Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Amazing"

***Warning: Review Contains Spoilers***

Recently, this game hit its 10 year anniversary, so I've decided to give it a review. This game is easily my favourite game of all time - I've poured hours upon hours into it, finished it multiple times over the 10 years it's been out, including replaying the original and other iterations (such as Master Quest and other ports) and still get enjoyment from playing it. In fact, subsequent replays can be even more fun thanks to the nostalgia factor.

The game was a masterpiece in its time and the only thing that has aged over the years are the graphics. Each time spent replaying this game feels just as epic and grand as the last time. The gameplay remains exciting and fun, the music is amazing and memorable and the bosses still remain some of the greatest in videogame history.

The game follows Link, a young Hylian who was abandoned in Kokiri village as a small boy. The game opens with a cutscene - a dream - depicting a fierce man on a horse, who will later be revealed to be the games main villain, Ganandorf.

You start out controlling Link in his childhood years as he comes into contact with the fairy Navi who requests that Link visit The Great Deku Tree. The beginning footsteps of your adventure act as a semi-tutorial, with your guardian fairy Navi guiding you as you collect your first rupees (the games currency), sword and shield aswell as learning basic techniques such as locking onto targets.

Once you've acquired these items, you can finally head off to meet The Great Deku Tree. The short path to the Deku Tree contains the first enemies you'll encounter in the game, and some of the most common. Defeating these yield some new items to Link: Deku Sticks and Deku Nuts, which can be used as a torch to complete puzzles and stun enemies respectively.

Once Link reaches The Deku Tree, you are given a quick briefing and sent into the games first dungeon, the inside of the tree itself.

Each dungeon follows a similar pattern, with the earlier three dungeons being fairly simplified. Find keys, complete puzzles, work your way to the boss of the dungeon and leave with your reward. Each dungeon also contains a unique item. For example, Young Links slingshot can be found inside The Deku Tree itself, Adults Links Longshot found within the Water Temple and your first Bomb Bag within Dodongo Caverns. These items will help you advance through the game and are, in most cases, required to defeat the boss of each dungeon.

Once Link has passed his first test, defeated Gohma and retrieved the first Spirit Stone from the Deku Tree, Link is set on a quest to retrieve remaining two Spirit Stones from the land of Hyrule. Link sets out on his quest, and is given his Fairy Ocarina on the way out.

The landscape of Hyrule itself is fairly plain, but the games graphics were brilliant for its time. Hyrule is quite huge, consisting of small towns, tall mountains, expandisve desserts, large lakes, frozen domains, and a massive landscape in which acts as a sort of hub to all these places. Hyrule holds many secrets, a lot of which can only be reached upon experimenting with different items and songs.

A lot of these places look fantastic and will require several visits to fully complete.

The game also contains a number of songs which can be played on your Ocarina by using the (Note: Controls for N64 Version) C-Stick and A button. You can also change the pitch of these by holding the Z, L and R buttons, but this is purely for fun and does not effect the final song. The songs can do a number of things, for example, cause day to turn to night and night to day, cause sunny weather to shift to rain and allow Link to teleport to various locations.

The game takes its most interesting shift once all three Spirit Stones are obtained and the Ocarina of Time is in your possession. At this point, you are allowed to head to the Temple of Time, where you will be locked in time for 7 years - transforming into Adult Link. Once you've completed The Forest Temple as Adult Link, you are even allowed to travel back in time to your younger years.

The game will require you to travel back and forth through time to complete various sections of the game and obtain new items. However, the main goal is pretty simple to the earlier portion of the game. Complete dungeons to obtain items required for your quest (in this case, elemental medallions).

There are also few cases of doing things in the past that allow for you to do things in the future. For example, it is possible to obtain a song that allows you to win a horse, by the name of Epona, that will allow you to swiftly traverse the land of Hyrule.

In the future, Hyrule Castle has fallen, and Ganandorf has assumed control of the land. Zombies roam the streets of Hyrule Market, the sky has been covered by thick smoke and the land itself has been virtually destroyed.

Continuing your quest and collecting all the medallions allows you to face the tyrant himself to save the land of Hyrule from his rule.

The game is outstanding, once of the best you'll ever have the pleasure of playing. From an amazing soundtrack to and overall incredible experience. PLAY. THIS. GAME.

Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 10
Replay Value: 9.9
Overall: 10