Zelda - Ocarina of Time

Title: Zelda - Ocarina of Time
Platform Played On: Gamecube
Release Date: November 23, 1998
Date Played: May 2007
Time Played: 20 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5


Opinion:
Ocarina of Time is considered to be one of the best games of all time and is a gem in hearts of many gamers.

I never had an N64, nor any friends with one, so I didnt get a chance to play Ocarina of Time until I bought a Wii, and through its backwards compatibility with GameCube I managed to play Ocarina of Time that was released on the Canadian limited edition disc for GameCube (It also contained Zelda 1, Zelda 2, Majoras Mask and a demo of Windwaker), pretty amazing collection if you ask me. I am not going to divulge into mechanics of Ocarina of Time since they are very similar to every other Zelda game in existence. I will however talk about what in my opinion make this game so great even today over a decade since its release. 

The game starts with the "boy without a fairy" (Link) waking up and finally getting a fairy (Navi); however he now is not just another Kakiri with a fairy, he is summoned by the great Deku tree, in order to embark on a journey to defeat evil. As you can see Ocarina of Time's story is interesting from the very first moments, and it stays interesting throughout. The music and new story twists keep you on your toes as you adventure through Hyrule.

Everything about this game is so well designed. The dungeon layout is great and thought inspiring, the midi music is written beautifully, and the enemies are designed in a way that it is fun to figure out strategies to defeating them. Ocarina of Time also has an unbelievable attention to detail, like the ability to slice signs with your sword, little fairies flying around the environment and even things as simple as the idle animation for Link. All in all a 25 hour journey all jam packed into a 25 megabyte cartridge. Isnt that amazing? Today even the simplest of games are thousands of megabytes.

Ocarina of Time is a great classic game. Sure it has some dated graphics, but everything else (mechanics) are as solid as ever, and this is a must play for any gamer at one point or another. For those that simply can not look past the dated graphics I will simply say that its unfortunate. You are missing out on a game with a great story, solid mechanics and fun gameplay. I feel that the game has aged pretty well.