Review by Daniel Quijada
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is, without a doubt, the greatest game of all time. The sheer size of the world is unbelievable. It has plenty of dungeons and sufficient challenges. The music is excellent and the sound effects are outstanding.
The game starts out with a very nice introduction: your fairy is flying around in a first-person perspective. Afterwards, you can wander all over the small forest village and then to the huge land of Hyrule. The dungeons start out a bit easy, but then quickly become challenging. With dungeons ranging from a tree to a fiery volcano they easily show off all of the glamour that the game has to offer. Every place you go gives more intriguing puzzles, harder enemies, and cooler weapons than the previous dungeon.
The controls are flawless, with every button being used. The most commonly button used is the "A" button because it is used for attacking enemies, opening chests, and many other tasks. What seems strange at first is that Link can jump, but it isn't by an assigned button. How fast you run off a ledge determines the distance you jump. It takes a while to get used to, but it's easiest this way. Riding horses is another part of this game that needs excellent controls to be enjoyable. While mounted, you are able to use the bow and arrow. It's very tough at first but it does become very easy with practice. Three of the "C" buttons are used for items and the fourth is for a very handy first-person perspective mode. The most useful thing in Zelda, however, is the Z-Targeting. With this, you are able to lock onto enemies to find out their weak points or to attack. I thought it was most useful when fighting bats, because they are so small and when targeted you'll rarely miss.
The camera is what annoyed me the most. As in most 3-D games, the camera plays an important role in the action. With bad angles, you can miss most of the action or worse, getting hurt because you can't see yourself. The camera in Zelda isn't as bad as say, Tenchu, but it can get pretty bad. The hardest part of the game that I found was the final battle--not because of difficulty, but because the camera wouldn't keep up when I was strafing.
The music is great; it has varied tracks for boss fights, dungeons, and villages. I don't think it's up to par with Metal Gear Solid, but it is very good. The sound effects are amazing, ranging from the swipe of your sword to melodies you can play on the ocarina.
All in all, I would recommend The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to anybody because it is better than any game on the market. With plenty of bonus games and all of the hidden items, you should expect about a 35-40 hour quest with very few dull moments.
DESCRIPTION SCORE (Out of 10)
GRAPHICS-Beautiful scenery, hardly any fog, and great visuals. 10
CONTROLS-Simple controls that are easy to master. 10
SOUND-Excellent music and effects. 10
REPLAY-All of the minigames will keep you coming back for more 10
OVERALL-Perfect, without a doubt, greatest game of all time 10