Here's the truth. You can't call yourself a gamer if you haven't sat down to play Legend of Zelda at least once. Enshrined in Video Game culture as one of the most successful, addictive, and all around fun games of all time sits the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Originally released in November of 1998 for the Nintendo 64, Ocarina of Time proved to be one of the greatest games of it's age, and is widely regarded as one of, if not the best Zelda game created to this day.

But that's not why I'm here.

I'm here for the remake. Now normally I hate remakes. A lot of times I feel like they simply take an original character and dress it up in a fancy costume to make it look different without having any actual changes. But 3D Ocarina of Time for the DS is a different story. The game transfers beautifully to handheld and created an adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed replaying on my 3DS.

So, without further ado, let's review (hey look, I rhymed).

Graphics - 9/10

The revolutionary graphics OoT presented for Zelda games in 1998 came over to the handheld realm and had a similarly incredible affect. Long story short, the graphics are freakin sweet.

While the locations of items and dungeon layouts remain the same, textures, character models, and animations have been dramatically improved. Now, while Nintendo could have messed with the graphics to make it look a bit more realistic *cough*Twilight Princess*cough* I don't think that would've been honoring the game. The 3D version of Ocarina is how the game is supposed to look. Cartoony yes, but also incredibly well defined.

The only reason OoT 3D doesn't get the 10/10 is because I'm a nit-picky guy, and I always manage to spot problems. My only issue graphically is that some of the roof architecture and stair designs are a bit outdated, and look flat as compared to the rest of the game.

Other than that it's a visual gem.

Sound/Music - 10/10

Yeah, like you didn't see this coming.

There's no way that I could ever dream of marking down a game that brought 13 originally, amazingly recorded tracks to the world of RPG gaming. I can't even listen to Zelda's Lullaby anymore without being hit by a massive hurricane of nostalgia. The featured original music spread quickly and had it's own fandom develop as youtube produced videos of hundreds of people playing OoT songs on their own personal
ocarinas.

The songs translate beautifully to the 3DS, and I'm honestly thrilled that Nintendo didn't pull something and left them in their original, perfect form. To not give Ocarina of Time a 10/10 on music is absolutely despicable, considering the game is a must have in the majority of gaming music's top 10 list, and received IGN's first perfect 10 rating, in part for the sweet tunes.

Addictiveness - 9/10

Alright. C'mon. Who can honestly say that after playing a Zelda game they've NEVER felt compelled to try another or progress in the series? No one? I thought so.

Zelda games are basically a fandom that once you enter, you don't leave. Ocarina's transfer to handheld made it available to a much younger audience who probably don't own a Nintendo 64. For a lot of younger kids who may not have been involved in the Zelda fandom, the 3D version of OoT was a godsend for their poor Zelda-less lives.

Whether it be the desire to go back and play Oracle of Seasons or Ages, or to travel forward and play Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword, the Zelda franchise creates an atmosphere of constant addiction. Regardless of whether or not that's bad or good, it's certainly addictive and keeps me coming back to swing my sword and throw my bombs day in and day out.

Story - 8/10

Ocarina of Time revolves around the story of a young, green-clad teen/young adult named Link. The events of Ocarina of Time are set in the fictional kingdom of Hyrule, the setting of most of the Zelda games. Hyrule Field serves as the central hub connected to several outlying areas with diverse topography.

The story is basically centered on Link's adventure throughout Hyrule, and his attempt at stopping Ganondorf (the gerudo king) from taking over the land and manipulating princess Zelda. The story line is wonderful, despite the princess theme being slightly overused in video games.

Depth - 7/10

I'd rank Ocarina of Time higher in terms of depth, except for it follows the same dungeon format as almost every other Zelda game. All Zelda games have the typical 8 dungeon format followed by the final boss whether it be Ganon, Veran, Onyx, etc. Ocarina of Time 3D, as amazing as it was, doesn't really stand alone against this format. While there are subtle variations, Ocarina of Time largely incorporates typical Zelda format
which, while it does allow a lot of diehard Zelda fans to fangirl, doesn't allow for a large amount of growth.

However, the world presented in Ocarina of Time is incredibly expansive, filled with open fields and room to explore the world of Hyrule. For this reason, depth reaches up to score a 7/10.

Difficulty - 7/10

Freaking. Water. Temple.

Need I say more?

But seriously, all in all Ocarina isn't a very hard game. However it is expansive. I found in playing the 3D version that the smaller screen would make it slightly more difficult to pinpoint my exact location, and it basically made it insanely easy to get lost. Dungeons for an experienced LoZ player are nothing. Except the Water Temple…….goshdarn Water Temple. For those who don't know the Water Temple is basically the brunt of multiple jokes from the Zelda world because of how impossibly difficult some of the puzzles are. But the Water Temple is definitely the extreme in terms of difficult level, and for the most part the game is much more simple to handle.

Graphics = 9*20% = 1.8

Sound/Music = 10*15% = 1.5

Addictiveness = 9*25% = 2.25

Story = 8*15% = 1.2

Depth = 7*20% = 1.4

Difficulty = 7*5% = 0.35

Overall Score : 8.5/10

Overall it's one of the best Zelda games I've played, and receives one of my higher review scores.

Thanks for reading!

nice review man i think you really did good

NVTaks : awesome review this game was actually one of my first games as a kid and i really loved as much as the review. you put a lot of work into an amazing detailed and descript review 

That was a good review. Nice and long. Loved the layout.

Though I think addictive usually refers to how much you want to return to a game you completed or how frequently you play that game, not how much you want to play whatever's next. :s But I guess I can't argue...

NVTaks : You can call yourself a gamer if you havent sat down to play zelda. I play a lot of zelda. But i have a friends that doesnt and he is a gamer

imamonster : Ok. Well just to clarify I wasn't actually serious, man. I understand perfectly well that people can be gamers and NOT have played Zelda. I'm just trying to say that the Zelda series is a staple in Video Game culture, and that most gamers should/have experience(d) their glory.

Nice job on this review as always man, I think you really did a great job in making this review detailed and also professional as well. These are both very important key elements in making a top notch review and I think you pretty much nailed them both. Ocarina of time is just a great game and it will always be an awesome classic. I have this game for my 3ds and it looks great! I also think that your system that you use to grade the game at the bottom is quite unique but it looks efficient. 


Overall great job reviewing this game and I agree that the water temple definitely contributes to the difficulty.Nonetheless the game is quite expansive and is guaranteed to give you hours of enjoyment. Keep up the great work man and keep making more awesome reviews! 

Oooh. This is a delcious review...

You did a great job on this one and I love it. It's long, and there's plenty of detail.

You will do more of these right? It's great and I want to see more like this.

Really good review man! You know, a lot of people think that in order for art to be good it has to be realistic, and this is not true. While it does take a lot of talent and skill to draw realistic images, it is not the only, "Good" art style. In fact, some of the cartoony games are much more memorable and would be easy to recognize more than games with realistic graphics. Really, if Mario look realistic, it just wouldn't be the same Mario. But, if Skyrim was cartoony, it just wouldn't have that dark, cold feeling that it has.

farmboy8 : Thanks for the feedback man! And I'm totally with you on the whole graphics thing. People who think that realistic graphics are the only way to go just don't even get video games. 

Although I will admit that mindset makes it quite difficult to accurately determine a graphics score .

Wow . . . This was a very good review. It had good detail lut in to it, and jt was neatly organized, easy to read for all of us. I hope to see and other one of your reviews man.