Let’s state the obvious–yes, I pre-ordered Ocarina of Time for the 3DS and yes, I spent a good 3 hours playing it this afternoon ignoring all else. After about an hour and half of the 3D my eyes started to hurt a little so I had to turn off the 3D setting. That’s the only flaw with the game–I can’t look through the 3D view for too long.
Other than that, and the smaller screen, Ocarina of Time for the 3DS is enough reason to buy a 3DS. Oh wait… I think that’s why I bought one. Hard to believe it’s been a full 13 years since the original N64 version was released, and while I was hoping for a new TLoZ game for the handheld systems, I’m pretty damn satisfied with this remake.
I’ve written about TLoZ before as being my favorite video game franchise, basically because “Link’s Awakening” was the first handheld game I played. Now playing this new version of OoT for the 3DS I felt like a kid again, as I was rediscovering everything I loved about Ocarina of Time.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember much of the temples or any of the secrets so I didn’t breeze through the game. Hell, I can’t even remember the bosses from “Spirit Tracks”. But I’m not going to sit here and write a walkthrough or review the game. You’ve read all the reviews already, so you already know that this game is awesome.
I played about 3-4 hours today before I finally decided to switch gears up a little and play Alice: Madness Returns (blog post coming tomorrow), and wanted to take some time to draw the connection between Nintendo’s smart move to use Robin Williams and his daughter, Zelda (named after the Princess Zelda) for this particular game commercial. You’ve already seen this commercial and probably got a bit teary-eyed, simultaneously shitting bricks with excitement as well, I suppose… wow, that’s just not a pretty picture at all. But anyway, before I started playing OoT, I thought it was a great commercial, Robin Williams just earned +1000 points in my book, etc etc etc… especially for those of us who grew up with TLoZ games, we already know the drill–don’t go on a slashing spree with the Cucco’s, try to break all the pots you find even in someone’s home, destroying bushes is a necessity when you’re poor but it’s such a waste of time. However, once you find yourself actually playing the game (again, on the 3DS) it truly takes you back to your childhood–in the same way as sneaking into your old middle school to play tetherball with your friends, you know? I’m throwing around the term “childhood” even though some of the readers of this blog aren’t in their early twenties, but maybe their early thirties–it takes you back to your youth, when you were less of an adult. I was wondering why the designers this time made Link look even moreso like a kid than ever (really, you want the peace of Hyrule to rest on this mute kid??) but I’m not going to question that logic because throughout the years, TLoZ games have always been games for everyone. They don’t have blood and gore, it’s not insanely difficult, the recurring characters are very memorable, and the temples require the right combination of puzzle-solving techniques and skill. The stories are also compelling enough, simple as they may seem–humble dude saves lovely princess and kingdom–but there’s always some kind of crazy variation in the gameplay to keep things exciting. I would also like to point out how great the soundtracks always are for these games. There aren’t too many theme songs are considered classics, themes that we can instantly identify within 5 seconds, but every single time I hear the TLoZ theme, my heart is ready for adventure again.
Played on the ocarina, of course.
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