A highly enjoyable story to a true epic and master piece of a game.

Graphics 10/10
One of the bigger improvements that Nintendo has made for Zelda. The first two games had simple retro graphics that weren't that great due to the fact of little technology back then. Once the 3-D graphics era came out, Nintendo decided to take advantage of it and make 3-D graphics for this game. This game features nice, realistic designs that make the game feel real. The graphics compared to the first two are way better. That's to be expected though, seeing as this is part of the 3-D era and not the old retro one. The graphics again made the environment real, almost like I was in the game. The earlier Zelda games made me feel like I was in a cartoon because some of the shapes and colors of environments and objects were unrealistic and made me feel like it was a cartoon where the artist can make anything whatever color he/she wants. The point is, this game has good graphics.

Tunes 9/10
The tunes for this game were great. They added a bunch of new tunes for dungeons, boss fights, and environments. In my opinion, each and every single tune for the dungeons, boss fights, and environments was appropriate for what it was used for. I took a point off of tunes because they barely used the classic Zelda Theme which was kinda disappointing. Now don't get me wrong because I love new tunes, but I like it when games not only add new tunes, but they also combine new and classic together. I love it when they do that because that makes the game great.

Controls 10/10
Ah perfect controls for a great game like this. No seriously, this game has such simple controls that a caveman could figure it out. Basically, you have your control stick to move Link or use a cursor to select something, and the A button acts as your open, swim, scroll through text, and roll button. You can do whatever command it tells you to for the A button. The B button is used to swing Link's sword. The three direction C buttons Left, Right, and Down are your item buttons. You can assign an item to those buttons and use it with the correct button. The Z button is used to lock onto enemies or look forward. The R button is to use your shield to defend yourself, and the Up C button is to use Navi, your fairy partner that helps you out. It may seem like a lot, but it's really simple, so you should be able to pick up on the controls in no time.

Gameplay 10/10
This game is awesome and will give you hours of enjoyable game play and fun. The gameplay is basically you proceed through dungeons and explore villages and areas. You can talk to people and walk around as much as you want. You start of the game by getting some stuff and then doing the first dungeon. That is basically how this game works. You do some stuff and then you go to the dungeon. Dungeon exploration is pretty much straight forward. You explore rooms for treasures, kill enemies that get in your path, and you search for items and solve puzzles. Every dungeon has a major boss that you have to fight at the end. The one thing that bothers me about the bosses is that they are kind of easy. The hard dungeon exploration kind of makes up for the simplicity of the bosses. For the first part of the game, you basically start to learn your role in the game as you collect 3 Spiritual Stones to gain access to the later parts of the game. For the second part of the game, your role becomes more clear to you as you explore 6 temples throughout the known regions to awaken the 6 Sages. All of these events end up with an epic conclusion against the final boss of the game with some cool events to look forward to after the epic final boss.
This is truly a great game and should definitely be given a chance.

Replay Value 10/10
Unfortunately, you cannot save after beating the final boss, so there is no after game stuff. If you wish to get everything 100%, you must get it before facing the final boss of the game. There are plenty of things to do such as upgrading some of your items, getting all 100 Skultula tokens, collecting all pieces of heart, Happy Mask Selling, and getting the Biggorons Sword. There is a lot of stuff to collect and this game is so great, that you are gonna want to play this many time over and over because this game never gets old. This game has tons of replay value, which would make it a bad choice to sell a classic such as this.

Overall 9/10
Overall, this is one of the greatest Zelda games of all time and a pure classic. Thanks to the use of 3-D technology, Nintendo was able to produce it's first 3-D Zelda which is pure gold and genius. Awesome gameplay, graphics, tunes, puzzles, controls, and an awe inspiring story that'll leave you hooked to this game for a long long time. A great Zelda and a good start to the 3-D series of games. I would have loved to give this game a 10/10, but sadly, I had to give it a 9 because I took a point off from tunes. Even though this game was gold with everything else, it failed to produce the classic theme which was very disappointing. This game cannot be claimed a 10/10 with a true master piece of Zelda if it refuses to display the classic theme that names it a part of the series.

Conclusion
In conclusion, you should definitely buy this game. Do not rent this game and beat it for a rental because this game is worth more than a rental. A pure gold game like this deserves a spot at the top of your purchase list. You could either buy the Nintendo version, play it on the Collector's Edition, or download it for Virtual Console on the Nintendo Wii. No matter which way you get your hands on this game, it'll be a true master piece and work of art. I implore that you get this game, or you'll miss out on a truly wonderful gaming experience that shows how the 3-D Zelda came to be.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/19/07