Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Review

This review came from an old dead Tumblog of mine, before I switched to Blogger.

1998’s Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a landmark accomplishment in video game history, and is still, by some, crowned as the greatest game ever made. As gamers, we know that the greatest titles of this current generation get a repackaging, celebrating its technological accomplishment, like Valve’s Orange Box, or the Oblivion Game of the Year Edition. With that in mind, a remake of Ocarina should come as no surprise. It’s been more than a decade since the original masterpiece hit the Nintendo 64. Nintendo and Grezzo have adopted the classic, making several small tweaks to the gameplay, while entirely renovating the graphics and topping it with a glasses-free stereoscopic effect. Both companies hope to create an experience that attracts newcomers and preserving the nostalgic factor for veteran Zelda fans. How well does it translate to a handheld?

Ocarina of Time is a touching story of friendship, perseverance, courage, and greed. Our hero Link must plunder ancient temples, scale mountains, and even shift through time itself to thwart the evil Ganondorf from conquering the land of Hyrule. You’ll meet a cast of friendly townsfolk, bizarre creatures, and even complete lunatics during your perilous journey. The story as a whole has more predictable pieces, especially towards the conclusion, but it’s a tale that’s not to be missed. It’s sweet, bitter, and satisfying from beginning to finish, as any fantasy narrative should be.

Our wonderful story is drawn vividly with colorful new visuals and redone models that look true to the gorgeous original concept at back from 1998, which couldn’t quite replicate on the Nintendo 64. They could have done a lot more with the detail of the graphics for the new technology, but for nostalgia’s sake they didn’t go down that road. Additionally, the slightly-tweaked animations are for the better, and the 3D effect renders OOT3D exponentially more engrossing than the original. There are a few notable framerate hiccups and instances where Link animates funny, and also, I wouldn’t have minded waiting a few more months for a new orchestrated soundtrack. However, none of this will detract from your enjoyment of the game for new and veteran Zelda enthusiasts.

Speaking of enjoyment, I had lots of it when playing OOT on my shiny, yet smudgy 3DS. The controls differ greatly from the N64, but don’t fret; it only takes a little bit of adjustment from the seamless controller interface and it’ll play even more smoothly than what you were used to. Remember having to pause the game, waiting for the inventory screen to load, selecting the iron boots, then resuming the game, just to sink and be able to walk on a surface underwater? That won’t bother you anymore. The new interface reserves these actions to the X and Y buttons and the touch screen, so all you need to do is press a button or tap the screen to use iron boots, quest items, and weapons like the slingshot or bow. With projectiles comes the all-new, but optional motion controls, where you move your 3DS around to look in first-person, as if to aim at something. I didn’t think I’d need this feature but after spending just a few minutes with it, I wondered how I lived without it.

As a bonus, Grezzo implemented a Boss Rush mode, allowing you relive any boss battle for the best completion time. You can face any individual boss that you’ve defeated once before, or take on all of them one-by-one in the Gauntlet mode Once your quest is completed, you unlock the Master Quest option that features trickier enemies, mirrors the world from right to left, and makes the dungeons require a lot more critical thinking than your first playthrough.

In conclusion, Ocarina of Time 3D is a must-buy for any 3DS owner, and I probably won’t go back to the original any time soon. It’s the best 3DS game out there so far, but there’s a lot more 3DS titles to come later this year and early 2012 that will blow this game out of the water.

STORY: 10/10 | PRESENTATION: 9.4/10 | GAMEPLAY: 10/10 | LONGEVITY: 9.5

VERDICT: 9.7