Nintendo's highly acclaimed adventure brings the classic series into the third dimension. After a nightmare involving a certain
young princess and the evil thief Ganondorf, series hero Link wakes up in his
home village tucked away behind the mysterious Lost Woods. The only Kokiri without a fairy, Link soon meets up with his new traveling companion, the winged Navi, and sets out on the adventure of his life. The quest, which inevitably turns into a rescue mission for Princess Zelda, leads
players through dark dungeons, picturesque villages, into the heart of a volcano, to the bottom of a lake, through a haunted desert, deep into a magical forest, into a giant tree, the belly of a beast, and even through time.To say that this game is huge is an understatement. Every time you discover a new corner of the Kingdom of Hyrule, you'll be amazed at the detail, the richness of scenery, the many things to do, and the amount of thought that went into designing it all. For example, players can spend hours just exploring a village, talking to the inhabitants, solving puzzles, and looking for hidden items.
As soon as you pick up the controls for the first time and start to explore the vast universe that makes up this latest creation from the hands of Shigeru Miyamoto and team, you know you're in for a treat.Ocarina of Time is not a platformer, a fact that takes some getting used to when trying out Link's various actions. There is no jump
button. You can still jump at
certain points in the game, but it is not integral to the gameplay that players actually control the jump themselves. Instead, Ocarina of Time introduces an auto-jump feature where Link will jump the last possible moment when running toward a ledge. It sounds annoying in theory, but it works very well for this ype of game. The gameplay objectives will be instantly familiar to friends of the series. Push walls to find hidden rooms, use bombs to uncover secret passages, shoot arrows at certain objects to open doors, and so on. But Ocarina of Time doesn't only imitate its predecessors, it innovates at every corner. With the use of the ocarina (a clay flute), players need to play certain melodies to solve riddles or warp to new places, and even engage in numerous games of 'Simon Says'. When you bring out the ocarina, the controller's button layout actually mirrors a real ocarina, with the Z button acting as the bottom hole on the flute. To allow for a little more fun, the designers also added a pitch bend and modulation option via the analog stick. Compare Zelda 64 to other titles and you will find that even one single dungeon has more puzzles than all the levels in many other games combined. Things really take off once Ocarina of Time introduces the ability to travel back and forth in time (very much like light world/dark world gameplay). Without giving too much away, consider this one: at one point in the game, you talk to a character as adolescent Link, who tells you that a young boy with an ocarina did something seven years ago. Then you go back in time and actually do it. Or how about a fully functional fishing game, with Rumble Pak support and realistic fish behavior? This mini-game is so good, any other company would have
released it as a game of its own. Then there is the ability to ride a horse -- it's so addictive, you'll catch yourself just galloping around and jumping fences. Or how about involving sword fights with a multitude of enemies that block your attacks with their shields? A shooting gallery? A super-cool hookshot that lets you traverse deep
ravines? Secrets involving the use of sunlight and mirrors? Want to light some torches? How about catching the spirit of a slain ghost in a bottle? Changing daylight and weather conditions that affect the gameplay? The ability to wear different masks? Rumble Pak vibrations that give away the locations of hidden caves? It's all there. Oh, and let's not forget about teasing chickens... No matter which way you Ocarina of Time is simply unmatched when it comes to the variety and diversity of actions and puzzles. Do yourself a favor and play this
game without the use of a guide! It's a lot more rewarding when you finally get your hands on something that you've been looking for for days than to read about it in a guide. The camera follows Link in a style similar to Mario 64. Like in Mario, the camera also zooms out to reveal Link's surroundings at times -- but that's where the similarities end. In order to give players more control over the viewpoint and enable better, more focused 3D fighting, Nintendo reached deep into its bag of tricks and came up with an innovative feature. A break-through title from Nintendo that deserves all the hype and praise it's gotten. The limited gold edition is just the icing on the cake. My highest possible recommendation.