November of 1998 came around and I, like many other gamers, was eagerly awaiting the latest release of one of my favorite series of all time: The Legend of Zelda. Having only acquired my N64 a few weeks before, I had not reserved a Gold copy, but on the day of release I drove home with a copy of the game nonetheless. Tearing the game out of the package and paying the brief lip service to the instruction manual I popped this little cart into my N64 and prepared to let Zelda goodness wash over me. However, a couple of weeks later when I finished The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time I couldn't help but have mixed feelings.

Graphics 90% The graphics were quite excellent and among the best I've seen for a game. The faces of the characters are, by far, the most detailed I've seen in game. Link, Zelda and others will smile, blink, gasp in surprise, and more as you watch. Water effects were also amazing. Animation was very fluid and gives the characters yet another dimension. The vast landscapes and scenery, like that first view of Death Mountain, also contributed to the game greatly.

Control 95% The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the best controlling 3D game ever made, period. Link handles very smoothly despite the clunky N64 controller and the camera manages not to get in the way of the game very much. Z Targeting is a god's gift to 3D gaming as it makes every action easy and makes combat very fun indeed (Dueling with Staflos is a blast!) The implementation of the "C" Weapons is also done very well allowing for more freedom of choice on what to carry than its previous Zelda titles without having to bring up a subscreen every few seconds. The only major problem with the control occurred with flying enemies who were frustratingly hard to target and kill before you get hit. One minor problem was the lack of jumping. The reason it was only minor is because it doesn't affect the game very much, but it DOES affect it.

Gameplay 60% This is where Zelda started to come apart. In continuing the tradition of previous Zelda games you're expected to figure out most of what you are supposed to do on your own with a few minor hints along the way. Unfortunately Zelda:OoT doesn't provide enough of those hints and to make matters worse makes some objectives very obscure. In particular, I refer to the quest to get to Lord Jabu-Jabu, but it occurs throughout the game frustratingly often. I would even go so far as to say that Nintendo made them vague in order to make people buy their Strategy Guide or to call their hideously expensive help line.

In addition the sheer size of the world starts to be become more of an annoyance than a feature. After having to spend 5 minutes crossing Hyrule Field for the hundredth time with rarely an enemy to break up the monotony is just bad design. Epona helps this somewhat, but it's still quite a long and boring trip from one side of Hyrule to the other.

Fortunately for Zelda, those major flaws are somewhat mitigated by some good features. The dungeon design is fabulous and has emerged intact and better than ever. Dungeons are imaginative, interesting, and challenging not to mention immersive. They are also difficult enough to keep you going without being so hard as to become frustrating. The mini-games are also entertaining, but provide only a minor diversion (which is why they're called MINI-games people).

Storyline 40% If Gameplay is where Zelda starts to go downhill the story is where it goes of a 1000-foot cliff in a flaming gasoline tanker. I'm quite aware that Zelda is only an RPG if you are very generous with the term, but that's no excuse for the regurgitation of plot that we have in Zelda. As I am fond of telling my friends, "Have you played Zelda: A Link to the Past? Good. That's what Zelda: Ocarina of Time is, but in 3D this time".

The goal of Zelda games has always been the same, just with different details, but OoT barely even changes them from its SNES predecessor. The story of getting 3 medallions/crystals and then going to an alternate world to get more/the rest of them has been done in A Link to the Past and the way Nintendo barely changed them at all was insulting to long time Zelda fans like myself. Would it have been so hard to have something new? Why can't Link go on a neat NEW adventure like he did in the Gameboy incarnation of the series?

Music 85% The music score would have been much higher if Nintendo had not pulled yet another major blunder. Nintendo axed the famous Zelda overworld theme. The theme that longtime fans grew up listening to, and even new fans were well aquatinted with is nowhere to be found. I KNOW that I had a lot less fun with this game because it was not there. I might have even been willing to overlook the unnecessarily large overworld if the Zelda theme was included to romp along to. If Nintendo wanted to do something new with it they could have done orchestrated or other "variations".

Other than this HUGE mistake the Zelda music is well above average. The Ocarina tunes are interesting and well composed, but I wish they'd been longer. Other themes like Gurudo Village are good as well. The BG music for the dungeons is average. Not great, but it doesn't detract from the game either. The only theme that really suffers in this game is the Overworld theme and that is mostly because of the comparisons to the Zelda theme that should have been there. The sound effects are well done and nicely spaced so as not to become repetitive, but Link's grunting and Navi shouting "Hey!" every few seconds really, really wears thin very quickly.

Overall 74% Zelda: The Ocarina of Time could have been one of the best Zelda games ever, but instead I'm forced to wonder what might have been. The game played like a dream, but unfortunately Nintendo turned that dream into a nightmare by not properly executing the rest of the game.