Legend of Zelda: Orcarina of Time (N64) review

The value of history. ..is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.
R. G. Collingwood

Publisher: Nintendo

Year: 1998

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released in North America on November 23, 1998. Ocarina of Time is the fifth game in The Legend of Zelda series, and the first with 3D graphics. It was followed two years after its release by the sequel The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

The legend of Zelda: Orcarina of Time is considered to be Nintendo’s best work and possibly the best game ever made.

If a person was born around 1980, then this game was well known during its time.

The player controls Link, in the land of Hyrule. Link sets out on a quest to stop Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo tribe, from obtaining the sacred relic, the Triforce. Link travels through time, navigates from a child to an adult to seek various dungeons, awaken sages who have the power, and seal Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm. Music plays an important role in this game. To progress, the player must learn to play and perform several songs on an ocarina. The game was responsible for generating an increased interest in and rise in sales of the ocarina.

Yes, I also bought one and can play a song using this twelve hole sweet potato Ocarina.

Ocarina of Time's game play system introduced features such as a target lock system and context-sensitive buttons that have since become common elements in 3D adventure games. In Japan, it sold over 820,000 copies in 1998, becoming the tenth-best-selling game of that year. During its lifetime, Ocarina of Time sold 1.14 million copies in Japan, becoming the 134th-best-selling game of all time, and has sold over 7.6 million copies worldwide. The game won the Grand Prize in the Interactive Art division at the Japan Media Arts Festival, won six honors at the 2nd AnnualInteractive Achievement Awards, and received overwhelmingly positive acclaim.

Ocarina of Time had four major re-releases on the Nintendo GameCube and Wii consoles. It was ported to the GameCube as part of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest, a remake with harder dungeons that all Zelda fans wanted.

My perspective: This was my first Nintendo 64 game for the Nintendo 64 console. I did not know what the game was about and I was wondering what kind of game was Zelda. I (once again) based the game on its cover. I did not understand why the game is called Zelda if Link is the main character. I played the game for a while and found the game okay. I was six at that time and my perspective to any game was “is this better than Mario in any way?” That was my view until I got bored because nothing seemed to interest me. A few years later, I decided to pick it up again and finish the game. I was glad I went back after four years. Up to this day I still do not believe how this game had grabbed my attention since the beginning. There are many other games who try to mimic the same concept, however nothing catches the same concept as Zelda does. I like the fact there are sub-quests that a player can do if they want to obtain extra items that can help them in the quest.

This game is a must play for many players if they like exploring a vast game with many secrets to be unfold. Continue the storyline or look for sub-quests. Look for secrets or go into dungeons. There is a lot of content and I will recommend this game with no disappointment. This is how to make a game unlike nowadays where games seem to be lacking and I must get Downloadable Content to finish the game fully.

P.S. They are going to re-release this game on the Nintendo 3DS. They say that they might add content that is called “Ura”. This is real content that will be in the game and not blocked because a person must pay for it to unlock the content. 

10/10

I have to buy another console for the remake. Darn my inner childhood!


site used:
http://reviews.cnet.com/legacy-game-platforms/the-legend-of-zelda/4505-9882_7-30989269.html#reviewPage1