Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time 3D

[rmoxon]

I rated this as one of the best games ever made back when it was originally released. I've never played it since but the memories I had kept it right there. I used the opportunity of it landing on the 3DS to get it again.

Personally, I'm a bit disappointed.

When this came out 3d worlds were still new, grand and an amazing progression in adventure, but playing it now it feels; small.

Jabu Jabus belly was bordline 10 rooms - it was tiny! Minimal figuring out - a switch to leave the zora on, one you needed you and her to stand on, and shooting the tentacles in an obvious order with the boomerang - that was it. Really shocked! I sure I wandered around Jabu Jabus belly for hours back in the day. I wasn't expecting to waltz through the way I did.

I considered the Water Temple as one of the most ingenius dungeons ever created. That dungeon blew my mind.
Playing through it again, while still very well designed, I still felt it was fairly straight forward and didn't tax me at all.

It's hard to gage because I HAVE played it before, but it was like 13 years ago! You just don't realise how much games have progressed until you go back to things like this. I wish I'd left this one where it was...Now don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, far from it, but it's now lost it's 'one of the best ever' status.

In regards to design games havent really progressed much at all and this was actualy the game that pretty much defined 3D action adventure gaming for the next decade and a half, you only have to look at the newer Zelda games to realise that they havent really moved on since this one.

I also think that the water temple seemed harder upon release, to me at least, becuase I was still actualy a school boy at the time and my experience of gaming wasnt anywhere near as great as it is now.

It is true that at the time 3D worlds like this were new and probabaly considered complex, but still, the gameplay is still fantastic and the magic of the franchise is still there, its still one of the best games in the series and it stands up well today, thats why they havent relaly changed the series much in the last 15 years. They havent needed too.

[Sixty]

I went through the Water Temple just the other day. I found it much, much easier because of the way they've highlighted the places where you can change the water level. It's amazing how much difference that made. Plus, they added a cutscene that shows you where the sneaky hidden key is in the central tower. Lots less wandering around lost because of these two changes. Still think it's a genius dungeon but they definitely watered (aha!) it down in this version.

I disagree about modern games leaving this one behind. In pure size terms, yeah, and you'd expect that with more powerful hardware, but as far as design goes, no way. Ocarina of Time is as close to perfect as a game's got, for me. Every aspect is masterfully judged and executed. There's nothing I can actually complain about with it, unlike... well, pretty much every other game ever.

[Party boy]

I'd lost my copy of this before completing it, but found it again yesterday. I think personally LttP was my favourite then TP, but that's just me. I think it's a bit harsh to say it's dated though, it was meant to be 60 hours of gameplay, but if you know what you're doing it'll be a lot less, that's the way with most games.

As for gaming perfection, Super Mario Kart, Mario World, Mario 64 and mabe LttP came closest for me!

[Sam The Man]

I never thought the Water Temple was the best designed. Yes it was the hardest and fantastically designed in its own right but for me the Forest Temple was the best designed dungeon ever. The only levels in any game that are as good are some of the levels on the first Tomb Raider game like Palace Midas and Obelisk Of Khamoon.

[dataDave]

I got this sent out to me (along with Starfox 64 3D) as I was too eager to wait for Kid Icarus for my long-fabled triple-whammy, ah well.

Anyway, the game is still great, and the novelty is all still there thanks to the improved visuals and 3D. So I'm looking forward to playing through again. Although there is one niggle, and it's a really huge one... What the hell happened with the narrative font? Remember that really nice one used on both N64 games? What did they do with it? Forget to back it up or something? Why replace that lovely warm font with the 3DS system font? It's terrible!! It doesn't fit in one bit. My word. That really fists the overall presentation up for me big time, and it's forever there in my eyes when I'm reading ANY in-game text. Slackers.

I have to convert graphics for mobile compatibility all the time, and of course, one of the first things to go through visibility testing are the fonts. If a fancy font is unreadable beyond a certain threshold I spend a good amount of time searching for a similar one, or something entirely different which still fits the theme which will then go to a review/presentation where I have to explain why I had to f**king change **** around and why I think MY font works better. What happened here? Could they not be arsed doing that? I can't believe Nintendo even OK'd it. What's the Japanese font like? I'm guessing they couldn't give a **** about the English one.

It reminds me of watching LotR at the cinema... those lovely scripted fonts for the Elvish subtitles... with glowing haze flowing around them, you know, you can tell someone has spent a little time in After Effects doing all that to make them look damn impressive. Then it hits DVD and they have to be taken out.

Look at the title screen with the name of the party handling the port... Do they even have any CI? Are they even arsed about presenting themselves professionally?

Anyway, it's a nice port regardless of that little(big) thing.

[dataDave]

After a few hours play I'm really amazed at how well it all still plays.

I'm lost for words really, it's so inspiring, after all this time.

It's still a shame they couldn't pick a nicer font when they did a good job of the new menus. I'd have volunteered my time to work on that for free.

Here's hoping for Majora's Mask soon!

[Wools]

I?ve already completed this back on the N64 and the re-released GameCube port got a few hours of play from me before I gave up. Not because the game is bad, I class it as one of the best ever made, but I?ve played it so much that simply playing it again was not enough of a draw. Ocarina of Time 3D is something else.

The 3D is shockingly good a brings out all the details that were always in the game, but adds such a fresh perspective to the game that it feels like you?re experiencing it again for the first time. When Link (Sorry, Michael) steps out of the tree house for the first time and you see the far off tree line and the floating fairies in the foreground, glasses free 3D feels completely justified and worthy of the next stage in viewing images.

The game is still as great as it?s always been, the opening is perfect, the characters are charming and the adventure side of the story and puzzles feels as close to perfection as a Videogame, or a work of art has ever come. The 3D is so good and ground breaking that it resembles the same feeling I felt when I saw Mario 64 running in Toys R Us as a kid, where it was so inspiring and new, my mind could not comprehend what I was looking at.

The best game ever made, strengthened by a brilliant port by Grezzo and polished so hard by being displayed in 3D, it feels like it just stepped out of Nintendo?s offices in 1998.

[nakamura]

Yeah I adore this and didn't love the N64 game as much as others did. Plus it having the master quest is a huge bonus.

[J0e Musashi]

I'm going to be starting this on the journey home from work this evening. It's the first time I've ever played it. Ever. I had the JPN N64 version at launch, but I sold my N64 the next day, so I never even took the game out of the box. I'm quite excited.

[Dogg Thang]

It's average. Keep expectations low.

[Golgo]

Ignore DT's trolling. It's been polished to perfection on 3DS and is sublime.

[Dogg Thang]

->Open Spoiler<-

Shhh... he'll enjoy it more if his expectations aren't hyped up to the max.

Average, honest.

[Golgo]

Good point, forgot about that. It's proper pants, now I come to think about it.

[nakamura]

I prefer sitting on jagged rusty nails while playing Call of Duty.

[J0e Musashi]

It seems alright so far. It has the obligatory Nintendo handholding at the start though.

I only really bought this game to play outside the house, without the Circle Pad Pro attached. It's no MH3U, that's for sure, but it's nice to have a game that came in a box I guess.