After five long years with out a single Zelda game, The legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released in November 21, 1998. Gamers everywhere rushed to stores hoping to find that the game was not sold out. Only 39 days left in the year of it’s release, and Ocarina of Time sold 2.5 million copies in 1998. In it’s lifetime, Ocarina of Time sold 7.6 million copies which is still unmatched by any other Zelda game. It seems that those long five “Zeldaless” years were being used to focus on creating a masterpiece. With the Nintendo 64 in development Nintendo knew that it had to make a transition from 2D gaming to 3D gaming. Was all this hype worth it? Did these radical changes from 2D to 3D ruined the beloved Zelda franchise? Was the wait worth it?

Hydro’s Score:

Story: 5/5

-One of the things that helped Ocarina of Time leave an imprint in video gaming history was its story. An orphan 10 year old boy has to set out on an adventure of gigantic proportions. In this adventure he meets different people, he learns the history of how the world came to be, and learns that a very sacred relic is being held in a realm parallel to his. This sacred relic is powerful enough to grant the most deepest desires in a person. Our young hero, with the help of a young princess, starts off his adventure with trying to open the door to the sacred realm. Before he is able to do so, the princess Zelda is seen fleeing from the Hyrule castle and leaves a very precious item for our hero to open the door to the sacred realm. Once you open the Door of Time, you’re introduced to a very important element in this game, an element so magical that it had to change you in order for you to use it…. And that’s no where near half of the entire adventure of the game.

Graphics: 5/5

- As a programmer, I am completely baffled by how a game so well detailed for its time was able to run on 4MB of RAM. (Think about it, 1GB thumb drives are virtually useless in this day and age). One of the most important aspects of this game is actually very simple, but adds so much mood and feeling to the story and that would be the Emotion Engine. You were able to see surprised faces, witness sad moments, feel the intensity of an evil laugh. This engine alone trumped any previous game’s attempt to add emotion to it’s plot. In terms of actual graphical design, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time does incredibly well for an 11 year old game. In fact, many 3rd person styled games in this age borrow a lot from the standards that Ocarina of Time set on the gaming world. The world is so beautifully detailed, a great day/night engine, and awesome weather effects really brought Ocarina of Time to life.

Game Play: 5/5

-The most important aspect of any game is the playability. Ocarina of Time was very special because the way it’s game play was designed was to please the Zelda fans that have been used to the top-down view and also allow gamers not familiar with the franchise to jump in with out missing a beat. The gameplay is basically set on a 3rd person view with a HUD that informs you of your life, available actions, and available tools. The analog movement is extremely accurate, picking up the differences between a slow step or a quick run. The action button allows you to open doors, roll or jump out of harms way, or simply talk to other characters. Another aspect of this game was the ability to play music, when you pulled out your instrument the music was not played for you… The play had the ability to create different sounds according to the different buttons the player pressed, and ingenious idea that added more to the sandbox play style of this game. Needless to say, all of this worked. All of these features and game playability is 100% present in the most recent Zelda games and some are even used outside of the franchise by games that follow the standards that Ocarina of Time has set.

Length: 5/5

-This game , by no means, is a stroll in the park. There is much to do in order to save the world. This game is packed with 9 unique dungeons, numerous diverse locations, and filled with puzzles and collectibles. I personally have never beaten this game in a single day, although some peaople have done so, it takes a huge amount of effort to speed run this game properly. This adventure is huge, not much can really be said. You will find yourself lost in this world, playing minigames,  collecting heart pieces, or advancing in your quest adds so much to the length that hours will pass by like minutes. It takes some dedication to finish this game, but it is well worth it in the end.

Replay: 5/5

-Unless you have a lot of time and a player’s guide, it is very possible that you will miss many things on your first run through of this game. It is never dull to restart the game and go through the quests you missed. It’s that adventurous feeling that calls you back into this world, even to those that just wish to go through the adventure once more. The sheer amount of different collectible and missable items can call anyone back to the game, whether it is to have all heart pieces or have all golden tokens. This game is so magical that 11 years later and anyone who has beaten it before can easily pick it up again, as nostalgia also plays a factor in re-playability.

Averaged Score: 100%  (25/25)

-Grab your sword, shield, and trademark green cap because you’re about to embark on a long and epic adventure when picking up this game. The Legend of Zelda as a franchise has never let anyone down, and as the defining game of the franchise, Ocarina of Time does not fail to deliver. GameFaq’s BEST.GAME.EVER of 2009 really lives up to the title. Now go and experience one of the most praised adventures whether it’ll be for the first time or for those that wish to remember the good old times!

Hydro’s Seel of Approval

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Reviews . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.