Summary
Impressive production values, cool gameplay elements... but it is still a game for children
The Good
I remember seeing this game shortly after it came out, by a friend of mine, who had just bought it, and immediately called me, saying he wanted to show me something really extraordinary. I arrived at his house to see a modestly looking Nintendo 64 console with the cartridge inside. I looked at the TV screen and saw a greenish 3D world, with long-eared infant running around and hacking to pieces animated lizards. "Look here" - shouted my friend, -"it is everything in 3D! Look at those effects! Look at those shadows! Look at this sun! You can do anything in this game. ANYTHING!"
Then we spent several hours trying to kill the horse Link was riding in the game. Since my friend insisted one could do ANYTHING in this game, this anything must have included, in my opinion, also the murder of one's own horse. But the horse didn't want to die. We stroke him with swords, shot with arrows and hit with sticks, but the horse remained intact and wasn't even offended by our terrorist activity. Finally, my friend muttered a curse and desperately resorted to the ultimate mean: he lit a bomb and placed it directly under the horse's belly. There was a sound of an immense explosion, a heavy 3D smoke covered the screen for a moment, and when it finally disappeared, we found the horse safe and sound, impudently kicking the ground with its hoof and ignoring all our attempts to eliminate it.
Although the game really doesn't allow you to kill the horse, it allows you to do many, many other things. Wandering around the huge 3D world, you can interact with pretty much everything you meet. Play a tune and the cows will become happy and give you milk which will heal you. Move a tile aside, find some money underneath, and then drop the tile on the head of the next enemy. The game puts you into the 3D world and lets you explore all its secrets. You travel through time, watch the sky, talk to silly townpeople, hack monsters or go fishing and fish the whole day.
"Ocarina of Time" helped to define the genre: 3D action/adventure with mild RPG elements. Take such a gorgeous 3D game as
Ultima IX, and you'll see it continues the line of "Zelda 64". The RPG element here - like in other Zelda games - is minimal. Upgrading your characters only means here finishing a level and getting more hit points, or finding better armor and weapons. Much more than it is a RPG this game is a platformer. It is obviously related to the 2D platform genre: the action element is very heavy and the whole gameplay is actually based on it. The dungeons are all filled with tricky obstacles which you should swiftly avoid by jumping over them, you should pay attention not to fall down into lava pits or similar abysses, since your movement is unlimited. While making my way through the dungeons, I felt I was playing a jump & run game. The arcade intensity is very high here.
The adventure elements are presented by typical environmental puzzles: moving, climbing, pushing, jumping and dropping. Most of them are relatively simple, but some can get tricky and require finger dexterity and precise aiming.
One element which I found especially appealing in this particular Zelda game is its usage of music as a part of the gameplay. Since the immortal
Loom I didn't encounter many games which urged you to play a music instrument to influence the game's story. Of course, I enjoyed enormously playing harpsichord in some Ultima games, but there, the music was a mere diversion from the usual gameplay rather than a part of it. Only in "Loom" and "Zelda: Ocarina of Time" could I feel myself at home.
The graphics here are really splendid. The detailed 3D world might look outdated today, but it was one of the finest examples of 3D graphics at the time. The game looks beautiful and it is wonderfully animated. Everything is moving here - Link himself, the characters, the monsters, the cows, the chickens and even the horse we tried to assassinate.
The Bad
Taking all its fine qualities into account, it is still hard for me to understand the tremendous hype around it. Sure, it looks good, and the gameplay is rather versatile and addictive, but those things alone don't make the essence of a game. "Zelda 64" is basically the same old Zelda, only in 3D, with more platform elements added, and is certainly not particularly original. It shines neither in story nor in atmosphere department: the story is corny and is mostly suitable for kids, while the atmosphere also tends to be too light, with too many "cute" influences around.
As for the gameplay, yes, it has some nice elements, but the arcade portion is overdone here, and for the largest part the game feels like a kiddie hack-and-slash and hardly like an epic world-saving adventure.
The Bottom Line
The best game for Nintendo 64? Considering the games N64 had to offer, it might be the case... but then again, this console never spoiled us with great and versatile games the way its predecessor SNES did, for example. I liked the game, and it is certainly good in what it is trying to be. It is a fine game for kids that can also mildly entertain grown-ups, but hardly the action adventure of the century, as it is considered by many fans.
