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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time review

Game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Platform: Nintendo 64
Genre: Adventure (Fantasy)
Developer: Nintendo
AKA: Zelda no Densetsu: Toki no Ocarina (JP)

Staff review by Lassarina Aoibhell

Date unavailable

I remember being eight years old and playing the original The Legend Of Zelda game waaaaaaay back on the NES...yes, the NES, remember that? 8-bit games? Since then I've sort of half-interestedly played each Zelda game that came out, but never really finished another one, until I got Ocarina of Time.

If I have one major gripe with this game, it is the perspective from which you play. (Well, that and the ANNOYING little faerie who flits around being a complete airhead.) Sometimes it became difficult or impossible to really see what I was doing due to the perspective. Other than that, however, I very much enjoyed this game.

At this point, Link has been through how many incarnations? Yet this is the first one since the first Zelda to really grab my attention. (The recently released Zelda: Oracle of Seasons is another.) The storyline, as in all Zelda games, is simple. Defeat the evil guy. This time around he's named Ganondorf. This Zelda game, however, puts an interesting twist on the basic premise of the series. You have to fight Ganondorf in two separate times, 7 years apart.

There are two versions of Link that you play: Child Link and Adult Link (more like Teenager Link but hey, who's counting?) Each one has certain weapons the other cannot use: the Master and Biggoron Swords, Hookshot, and Bow for Adult Link, and the Slingshot for Child Link. There are three magic spells you can use, and one very important item: the Ocarina of Time. This little instrument allows you to move between the two times, warp around the world, call a scarecrow to assist you, and a number of other interesting things.

As usual, your job is to save Princess Zelda. (Why can't the girl ever save herself?) In pursuit of this goal, you must crawl through the belly of a giant fish, fight an amoeba-tentacle-watery thing that wants to kill you, half-drown yourself in a Water Temple, infiltrate a pirate fortress, and fight off the VERY amorous advances of a Zora princess. These are just a few of the insane adventures Link experiences in his pursuit of Princess Zelda.

In addition to all the necessary quests, there are some fun and/or silly sidequests to do as well. You can go fishing (a very addictive game and one I spent quite some time at), ride in a horse race, trade masks around the world...the list goes on.

The graphics and music in this game are very good. I'm particularly fond of Sheik's theme (and no, I do NOT believe that Sheik is really who the game says Sheik is!) It's a fun and challenging game, and like most Zelda games, you have to be creative in order to solve problems and escape traps.

For once I'm actually not going to give a breakdown of scores my usual scoring system doesn't fit Zelda games very well. I'll just say that I enjoyed this game, and I would recommend it to anyone who is a Zelda fan.

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