The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

"This is just about one of the best, if not the best games ever created. An instant classic."

I was very happy to find the other day that now that the review limit has increased, there was room for a few more Zelda: Ocarina of Time reviews, because I have always wanted to review what is one of my favourite games, EVER. And now I get the chance to.

First up here’s a brief history of one of the greatest (if not the greatest) game series ever to be created.
Early 1980’s, back when the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was first released a game called Legend of Zelda came along with it, from young game designed Shiguru Miyamoto.
People picked up the game (probably because of it’s metallic gold cartridge :P) and had a really great time playing it. Word spread that this was a game to own. In no time at all it had established itself as one of the best games out at the time, and was loved by gamers world wide. Within a year or two it had sold millions of copies.
Not too much further down the track news came out that a new Zelda game was in the works. Gamers around the world anticipated its release. Soon enough it was out, and initially was snapped up very fast (due to the gold metallic cart as well as the fact that is was the follow-up to one of the greatest games ever ;).
Zelda 2: The adventure of Link as it was called, however received mixed reviews. Some loved it, some hated it, some thought of it as “just another ok game”.

That was it for the NES Zelda games. They had sold well (especially Legend of Zelda), and had given people some idea that Shiguru Miyamoto, and the Zelda series were both things too keep an eye out for in the future.

1991, and along comes the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was certainly a much anticipated system. Zelda: A Link to the Past had now been released for Nintendo’s brand new console. A Link to the Past, along with the SNES had been very hyped and as soon as the game was out it sold like you wouldn’t believe, and very deservingly too (this time however the game cartridge was grey, which would have slowed sales dramatically :P). Zelda: A Link to the Past was an awesome game, it was given outstandingly high scores in reviews everywhere. This had just further solidified that the Zelda series were a force to reckon with, and that Shiguru Miyamoto could really make games (many other games had been created by him that sold very well also).

Nintendo fans waited eagerly for news on a new Zelda game for the SNES. They waited and waited….. Finally some news surfaced on a new Zelda game. But what was this? It was to be on the GameBoy??? Sure enough Link’s Awakening popped up for the GameBoy, and to some people’s surprise was a truly amazing, deep and fun game. The problem though, is that because it was “just a GameBoy game” a lot of people ignored it, and ended up missing out one of the greater games created…….

Zelda fans continued waiting and waiting for another Zelda game for the SNES, but to no avail. Zelda: A Link to the Past was to be the one and only SNES Zelda game.

At the 1995 Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) Shiguru Miyamoto revealed that he was working on a new Zelda game for the Ultra 64 (later to be named the Nintendo 64) and he showed some images of what he said the game would hopefully look like. Gamers went WILD! Not really at the graphical quality of the images, but the fact that a new Zelda game was on it’s way.

Late 1996, the Nintendo 64 is released in Japan and the US, but without any sign of the new Zelda game. Zelda fans wonder when they will get their new Zelda game. They wonder and wonder.
After a while release dates of the new Zelda game come to light, and people start anticipating, and counting the days until the new Zelda game comes out.
There is however to be some hiccups along the way, for Shiguru Miyamoto wants the new Zelda game to be the best it can possibly be, and due to this the game suffers many, many delays.
1998, finally, the last release date is set (Last quarter of 1998).
Zelda: Ocarina of Time sets new records as being the single most pre-ordered game ever (could this be because of the limited edition gold cartridges? I think so! :P).

Zelda: Ocarina of Time is finally released. N64 sales skyrocket. Zelda: Ocarina of Time itself sells so well that more Zelda: Ocarina of Time cartridges are sold than TOTAL MOVIE TICKETS across the United States for about a 2 month period. That itself is an amazing feat. What is just as incredible is the fact that Zelda: OOT is just about on of the very best games ever created, receives perfect scores from just about everywhere that reviews it, and is labelled “best game ever” by so, so many different people.
Now, I am here to also tell you, in case you somehow missed it *cough* that Zelda: Ocarina of Time, is a fantastic game that everyone who lives should get the opportunity to play, and everyone who enjoys playing games should own.

Before I get into the review though, I just have one more bit of history for you.

Early 1999, Nintendo announced that they would be “colourising” (releasing a colour version) of Link’s Awakening (called Link’s Awakening DX), that was to be pretty much the same (besides an extra dungeon) as Link’s Awakening.
This was one of *the* smartest moves Nintendo could have made. Why? Because with the world obsessed about Zelda: Ocarina of Time, releasing another Zelda game in the middle of the Zelda obsession would ensure many sales. Sure enough Link’s Awakening DX sold very well, was discovered for the first time by many people and received excellent reviews all round,
Re-releasing a colourised version of Link’s Awakening really was just what Nintendo needed to do.

Phew! Ok, now that I’ve got that out of the way it’s down to the actual review….. This is going to take me a while to write, wish me luck, and off to work I get.

Gameplay
This is by far the most important category for a game to do well in. And luckily (well more like obviously, I mean this is a <insert holy music here> ZELDA GAME we are talking about here >:).

This section of the review is really just in snippets of information…. Just so you know.

The game starts off with an awesome in game cut scene showing firstly a dream that Link (the main character in the game) has, showing an evil man kidnapping the princess of the land, it then shows the Great Deku Tree (protector of the forest which link lives in) telling a fairy that he does not have much time left, that he can see chaos falling across the land and that she needs to find link and tell him to come and see him. The cut scene gives you the idea that link is no ordinary boy (as well as showing a “delightful” scene with a young boy humping, I…I mean “lifting” a rock… showing that the game has room for humour as well :).

After the cut scene, you begin what will be one of the greatest games you will ever play.
From here you meet the people in the forest (where you live), find yourself a sword and shield and then the game truly begins.

Along your journey you will meet all manner of fun and interesting people, from the lonely and upset, to secretive people of the forest, to the funky Gorons (who eat rocks, and like to roll about the place), to thieves, to the Zora (who are an aquatic race), to friendly townsfolk, carpenters, a helpful owl, farmers, a scientist oooh, there are way too many people to list, you’ll just have to play the game and see them all for yourself. To put it short, you meet loads and loads of very interesting people along the way.

There are 9 main dungeons for you to complete. The idea of these is to push switches, find keys to open new doors, solve puzzles, defeat enemies and finally make your way to the end of the dungeon where you will fight a massive boss, and get a reward when they are defeated…

Once you have progressed a certain way through the game you will come to a situation where you find yourself 7 years in the future. You will be able to travel back and fourth through time with the Ocarina (hence the game’s name). The land of Hyrule (where the game takes place) changes quite dramatically in some areas, and not much at all in others in the 7 years.
Time travel is a big part of the game, and most of the game takes part in the future..

You aqurie many different items/weapons and things to use as well, from a bow, bombs, a massive hammer, a boomerang and 3 different spells, as well as 3 magic arrows for your bow.
There are also 100 spiders to kill and heaps of heat pieces to collect.

The battle system is a unique, and very well designed .You can use it use when you come across a single enemy, to a dungeon boss. The idea basically is that you hold down the Z button to lock onto an enemy, this keeps you facing them at all times, and all attacks you perform will head directly at them.

You learn songs on your ocarina as well, they do many different things, some of them warp you to other areas, one will change night into day, one will make it rain, one will call your trusty horse to you.

There are loads and loads of side-quests to complete as well, which are both fun, and varied.

From the sheer number of hours the game takes to complete (collecting everything along the way), to the great controls, the funky music, to the purdy graphics Zelda: Ocarina of Time shines in the Gameplay department. It’s just too good. It’s an orgasmic experience of a game, to say the least. It really is amazing, fantastic, great, awesome, cool, fun, excellent or however you want, it’s just TOO GOOD.

If I could give this 11/10 I would, hell, if I could give it 100/10 I would :P
10/10

Graphics
This game could have been black and white, running at a resolution of about 10x10 and it still would have been excellent. But of course, Shiguru Miyamoto being the perfectionist that he is had to get it looking awesome as well as playing like a dream.

Oh my, where to start, where to start….
Fist up, I’ll crap on about the general landscapes.

When you start the game and step out of your house into the forest you will be amazed, the rich greens that fill the forest, will really impress. It looks just how it should.
The different areas in Zelda: OOT are so varied in style, feel and look, thanks primarily to the graphics. It’s hard to describe, but the Desert, Goron City, Forest, Lake, castle and every other place in the game are just done perfectly, they are so varied and vibrant. Excellent.

The landscapes apart from being so nice looking, are really big. There is no sign of pop up either.

The textures are rich, and detailed, but I don’t suggest getting too close to a wall…..

The characters are well designed, and while *slightly* low on the polygon side of things, still look great.

Considering that Zelda: OOT was made before the N64 expansion pak was out it looks really great. The frame rate is very solid and never drops. The textures are great, the different areas look great, the characters look great, in fact, if I didn’t know better I’d say the graphics were great.

9.5/10

Sound
What do you get when you mix perfect gameplay with perfect Sound? An even more perfect game.
Lets get the sound effects out of the way first, so I can blab on about the music.

Do a running jump attack with your sword and link will make a “hhhaaaaa” sort of sound, fall and hurt link and you’ll get more of a “euuuughhh”. Slash grass with your sword, and it will sound like grass being slashed. Jump in water and it will sound like water being jumped in. Get the idea? The sound effects are fine, and do what they need to do. Nothing that will make you say “holy poo, what a sound effect”, but nothing that will make you say “ugh! That sounds terrible”.
Overall the sound effects are fine, and do the job well.

Now onto the music…. Prepare yourself for a huge ramble here…. In case you don’t want to read the rest of this, in short….. ^%@$ THAT IS GOOD MUSIC. No, make that fantastic! In fact, make that possibly the best music in any game on the N64……no make that possibly the best music in a cartridge based console.
The windmill music, oh the windmill music. Do do DO……..do do DO…….Do do-do-do-do-do-do… Do do do-do-do……..do do do-do-do……do do DO……do do DO….. Do do-do-do-do-do-do …… do do do dodo…..do doooooo…
*wets pants*
Damn I love the Windmill music. Go round, and round…..it’s so hypnotic……so….peaceful…..so relaxing……so….good….
But rest assured, that’s not the only music I love in the game.
There’s the FUNKY Goron City music, which is great to dance too *cough*. You’ve got the kewel forest music.
There’s dark, happy, fun, sad, fast, slow and relaxed tunes, plus just about every other type you can think of.

The music is perfect, it sets the mood really well, it’s catchy, memorable, very well composed and just plain perfect. Yep, the music is perfect, p-e-r-f-e-c-t. Not only perfect in the way it has been created, but also the way it has been applied.

10/10

Multiplayer
Sorry folks, no multiplayer here. I’m all for the idea of throw in whatever you can, even if it’s not great. Some examples are the multiplayer in Jet Force Gemini (better to have it, than not, even though it’s pretty poor) and the option to include 8 simulant opponents in Perfect Dark (taking the total number of possible players in a game up to 12), though it is near unplayable with 12 players, it’s better to have the option there to use them or not I think.
Even if there was perhaps multiplayer archery or something, I’d have been more than happy, but Zelda: OOT stands strong enough without multiplayer that it is still just about perfect. I can understand no multiplayer mode being included though, I guess a) There wasn’t enough time, and b)The standards of the game were wanted to be kept as high as possible in all areas.

N/A

Replayability
Remember, this is just a game, and because of this it has to end sometime. After you’ve beaten the final boss the game is far from over (unless you are some kind of freak and collected EVERYTHING along the way :P). Once the game is completed through roughly, you have more heart containers to collect, the 100 skulltulas to kill, fish to catch, people to race, upgrades to earn/find and buy and much, much more.

Once you’ve collected everything in the game, how about a little challenge? My friends and I devised this. The idea? Complete the game, with just 3 hearts (out of a possible 20) with NO game overs. This is no easy task, but when you finally do it you will be very satisfied.

Anyway, after you’ve done everything there is to do in the game you will still want to play it, but there is nothing much really to do…. But as I said this is just a game, and like all games has to come to an end at some point.

9/10

Difficulty
Most people will tell you that Zelda: Ocarina of Time is fairly easy to complete, and it is. You won’t be attempting that dungeon boss 100 times in a row, which is good. The game is so long that there is no need to make you have to spend hours and hours getting past this stage, or that boss.

A little on the easy side, but this certainly isn’t a bad thing.

Pros
* THE GAMEPLAY! It’s holy. Just too good to put into words, so I won’t bother.
* THE MUSIC! I love the music, it’s so catchy, and well done. *hums windmill music* Ooooooh yeahhhh.
* Zelda: OOT is an epic journey. You’ll be playing for a very, very, very long time.
* High quality graphics
* Good sound effects
* Heaps of sidequests
* Sooooo, sooooo much to collect
* Loads of upgrades
* Does the Zelda series justice……Boy does it!

Cons
* There aren’t any cons for me to put here, which is a con in itself because every game has to have something bad…..

Buy/rent
BUY! I shouldn’t have to even say this. It should be against the law not to own this game (that includes people who don’t own an N64).
Really, if you don’t own the game go get given a beating, then pick up a copy and think about what you have done :P

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/01, Updated 07/16/01