REVIEW - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

Has there ever been a game that you always thought something would never surpass it, and that as a child it was literally the only thing you would play on your console? Throughout all my years playing video games, there has only been one video game that I have come back yearly to play ever since I first beat in in 2002 by myself. It was actually the first game I ever completed (although not 100%). And with this game's reputation, It's easy to see why.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time  by Nintendo. Enough said.

Speaking in terms of the ever popular and confusing Zelda Timeline, Ocarina of Time is the fourth game on the timeline just before it splits into three. A boy is sleeping in a tree. He is having a dream where he is in front of a castle and a horse with a young maiden riding on it speeds by him. Not only a second later, a green coloured man appears and proceeds to....I dunno give him candy or something. Anyways, the next morning, the Great Deku Tree tells Navi the Fairy aka The annoying little shit  to accompany the boy on his journey throughout Hyrule. The boy wakes up after a rude Navi storms into his house and proceeds to annoy the crap out of him. He gets up and after acquiring a sword and shield, he goes to the Deku Tree. The Deku Tree tells Link that he must defeat the curse placed upon him as a test of courage. After giving the world's easiest boss a Stone Cold ass whoopin', The Deku Tree tells Link that he needs to go and collect three rocks and talk with a princess in order to stop the green coloured man from earlier from taking over the world. The journey Link goes on is actually a very simple one until a major plot twist, but even as the plot twists occur, your objective never strays from getting the plot device at the end of a dungeon with a bit of drama every now and again to keep things slightly cinematic because this is 1998 DAMNIT. The plot itself is basic, but it works and it has two very well done twists (even if one of them came to bite Nintendo in the ass years later)

According to gaming press at the time, Ocarina of Time was a necessary upgrade to not just Zelda but gaming in general in he way that it handled combat, progression, player immersion and item implementation. Since this is the first Zelda game in 3D, combat had to be vastly altered. As such, Nintendo developed the now famous "Z-Targeting" Lock on Camera System. When Navi hovered over a point of interest, such as an enemy, sign or person, the camera would snap in that things direction and lock onto them, and Link could now perform a variety of new moves. These ranged from a backflip and side jumping, to the ability to easily strafe around enemies while staying locked on. While it doesn't seem like much now, this was a HUGE upgrade for gaming back in 1998. If you look at a game like Castlevania 64, which had no lock-on feature and compare it to this game, you can see why people prefer Ocarina of Time. The progression was praised for being extremely well paced, and I would have to agree with that. The game world is constantly changing it's time of day, so players would have to know what places were open and available to travel to during the day/night. The dungeons - and how to reach them - aren't too cryptic (yes, even the Water Temple) and therefore are over in less than an hour if you have an idea of what to do and use your equipment correctly. Player immersion was one of Nintendo's biggest goals with this game, and while some features were cut from the game such as more towns and being able to leave footprints in the sand (The N64 Didn't have enough RAM for that), the amount of depth and scope to this world is amazing...even if the overworld is kinda barren. It's just a green field with a few holes in it, which in all fairness isn't impressive. At least in Majora's Mask, Termina Field was full of things to do (even if it was small as fuck). Items are well implemented into both gameplay and story, with them being able to help you get to new places, solve puzzles or change the time of day (which is a GODSEND). Like I said, Ocarina of Time offers an amazing amount of depth with it's vast amounts of side-quests. What's normally just a 20 hour journey can turn into a 60+ hour one trying to 100% the game. It's things like these that make me come back and play this game year in year out.

Graphically, well, the game certainly has a charm to it. Don't get me wrong, it's not that great but I can appreciate the game world and it's diversity. What I can say is that, although the games visuals are dated and the framerate is only 20FPS...there's an undeniable charm to the land of Hyrule and it has so much colour to it that a lot of the time, I stop and just smile at it...and then I realise Link has a triangular nose and then i get moving again.

Musically, this game is what I'd like to call a "Good but it can be better". now before fanboys come and eat my corpse while men wearing Green Cloaks try to stop you from doing so (I HOPE YOU ALL GET THE REFERENCE), I do like this soundtrack and it's one of the most memorable things from my childhood. Honestly. However, you can't help but think that too much of this games music is ambient. Sure, songs like The Forest Temple, Fire Temple '98 and Ganon's Tower are all Oscar worthy pieces but then you got songs like Inside Cave, the Shadow Temple and Jabu-Jabu's Belly which all sound incredibly dull to me. If I had to pick out a standout track, it would either be the final boss theme or the Spirit Temple theme. Overall it's okay but it could by way better knowing Koji Kondo.

Overall....well, holding the world record as the highest rated video game of all time, Ocarina of Time has built itself quite the reputation. While I personally do NOT think that it's the best thing ever devised by man himself, Ocarina of Time is one of the all time classics that shall never be forgotten because Zelda fans won't shut up about it. It's revolutionary, colourful and is a heartwarming story chocked full of Nintendo magic. It's one of the best games on the Nintendo 64, and one of the best Action-Adventure games of the 1995-2006 era.

Story: 7

Gameplay: 10

Graphics: 7

Sound: 8

Personal Enjoyment: 8.5

FINAL SCORE FOR THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME: 8.1/10