The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Reviewed by Chris Pinson
Ever since the Nintendo 64 was released in 1996, the world has
anticipated a new Zelda game by Nintendo which would cause their
collective jaw to hit the floor. Well, finally we have our 64-bit Zelda
game! The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the most anticipated
game of 1998 easily, even with competition from the likes of Metal
Gear Solid, Final Fantasy 7, and Resident Evil 2. The game obviously has
a lot to live up to, so on with the review!
Graphics 10 out of 10
Zelda's graphics are simply awesome! The view is flawless from ANY
camera angle, with no visible clunkyness or video choppiness. The figures
and the landscape are made from polygons, but it isn't apparent, because
no matter how close you are to something, it is still smooth, with no
Virtual Fighter syndrome. The backgrounds for the game are stunning!
You can see Death Mountain from the other side of Hyrule, giving the
player a feeling of really being inside the game. It is obvious that a LOT
of work was given to detail in all graphics of this game, from the heat
waves in Death Mountain Crater to the wall paintings in Goron City. Any
fan of the series will be very happy seeing old enemies such as Gohma,
Like-Likes, and Dodongos just as one would expect them to look like in
3-D. Zelda has the most spectacular visuals ever seen on any game console.
No exaggeration.
Music and Sound 9 out of 10
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time features classic Zelda music redone
to be even BETTER. The tunes like Saria's Song, the Overworld music, and
the Kakariko village music will stick in your head for weeks and you
may find yourself humming them unconsciously! However, the minor
enemy battle music gets annoying after awhile. As for sound effects,
the enemy roars are truly frightening with the volume up. You will see
what I mean when you feel a tremor and notice that your Rumble Pak
isn't even plugged in! Attention was also given greatly to detail in
sound, from the flapping of the Keese's wings to the different sound a
breakable wall makes from an unbreakable wall. The only downfall is
that Link's yells get old after awhile, except when he falls a great
distance and lands rather painfully, making you want to cringe. Zelda's
music and sounds are exceptional, but I think that Nintendo could have
had better battle music (not boss battle music).
Game Challenge 10 out of 10
This is not a game that you can beat on a five day rental. It takes WEEKS
to fully master every aspect of this game. Zelda follows the great tradition
of easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master. You wont have as much difficulty
fighting the enemies as you will solving the dungeon puzzles, finding all
100 Gold Skulltulas, getting all the pieces of heart, etc. The hardest part
of the game is navigating the dungeons, which are huge, and requiring
multiple trips through. Yet, despite this, the game never gets dull.
Game Play-Fun 11 out of 10
I cannot stress how much fun this game is to play. For starters, there is
a wide variety of things to do in the game. Navigating dungeons, solving
puzzles, shooting bats with a bow and arrow, sword fighting with big
skeletons, casting spells, riding a horse, horseback archery(!), bombing,
time travel, collecting items, playing songs on an ocarina, etc. There
is just something very fun about shooting a ghost in the darkness of
night with a bow while riding a horse. There is a lot of diversity. The
sword fighting is very realistic - block enemy strike with shield,
counterstrike with sword, roll out of the way of second strike, stab
to the back... - merely fighting the enemies is really fun. It is really
hard to put into words how much fun this game is!
Rumble Pak 9.5 out of 10
This game utilizes the Rumble Pak very uniquely. Aside from the standard
shock of being hit, having something hit the ground very hard, etc, there
is a special item called the Stone of Agony which, when found, causes the
Rumble Pak to rumble when you are near an item.
Frustration
I found very little frustration in this game, yet there are still a few
things that detract from the fun. One of them is item changing. The
process of going to the menu screen, rotating around it, selecting an
item, and assigning it to an arrow button gets old very quickly. Also,
sometimes (not very often), an enemy hits you at the same time you
kill them, even though they didn't appear to touch you, which is a bit
annoying. Finally, the last thing I found frustrating was that you had to
memorize ocarina songs to do things in the game, and if you don't remember
them, you have to look them up on your quest log. Still, there was very
little that took away from the fun of Zelda.
Replayability 10 out of 10
First of all, you wont even have to replay Zelda for awhile, as it is a
very large game. But when you do finish it, you will want to play it again
very soon, even if only to fight enemies (a VERY satisfying thing).
Game Value 10 out of 10
Buying this game, you get not only more quantity, but more quality, as
indicated above. Not only is this game worth the price tag, but much more.
Overall 10 out of 10
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has it all. Graphics, sound, playability,
storyline, funfactor, control - all excellent. All that and you get a spiffy gold
cartridge too, if you were lucky!