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Ocarina of Time tells
two important stories
that puts the rest of
the series in context.
The first is of Hyrule's
creation at the hands of
the three Goddesses,
Din, Nayru, and Farore.
The second, the bulk of
the story, is of the
Imprisoning War, the
first time Hyrule had to
face the tyranny of
Ganondorf, and his
eventual defeat by the
first Hero and the Seven
Sages. Knowledge of both
are indispensable to
fans of the series, and
form the core of our
understanding of Hyrule.
As usual, the story
takes a back seat to the
gameplay and is simple
enough for casual gamers
to digest. Final Fantasy
this isn't.
The gameplay is the purest slice of Shigeru
Miyamoto since Super Mario Bros. It
revolutionised 3D action
games, with a context
sensitive action button,
and lock-on. Depending on your
situation, the A button has a different use. So,
if you are next to a door, press A and it will
open. If you are next to Epona (your faithful
steed), it changes to a saddle button. The Z-targeting is perhaps the
most revolutionary. Instead of Tomb Raider's
clumsy auto-lock, or many platformers "he's
behind you but you can't see him because the
camera's stuck in a wall
over there so good luck
attacking him" method, Ocarina Of Time
gives you the option of locking on to enemies (or an object or NPC) with Z.
Once you are locked on, you can use many
different fighting techniques and different
jumps by using the A and B buttons. If the enemy
jumps behind you, Link will still follow them,
meaning fluid combat. The control
system isn't faultless, but any minor nitpicking
faults (like the lock-on distance) you can find are addressed fully in Majora's Mask.
At the N64's unveiling, Nintendo
showed a demo of link having a fight with a Knight, and everybody was amazed that a console could
perform something so advanced. Compared to
Ocarina of Time, it was
incredibly basic - more
of a difference than the
infamous GameCube
Spaceworld trailer and
Twilight Princess. You could argue that Ocarina Of Time is the best
looking game on the Nintendo 64 bar Majora's Mask. The
fields are massive, and the locations are breathtaking the first time you discover them,
and pretty much every
time after that. I can
remember just standing in Hyrule Field and
watching the sunset and how beautiful it was.
Then, of course, I would heroically run to the
closing Castle
gate before the Stalchilds attacked me... The
bosses are equally amazing, thanks in large part
to their grandeur. Big is a
key word in this game, big and vast. Hyrule
field is both, and it's simply amazing how far you can
see. You can see Death Mountain in the background, and
it's not until a little later in the game that you realise you
can actually climb to its summit. Another favourite of mine is
the waterfall in Gerudo Valley. Standing on its crossing bridge
and watching it is one thing, but diving into the deep chasm
that it falls into is something else. At the time, a paradigm
shift in gaming.
Ocarina of Time was the
first Zelda to include
surround sound. With it, you
can
literally pinpoint where enemies are around you,
and that makes fighting in 3D a lot easier. Apart
from that, the actual tunes aren't really that
amazing. I mean, they can still bring a tear to the
eye, but when you listen to the orchestrated Ocarina Of Time album, you hear how things could have been had the N64 been able to handle more than MIDI files.
As soon as you step out of your 'home', you feel
like you belong in the land of Hyrule. The place
seems underpopulated sometimes, and a bit
cardboard, but you still feel like you know
everybody and it just captivates you. However, if you
have played Majora's Mask and have seen Clock
Town in all its real-time glory, some town scenes seems a bit lackluster.
Unlike Majora's Mask, the dungeons in
Ocarina Of Time are all very atmospheric, the
Forest Temple in particular having the ability to send shivers
down your spine.
This game changed it all. Hailed as the Best
Game Ever, Ocarina Of Time bought The Legend Of Zelda to the
masses, boosted the N64's sales, and took the series into the
third dimension.
This game not only deserves perfect scores, but
tons
of awards. It has received many of both,
and I don't have any awards, so I'll give it our
only 10.
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Gameplay |
10 |
Overall
10 |
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Graphics |
8 |
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Sounds |
10 |
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Atmosphere |
10 |
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Contribution |
10 |
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