The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Good
The most important aspect of any adventure game is that playing it actually feels like going on an adventure and that is what Ocarina of Time nails perfectly. As I fight your way through temples, go on side-quests and explore the beautiful Hyrule Field I always feel this unique feeling that feels like a mix between excitement, determination and a slight bit of fear. I haven't played any other game, not even within the adventure genre that has made me feel exactly the same.

Another interesting thing this game managed to do was making me care a lot about Hyrule and those who lived in it. I first noticed this very clearly when I had to return to my childhood as part of a temple (thus going back to Hyrule before it got ruined) and I just had to visit a few locations to check up on them. I wanted to hear their cheerful theme songs and watch the people in those places wander around carelessly before I would go on with my adventure. The whole time travel fiasco was used in a very good way to give the story some emotional weight.

The characters are also very good, not because they have some brilliant writing to back them up, but because their physical design is very appealing and they are very friendly or have interesting personalities. Nintendo has never been too good at handling their stories and characters arcs very well, but Ocarina of Time keeps it rather simple and benefits because of that choice. Saria, Malon, Darunia and all the others became some of the most popular characters in video games history and they got quite a cult following behind them.

What this game is remembered the most for is its amazing soundtrack and the way it was implemented into gameplay; A few times throughout the game you will have to rely on the soundtrack to help you solve a puzzle, but the most common use is the Ocarina, which allows you to play a few songs in order to use the magical powers they contain. Using songs you can teleport to locations all over the world, call your horse, trigger events during puzzles or open up parts of the map that are off-limits.

There are moments in the game where Nintendo really reached out to the veteran players, old fans who have been with the franchise since they were kids in the 80's, but have now grown up into adults. A certain temple that showcased Hyrule's dark and gruel past is perhaps the best exception, but there is also some well implemented sexual innuendos hidden here and there and a few very good character lines and rhymes that always made me feel like I was receiving a little present.

Even though this imagery and adult stuff is around, the game still manages to keep it mostly kid friendly, having the innuendos pass way over their head and not going too far with the darker style of the second half of the game. By doing so and maintaining a very well structured difficulty curve they managed to make this game both child/family friendly and add another great title to the family console everybody remembers as the Nintendo 64.

The puzzles are very good and they proved to be amusingly challenging without reaching the point where you just shrug it and boot look up a walkthrough (although I had to do that once or twice). Repetition is kept to a minimum which is also very nice and like always you are required to make creative use of your items and weapons in order to solve them.This format has proven quite successful, but this is the Zelda game were it worked out the best.

The Bad
The graphics haven't aged very well and the way the world is presented is rather shabby. 90's polygon graphics are one of those things from the past you look back at and feel slightly ashamed off, but it's the presentation that worries me the most. Very little effort has been put into making the world feel like a living whole and that already becomes obvious when you first arrive in the first area and see a whole race of children sitting around in one spot, constantly repeating a single animation. Those kids should be playing and laughing, don't have them just sit there and occasionally talk to you.

It is also quite annoying that the character Link is kind of a boring tool, not any more interesting then a kitchen knife and functioning almost exactly the same. He barely ever shows any emotion at all except for whenever he does something that astounds himself (like learning a song). There is a memorable scene very early on where he leaves his home village and says farewell to his childhood friend, but as she empties her hearth, Link suddenly backs off in a way that makes it looks like he is cowering away from the possible emotional response he feels coming. A lot of characters do the same, but Link just takes the crown for this kind of uncanny behavior.

I am sure we can all agree that Nintendo 64 controllers were never really good with smooth controls. Most controllers have a terrible analog stick, but even if they don't it sometimes feels like playing R.C. Pro-Am, where you switch between different directions instead of a smooth 1:1 response. This is especially annoying during moments where you need to platform around dangerous areas such as the Fire Temple. There was one point where I had to walk over a very narrow path within a short time limit where falling to the right would place me back at the start of the dungeon, this part will be remembered among networking classes as situations that just never seemed to end.

Talking about the temples, there is a bit of a problem with those two. In the sense that I am wondering how many more times I am going to have to play through a series of temples/dungeons that use the elements as their themes. The one thing I learned from Psychonauts is that a game becomes much more easier when you base key areas around something else, in that games' case around the physiques of the people you met during your adventure. Another problem is that the game is a little too eager to tell you about their clever ideas, such as how they used people you met during the the first part of the game Sages in the second half, but this means the game almost always spoils who the next sage is going to be before you enter the temple. That stuff should be an interesting mystery up until the point you finally find out who it is.

By doing a very annoying side-quest you can unlock a two-handed sword that for some reason does more damage than the Master Sword. Not to ruin your clever ideas Nintendo, but combined with the overall story this is just a really dumb idea because it causes the story about the legendary blade trip and break it's skull on a rock. Why would you put a weapon in the game that is better than the one of legends you can't stop banging on about in this series? Go sit in the corner, you're staying after class Nintendo.

The Bottom Line
Having replayed Ocarina of Time has been an interesting experience to me, on one hand I discovered the many rocky mistakes that slipped past me the first time around, but on the other hand I also noticed a lot of great things that I missed just because I was too absorbed into the story. Overall though, the balance between good and bad things hasn't changed in my opinion, though I still look at this game from a very different perspective now.

As I mentioned before, Ocarina of Time is a game for a lot of people; the hardcore crowd will enjoy it's great gameplay and action scenes, the Zelda fans will love it for some of the mature themes it has and the improvements it has brought into the series, the casual/family members will enjoy the excitement of a big adventure on the Nintendo 64 and the kids will simply love the style and mystery that surrounds this title.

The Good
Well, A LOT? Ocarina of Time was in many ways a revolutionary game. It's not only a great game because it translated the extremely polished gameplay of earlier games into 3D, but also because of the way it does so.

The story is as follows: In the Kokiri forest, a young boy called Link, has the same dream every night; an evil looking man on horseback approaches, then Link wakes up, shivering with fear. All his Kokiri friends have a fairy, except Link, but then that all changes as Link is summoned by the Forest's guardian spirit, the Great Deku Tree, to break a curse cast upon him by an evil man who seems to fit the description of the man on horseback from Link's nightmare. Link and his new fairy friend Navi are ready to go on en epic quest that will take them through the vast land of Hyrule.

While the story is not that much different from earlier games, the large, stunning and vibrant 3D world, memorable characters and lovable music made it much more epic than before. This is the main reason why many people find it the greatest game they ever played, I personally am one of them.

The way OoT translated 2D gameplay into 3D might seem awfully logical by today's standards but back in the late 90's it was revolutionary. The most notable example of this is the way you can target your foes, keeping them in your sight while still moving around. Not only is this very simple, hitting Z once is enough to lock on to enemies, but also very effective. By repeatedly hitting the Z-trigger, you can switch between different enemies if you are fighting multiple ones at a time. In later years many games, such as Metroid Prime, copied and refined this mechanic but OoT was the pioneer of this system that still works fine today.

Targeting is done with Navi the fairy's help, who points at foes. But it is not just foes that Navi can point at, there are also many other things such as people and objects that you can target at. This usually gives you some valuable hints about solving puzzles. If you dawdle around for a while, not knowing what to do, Navi calls you. A simple press of the upper C-button will then make you talk to her. she'll give you a hint as to were you should go next.

The world still has an overworld with lots of side-quests that you can freely take part in, if you feel like taking a break from the main quest. Not only are they fun, they also aid you because you can win items that enhance your main quest such as weapon upgrades and hearts. It is, however not just the stuff you can find in this world, but also the sheer scope of it. In 3D it is even more inviting to explore the fascinating regions of Hyrule.

There are lots of secret areas to find and explore and the regions are all different with their own themes, races, cultures and monsters. There is the quiet village in the forest of the Kokiri, the forest children and the treacherous waters of the fish-like Zora people. Then there is the volcanic slopes of Death Mountain, inhabited by the rocky Gorons and the bustling towns of the Hylians as well as the vast Lake Hylia and the desert of the Gerudo tribe. Another important place is the, for that time, HUGE Hyrule Field, a large plain that just begs to be explored. You can get a horse and then quickly ride it around this vast place, which feels awesome. This 3D rendition of Hyrule was quite simply the most immersive video game world ever conceived back in 1998, as well as one of the largest and it is still is a lot of fun to explore it nowadays. While not as vast as later games in the series, it is still one of the most varied and lovable gaming worlds ever.

Another important factor why this game is so epic are the characters. This is one of those few games that actually make you feel emotionally attached to the characters. They make the otherwise cliche hero-fights-evil-and-saves-princess story much more interesting. While Link and Princess Zelda are mostly the same, the evil Ganondorf now has much more personality and is actually seen in a much more human form. There's a much bigger emphasis on the different peoples of Hyrule ranging from Gorons to Zora's, Gerudo to Kokiri and from Hylains to Sheikah. One of the most important characters is the mysterious Shiek. The revelation of his true identity is a memorable moment.

A clever and much loved mechanic is the Ocarina of Time that this game got its name from. You can play special tunes that allow you to manipulate objects or warp to a certain location. You can even manipulate time by travelling to the next day or night in mere seconds.

Speaking of time travel, that is another important and original element in this game. After a while you will be able to travel between your childhood as a 12-year old boy, and your adulthood as a 19-year old warrior. While perfected in Majora's Mask (OoT's direct sequel), it allows for some stuff that is still pretty interesting today. It is a system that is comparable to the Light/Dark World in A Link to the Past on the Super NES. An example of just how clever it really is, are the Magic Beans. If you plant these as a child, they will have grown into plants that can be used to reach ledges you previously were unable to reach.

There are numerous examples of the contrasts between the two ages, some characters have grown up or even died when you are an adult and the evil Ganondorf has taken over Hyrule when you are an adult. While Hyrule Castle Town has a busy marketplace during Link's youth, it is a place haunted by the undead under Ganondorf's rule when Link grows up. Thankfully you can freely move between the two. If you cannot gain entrance to a dungeon at one time, you can travel to the other to get inside or find an item that will allow you to do so the past or future. This allows for some seriously clever and interesting puzzles. There is even a dungeon you need to visit in both stages of your life in order to complete it.

While many of the stuff you will find is very similar to the 2D games, the transition to 3D is done so well, you will not care since it feels fresh and new. It's done in a clever and accessible way. You will still be crawling through dungeons solving puzzles, looking for items that will give you access to new areas, battle monters and explore a large overworld full of secrets bringing it all together. Everything still feels great in 3D. In fact, it makes the classic Zelda elements that much more fun. Battling enemies is now much more epic and the dungeons are much more thrilling to explore.

Speaking of those, OoT has some of the most memorable and creative dungeons in any Zelda title. From the inside of the Great Deku Tree to the volcanic caves of Death Mountain and from the belly of a giant whale to the puzzling halls of the Water Temple at the bottom of lake Hylia, this game has some of the best ever.They are full of cool enemies and truly epic boss battles. Who could forget the witch sisters Twinrova in the Spirit temple or dragon volvagia in the Fire temple and eventually the awesome battle against the evil Ganondorf himself.

The sound is some of the best the Nintendo 64´s MIDI could produce. There are some memorable tunes including the epic Hyrule field theme, the creepy Shadow Temple theme and the cheerful Saria´s Song. As mentioned before, playing music is very important on this game. This way, not just the music is of a high quality, but also the way it is incorporated into the actual gameplay. OoT most definitely has one of the greatest soundtracks ever.

To make it even better, it all looks amazing. While the textures may look rough by todays standards, it still looks nice. OoT is also still as atmospheric as it was more than a decade ago. This definitely shows the lasting power of this epic game.

There is a great replay value, too. Even after completing it you'll want to come back to find all the secret stuff such as heart pieces, secret caves, fairy springs and weapon upgrades. But it is not just the sufficient replayability that will make you want to go through this adventure again and again, it is above all its epic and magical feel, its beauty, its fantastic gameplay, the wonderful soundtrack and just about everything else that make up this games' epic grandeur. This game shines because it has so many memorable moments making it timeless. That's why you will want to come back to it now and then.

The Bad
As I said some textures just look rough even if you remember this is an old game.

Some music sounds really midi-ish, and thus dated, showing that Nintendo's preference for cartridges had its disadvantages. Thankfully most of it still sounds great so only at certain moments this will be annoying.

Some far-off flying enemies such as birds and bats are hard to lock on to until they get up close to attack you, when they are almost impossible to avoid.

The Bottom Line
I could go on for hours how amazing this game is, but let's just say that the first game on the NES laid the framework of the series. A Link to the Past refined it on the SNES and Ocarina of Time proved that it could sustain all the fun elements of the series while translating it into a vast, immersive and stunning 3D world. Everything just seems to blend together as flawlessly and somehow feels like it should.

While some of the later later Zelda games seemed to have little innovation, Ocarina of Time was all that fans hoped it would be, and more! OoT brought many innovations making it the blueprint of modern 3D action adventures, just as the first game on NES was for 2D action adventures. Because of the 3D transition, there might not be a Zelda game that will ever top it when it comes to innovation, an immersive world and the epic feel. Later games such as Twilight Princess had the same feel as OoT but not really anything innovative on top of that. That is why none of those were a milestone in gaming like this one is.

Still available for ten euros/dollars on the Wii Virtual Console, there is no reason not to play it. This is one game that survives the test of time remarkably well and is just as awesome as it was more then a decade ago. It is quite simply the best (Zelda) game ever. This game is truly timeless!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is not just a game, it's an epic experience!

The Good
Altough it's been a while since the initial release, I'm gonna say a few words about this beacon of light anyway. "Ocarina of Time", as the first true 3D-game in the serious, stands out even now as maybe the very best game of all times in my book. Even today I instantly say "Zelda to the 64" when people ask what the best game I've ever played was.

The weeks it took me to complete this game was ABSOLUTE pure magic. I was literally lost in front of the screen from the opening credits and to the final fight with Gannondorf. When the end-sequence slowly faded away fon my screen - and the game was over - I almost started crying. This is a masterpiece through and through, nothing less. I guess it's the friendly gameplay that cought me, as well as the (then) beautiful graphics and polished mechanics. The puzzles got harder and harder, the story more and more intense - and the areas you explored got more and more interesting. I wasn't bored for a second ... a true gem from Nintendo this.

The Bad
I actually thought hard about something negative to say, but I honestly can't think of anything. It would have been fun with a larger selection of armor, gadgets and weapons - but I didnt really miss it at the time, which means the ones I got was enough to keep me happy. Not really anything else to say ...

The Bottom Line
I've been a gamer since ... well, as long as there have been games to play - and I can honestly say this game stands out, even today, as the best game I have ever played. (Rivaled by World of Warcraft and The Curse of Monkey Island)