The Legendary Ocarina

The results of a short piece of "Advanced Writing" assessment, a retrospective review of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time:

Nearly a decade following its release, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time still stands as one of the most widely acclaimed games in history. There have been several distinguishing moments in gaming, from Nolan Bushnell's creation of Pong, to Shigeru Miyamoto's hit Super Mario Brothers. With Ocarina of Time, the master designer Miyamoto-san again brought forth an era in gaming. Its elegant control system, its memorable cast, and its immersive, expansive world set a standard for all games that followed it. It sold a total of 7.6 million copies worldwide, with 2.5 million units in its first 40 days, and received critical acclaim and many awards, among being the first video game ever to receive a perfect score from the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu.

As with other games in the acclaimed Zelda series, Ocarina of Time once again put you in the role of the lovable, silent protagonist Link, and propels you into the land of Hyrule, a world afoul with evil, to build up the courage required to overcome it. A familiar cast of characters returns to aid in your quest against the evil Ganondorf; the rock-eating Gorons, the water-loving Zoras, and the voracious Gerudos. You may think that all of this sounds clichéd, and you would be right, this is a very typical Hero's Journey; save the princess, save the world; but Ocarina of Time never fails to delight the senses.

The core mechanic of the game was the ability to travel back and forward seven years through time. You would begin the game as young Link, and soon after you could travel at whim as the Hero of Time between the world of young Link, and the much darker world of the older Link. During your first venture into the world of the older Link, you discover that Hyrule has been overrun by the evil Ganondorf, and it is your responsibility to bring harmony back to the world. Naturally, different weapons and items are available for your use depending on which time you are in, and some puzzles in the world require you to make use of both.

If there is anything that this game stood out for among others of its time, and perhaps even among modern games, it would be its scale; the world of Hyrule is massive. You start in a small, secluded forest inhabited by fairy folk, but soon find yourself awing at the expansiveness of the world; you travel over broad plains, sometimes by horse-back, you scale towering, volcanic mountaintops, dive to the bottom of a lake, and traverse a mysterious desert. This was the first Zelda game to foray into a 3D world, and it did so with impeccable style, taking full advantage of the Nintendo64's capabilities. The world of Hyrule is to be marvelled at; from the low plains of Hyrule Field you can see in the distance a huge mountain, and the smoke emanating from its fiery peaks.

The world of Hyrule stands out not only for its expansiveness, its beauty is to be marvelled at and its elements show incredible synergy. As you travel the land, you will see the days slowly pass; the sun will descend below the horizon with the moon taking its place, and night will bring all new enemies out of hiding for you to dispose of. Almost from the outset, you are able to venture through the majority of the world's localities. The world and its inhabitants elegantly coalesce, not only do they provide guidance for your journey, they also provide useful items, and some with only the value of novelty, if you so choose to pursue them. there are many there with the sole goal of comic relief. The dungeons and temples, which constitute the path for progression through the game's story are cleverly woven with the world, and a number of the series familiar foes return to impede you in your journey.

With modern games, there are many different control schemes that developers are experimenting with, testing the impact that they have on gameplay, especially so with the stylus of the Nintendo DS and the Wii's revolutionary wand, but at Ocarina of Time's release, many other games had awkward at best control schemes, and this was an area in which it set itself apart from the competition. Ocarina of Time's camera would dynamically adjust as you move Link about the world, always bringing a clear view of the action. The 64's Z-button will act as a targeter to place your focus on different enemies, and is an elegant well thought out system - features commodotised today, but transcendental for its time.

Ocarina of Time's music was composed by returning series veteran Koji Kondo. It is a striking soundtrack, and features a number of memorable tunes, some returning from earlier titles in the series. It draws from a wide array of influences, from songs reminiscent of Muslim religious music (which Nintendo was sued for, until it was later slightly modified), to Spanish flamenco-like melodies. Early on you would acquire an Ocarina, which throughout the game continues to adopt new and useful functions, you can play it to manipulate the world in a variety of ways, from calling upon your horse, or changing night to day.

The sheer sense of scale in this world makes it a wonderful place to explore, and there are colourful characters and a host of hidden treasures awaiting you, the greatest of which is no doubt the pleasure of the experience; the world of Hyrule is easy to be immersed in. The game has immense replay value, and will certainly keep you coming back for more. Ocarina of Time is a game that set a new benchmark for the expressiveness of games, and will long be remembered among gamers. Take a dive into the mind of Miyamoto, you owe it to yourself.