picollo7's Full Review: The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time for Nintendo 6...
This game is a mixed bet. On one hand you have the seemingly vast game, a HUGE world that takes a full day to get across (game time), lots of stuff to collect, many items, loads of objects to collect, and many secrets. However, on the other hand you have hardly any enemies, puzzles which are too straightforward, enemies which are too easy to defeat, secrets which are found way too easily. . . et cetera, et cetera. Essentially you have a game which is all fat and little muscle; a very superficial game. In spite of that it still manages to captivate, I have no idea why but I'll try to explain. . .
Storyline
Zelda 64 is a PREQUEL, NOT A SEQUEL, to all the other previous Zeldas. Ganon from the previous games is now only Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudos (an all-female group of theives, except Ganondorf). He's an ambitious little man who wants to take over the world by getting to the Triforce and making a wish to become all powerful, thus transforming the world into a desolate wasteland. . . blah blah blah. Essentially, its the same "get to the mystical object before the evil dude does and use it to make everything better!" plot that are used in most rehashed N64 games. After you collect some items, you get to the Triforce, but OH NO, Ganondork is waiting there for you and your just a kid! So he takes advantage of you and, (BIG SURPRISE!) gets the Triforce before you do, DARN! So, its up to you to fix the unfortunate result that happened because of your weakness and stupidity. AND GUESS WHAT? Go collect some MORE useless garbage so you can fight Ganondork. . . you get the picture. . . Not exactly your Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana storyline. But oh well, since when (besides Goldeneye) has the N64 had a decent plot. . . still thinking? Yeah, so am I. Anyways, moving right along to the . . .
Gameplay!
The biggest complaint I have about this game is that: IT WAS WAY TOO FRIGGIN EASY!!! Monsters were extremely sparse in the land of Hyrule, and upon encountering a monster it was way too easy to beat it, a one two and it was dead, not much of a challenge. And there were only like four types: the skeletons that come at night, the Tektites from the NES Zelda, the crows were just an annoyance, and the Peahats, not much to say for the beastiary at least for the Overworld, I mean Land of Hyrule, sorry, got caught up with the nostalgia of the original game, ahh the memories. N-e-ways. . .
Dungeons were simply too easy. The thing that made them long to go through was that they were just big, and as I said before, too much fat and no meat. The puzzles were too easy, like shoot the magic eye with your fairy (heh heh, fairy) slingshot to make the locked door open. No substance whatsoever inside the dungeons, just lots of climbing, door opening, eye shooting and torch burning. Like the land of Hyrule, there were few enemies, and they were too easy, although there was a bit more variety. And another thing, I know that there are supposed to be bats in dungeons, but come on, is that the only thing that you can think of? Use something else, what happened to snakes or rats or Goriyas? The enemy bosses were a JOKE! They were simply too easy, many of the bosses I could defeat with 3 or less strokes with my Biggoron Sword. The only boss which was remotely challenging was Bongo Bongo, and that's because he was invisible half of the time.
To get an idea of enormous amount of "fat" in the game, I would approximate that about 75 percent of my time was spent running from one place to another in order to obtain a certain item. To put it bluntly, this game was basically a fetchquest, i.e. "fetch me the mystical mushroom so I can make magical eyedrops, then give these to so and so who will give you this to give to blah blah blah." If that's your idea of fun then this is the game for you.
Also (not to brag because I am sure that plenty of others did too), the very first time I played this game, I did not die at all, not once.
On a positive note, the thing which made this game so fun for me was the exploration. This game is simply huge. There is so much to explore, like all of the minigames (especially the fishing, which I spent nearly 3 hours trying to catch the Hyrule loach, I finally caught it, it weighs 31 pounds! email me for details on how to catch it). Getting everything is fun too, like finding all of the Gold Skulltullas was really fun, finding every single hole, searching for all of the obelisks with their weird words of wisdom, maxing out everything and so much more. Trust me, there is a lot to do. And if you fully want to explore Zelda, get a Gameshark, I just got one and the Levitation code is simply awesome, like to explore places your not supposed to go to when your a little kid!
Another thing which makes this game kick is the balance of gameplay. It seems to me everything is in perfect balance; i.e. you're not bogged down trying to defeat a dungeon so much that you can't enjoy the land of Hyrule and vice versa. The minigames also add a clever diversion so the game doesn't get too monotonous.
Graphics
The character renderings are nice and rounded; not blocky like many other games are. Textures are nice when viewed from afar, but look slightly ugly up close, especially the boundary to the world of Hyrule(like, what are those supposed to be? I'm guessing trees.) The architecture and the environment is kinda plain (like more polygons would have been nice), but not bad enough to detract from the overall gameplay. When the N64 truly shines is when Link goes to town or he's inside houses, because everything is rendered, and it almost looks real. Basically, the graphics are typical of the N64, nothing too impressive now, as of August 2K, but when it first came out they were pretty cool.
Sound
The sound was pretty good, although voice would have been nice. The music was pretty awesome throughout the game, and it never got on your nerves, and I can't neglect to mention the unforgettable Gerudo Valley music, a nice Latin booty shaker. The sound effects were nice, with steps changing to fit the texture that was walked on, and Links grunts and screams sounded real, though he doesn't say one word throughout the whole game except yes or no (I guess he's the strong silent type). Overall, the sound compared to most N64 games wasn't spectacular, but still slightly above average.
Control
Easy to manage, though it leaves the jump button out like many N64 games which can be very irritating sometimes. But, you get used to it. And a tip: like it says in the game, only sissies use toggle targeting, real men choose to hold it!
Final Verdict
As I said before, it is a mixed bet, but when it boils all down, as your duty to serve as a proper N64 owner, you gotta have this game. I got this game when it first came out and I still play it. It has a ton of replay value, though it does leave a lot to be desired. I think what makes this game so cool is the exploration. There are many, many little details, nooks and crannies to be looked through. It takes a good, long time to fully explore the world, which adds to the gameplay immensely. Though it is lacking in a lot of aspects, its horribly addictive. Maybe its the magical name of Zelda that keeps me coming back, but I like it, and you will too (probably).
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time transports you into the fantasy world of Hyrule with vibrant, real-time 3-D graphics. With full freedom of movemen...More at eBay
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