The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
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Published on Tuesday, 16 August 2011 20:00
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Written by DoctorToboggan
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Title |
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D |
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Developer |
Grezzo, Nintendo |
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Publisher |
Nintendo |
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System Availibility |
Nintendo 3DS |
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Players |
1 |
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Release Date |
June 19, 2011 |
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ESRB Content Rating |
E10+ (Everyone 10+) |
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KillingBoxx Score |
4.0
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By It Now On |
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Remaking a Legend
When Nintendo announced that they would be releasing a remake of their heralded 13-year old classic,
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, for the new Nintendo 3DS handheld system just a few months after launch, industry and fan reaction was mixed. The reason being that the Nintendo 3DS launch back in March was marred with poor quality games and multiple ports of games from other consoles. Would yet another game remake really be enough to turn the system's poor software lineup and sales fortunes around? It's certainly possible. After all,
Ocarina of Time is lauded as one of the greatest games ever made. As a matter of fact, it currently holds the Guinness World Record for being the most critically-acclaimed video game of all time. Then again, all of that critical acclaim came from when the game was originally released in 1998. The challenge for
Ocarina of Time 3D is to prove its relevance to audiences in 2011.
For those unfamiliar with the original, what are you doing reading this review? Go! Play it right now! Buy a used Nintendo 64, download it for your Wii or illegally emulate it on your computer! [Ed note: Don't do that.] Ocarina definitely earned its distinction of being regarded as one of the best games ever made back in '98. You play as Link, a "Kokiri" forest kid who is told he is destined to be the "Hero of Time". You follow Link as he is sent from his forest home to save the kingdom of Hyrule from the evil desert king, Ganondorf. What follows is an epic journey that takes you across miles of distance and years of time to restore balance to Hyrule. You'll venture through devious dungeons along the way, solving puzzles, unlocking doors and finding tools that will help you get to the end and defeat the boss of each one. You'll also meet a wide cast of characters, buy plenty of items and kill countless enemies along the way. Ocarina was truly a masterpiece and one of the most intuitive and revolutionary action-adventure games for its time, however that time was over a decade ago.
The first thing to note is that
Ocarina 3D stays slavishly loyal to the original for the most part. From wandering through the Lost Woods to conquering the Spirit Temple,
Ocarina 3D's story, script and plot progression are the exact same as the original. You'll visit the exact same locations, fight the exact same enemies, hear the exact same music, travel through the exact same dungeons, etc. This devout replication of the original works to both the advantage and disadvantage of
Ocarina 3D. On the plus side, the charm and adventurous spirit of the original game is still very much in tact. Gamers all around the world know the tale of Link's adventure and it's almost become the a modern-day fairy tale, passed on from one generation of gamers to the next. The characters are as memorable as ever and the gameplay holds up surprisingly well. The Z-Targeting swordplay system feels as tight and effortless now as it ever has, allowing you to lock onto enemies and strafe around them, dodging and blocking their attacks and then countering with your own. Haters be warned, though. Since this is almost an exact replica of the original, if for whatever reason you weren't a fan of this game back in 1998, this new version won't change your mind. Also, for fans who have played the original several times over, such as myself, there is no new content in the main quest to explore. Other recent game remakes have revised scripts, additional dungeons and items or some other kind of added content to entice you to want play the game over again. You'll find none of that here, but that doesn't mean you won't find clear improvements in some areas.
The first upgrade is
Ocarina 3D's revamped visuals. The game has been given a complete makeover thanks to the 3DS's more powerful processing power. Link and several other characters go from looking like the Blockheads from Gumby to much cleaner, more expressive figures. All of the textures, lighting and other environmental elements have been given an overhaul, taking the old, outdated areas and giving them a vivid new life. The frame rate and animations run at a smooth 30 frames per second, which is a huge improvement over the sometimes stuttering rate and rough movements of the first game. Also, the old dungeons and action areas often left you on your own to figure out where to go or what to do next, such as the infamous Water Temple, but some new visual cues have been added to the areas and maps to help point you in the right direction and really streamline the game without dumbing it down. I personally recommend playing the game with the 3D turned on, it adds a dramatic depth-of-field, especially to the in-game cutscenes and an overall much sharper look. Now, while this is a vast graphical improvement over the 13-year old original, I will criticize the developers for not pushing the visual bar even further. The 3DS is capable of some spectacular graphics, as evidenced by previously-released games such as
Super Street Fighter IV 3D. It's very clear that while
Ocarina 3D looks obviously superior the original, it is not anywhere near pushing the 3DS's full graphical capabilities.
Speaking of streamlining, some improvements have also been made to the controls, giving this already easy-to-control game an even lower barrier of entry. While before you had to pause the game in order to switch and equip Link's different items, now everything is done with a few quick taps on the 3DS's touch screen. While having to pause every time you wanted to put Link's Iron Boots on or take them off was a monotonous chore before, you can now solve that problem with a simple tap. The bottom screen also functions as your area map, meaning you don't have to stop the action to see where you should be going next. Ocarina 3D also utilizes the 3DS's built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, allowing you physically move your system to aim shooting weapons such as the slingshot or bow. However, I must confess after using this option two or three times, I went back to the traditional method of using the control stick to aim my shots. To me the movement-based aiming felt imprecise, and physically moving the system often resulted in me losing the sweet spot needed to view the 3D visuals.
Nintendo did also throw in two neat little additions to the total package after you complete the main quest. Upon beating the game you'll unlock a boss rush mode, where you battle each of
Ocarina 3D's fearsome bosses in back-to-back fights, as well as Master Quest mode. The Master Quest was an addition to the previous Nintendo Gamecube re-release of
Ocarina of Time. It's a more difficult version of the game where enemies do more damage, plus the dungeon traps and puzzles have been remixed to add some fresh challenge to players who may have breezed through
Ocarina several times already. Granted, it's not entirely new content but it may provide some new offerings to
Ocarina veterans.
I also can't ignore the improvements that sequels like Zelda: Wind Waker and Zelda: Twilight Princess have made to the foundation laid by Ocarina of Time. I'd say the graphics, environments and art style in both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are far better and more creative than Ocarina 3D. Their stories are much more complex, characters are deeper, worlds are larger, boss battles are more intense and, in some cases, dungeons are even more sinister. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are "better" games, as evidenced by the constant outpouring of love for Ocarina by the gaming community, but they certainly make Ocarina 3D feel archaic in its design. I'd compare it to going back and watching the first Toy Story. It's still a great film and set a tremendous precedent, but it lacks some of that extra punch and refinement from the sequels.
Overall, Ocarina of Time 3D tries very hard to duplicate the experience of the original, and succeeds, sometimes to a fault. If you've never played the original and have a 3DS, I give Ocarina 3D the strongest endorsement possible. It's an excellent piece of gaming history that no gamer should miss and has impressively withstood the test of time, even in the face of its arguably superior sequels. For Zelda veterans, Ocarina 3D still provides a fun and nostalgic experience, but it fails to recapture that same feeling of awe and wonder you had when you traversed Hyrule for the first time those many years ago.
