Hey guys, it's CartoonLink or Toon Link in a Car here to review what is often said to be the greatest video game ever made: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time.
Let me point out, bringing any series into 3D is a big challenge, and Zelda was no exception. What you had was an overhead view of a boy in a green cap fighting monsters and solving puzzles, but image that in a 3D perspective.
From what I heard, although I may be wrong, Zelda stories are worked on last sometimes (with the exception of Twilight Princess, which needed the wolf to be worked into the story to fit the gameplay) throughout it's development period. Ocarina of Time is basically an eleven year old boy who grew up in Kokiri Forest without a fairy, he finally gets a fairy, he is summoned by the Great Deku Tree (he raised Link), and then his adventure starts. Link must gather three Spiritual Stones to open the Door of Time, with the help of Princess Zelda and the Ocarina of Time. Once he does, their plan goes wrong, and Hyrule is taken over by Ganondorf, so Link must stop Ganondorf once and for all. (Or so we thought.) It is a pretty good story, it doesn't drag on or get in the way of things so it's a big step up for the Zelda series.
The gameplay inside the Zelda franchise is always unknown to what will come next. You get over ten unique items, and have many new puzzles to solve. It goes from block pushing, to torch lighting, to arrow shooting, to truthful seeing, and traveling back and forth as a child and adult to beat the game. Link's sword can now be swung in four different ways, and can even get a bigger sword. You get a lock on targeting system with the holding of the Z button, which was very revolutionary for it's time.
Zelda has always had nice graphics, and Ocarina of Time had the greatest for it's time. Yes, better than Banjo Kazooie and Goldeneye 007, Ocarina of Time looked simply amazing. Imagine a grassy field, with trees, mountains, houses, and rivers but in 3D. It looks absolutely beautiful. While the Nintendo 64 was limited to how good the textures could look, it still looks gorgeous up to this day.
Ocarina of Time arguably has the most memorable soundtrack in any video game, EVER. You get all of these nice Ocarina tunes, but then you get the dungeon music, the credits music, and all these other pieces of art that made some gamers cry. It just seems like Koji Kondo is the master at video game music, yes, even better than Nobuo Uematsu, and that's a hard feat to accomplish.
I can honestly sit down and play through Ocarina of Time any day of my life. Just the idea of being able to know what to do, where to go, what items to get, and all of the other side quests you didn't explore earlier makes it all worth while to sit down and play all over again, even if you beat it earlier that year, month, week, or even day!
Overall, this game can be called nothing other than flawless. There are very few games that have over 3,000 hours of gameplay from me, and Ocarina of Time is one of them. While the graphics may not be the best today, and the Water Temple was absolute torture, this game holds up extremely well to this day. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is the greatest accomplishment in game, it's the most critically acclaimed video game ever made, and it is easily the greatest game of all time.
Story : 10
Gameplay : 10
Graphics : 10
Music : 10
Replay Value : 10
Overall : 10
Let me point out, bringing any series into 3D is a big challenge, and Zelda was no exception. What you had was an overhead view of a boy in a green cap fighting monsters and solving puzzles, but image that in a 3D perspective.
From what I heard, although I may be wrong, Zelda stories are worked on last sometimes (with the exception of Twilight Princess, which needed the wolf to be worked into the story to fit the gameplay) throughout it's development period. Ocarina of Time is basically an eleven year old boy who grew up in Kokiri Forest without a fairy, he finally gets a fairy, he is summoned by the Great Deku Tree (he raised Link), and then his adventure starts. Link must gather three Spiritual Stones to open the Door of Time, with the help of Princess Zelda and the Ocarina of Time. Once he does, their plan goes wrong, and Hyrule is taken over by Ganondorf, so Link must stop Ganondorf once and for all. (Or so we thought.) It is a pretty good story, it doesn't drag on or get in the way of things so it's a big step up for the Zelda series.
The gameplay inside the Zelda franchise is always unknown to what will come next. You get over ten unique items, and have many new puzzles to solve. It goes from block pushing, to torch lighting, to arrow shooting, to truthful seeing, and traveling back and forth as a child and adult to beat the game. Link's sword can now be swung in four different ways, and can even get a bigger sword. You get a lock on targeting system with the holding of the Z button, which was very revolutionary for it's time.
Zelda has always had nice graphics, and Ocarina of Time had the greatest for it's time. Yes, better than Banjo Kazooie and Goldeneye 007, Ocarina of Time looked simply amazing. Imagine a grassy field, with trees, mountains, houses, and rivers but in 3D. It looks absolutely beautiful. While the Nintendo 64 was limited to how good the textures could look, it still looks gorgeous up to this day.
Ocarina of Time arguably has the most memorable soundtrack in any video game, EVER. You get all of these nice Ocarina tunes, but then you get the dungeon music, the credits music, and all these other pieces of art that made some gamers cry. It just seems like Koji Kondo is the master at video game music, yes, even better than Nobuo Uematsu, and that's a hard feat to accomplish.
I can honestly sit down and play through Ocarina of Time any day of my life. Just the idea of being able to know what to do, where to go, what items to get, and all of the other side quests you didn't explore earlier makes it all worth while to sit down and play all over again, even if you beat it earlier that year, month, week, or even day!
Overall, this game can be called nothing other than flawless. There are very few games that have over 3,000 hours of gameplay from me, and Ocarina of Time is one of them. While the graphics may not be the best today, and the Water Temple was absolute torture, this game holds up extremely well to this day. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is the greatest accomplishment in game, it's the most critically acclaimed video game ever made, and it is easily the greatest game of all time.
Story : 10
Gameplay : 10
Graphics : 10
Music : 10
Replay Value : 10
Overall : 10
