I'm going to be brutally honest in this review. Whenever discussions with fellow gamers shift to "Ocarina", I always get uncomfortable. They laud this game as "the best game of all time". They talk about it's genius gameplay, it's wonderful characters and story, and of course, it's many memorable moments. But, to be honest, past and future Zeldas have done it far, far better.
That's right, I never cared much for "Ocarina of Time". It was okay. Passable. Satisfactory. But definitely not "best of all time" material.
You have to understand, though, that I never had "Ocarina" back in the N64 days. I was too busy having fun with games like "Paper Mario", "Super Smash Bros.", and "Super Mario 64". The GameCube rolled around soon after, and I was engrossed in games like "Metroid Prime", "Super Mario Sunshine", and "Wind Waker". I hadn't gotten around to "Ocarina" until after I had beaten all of those games, and by then it felt bland and uninspired. Not bad, by any means, but not great.
I had loved other Zelda games. "Majora's Mask" was fantastic. "Wind Waker" was phenomenal. "Link to the Past" was amazing. "Ocarina of Time" was just okay.
Maybe the reason I don't care for it so much is that it's way past it's prime. The only quality backing it up now is nostalgia. I never played it back when it was considered "new" and "refreshing", adjectives that simply don't apply to it now. It feels outdated. The story is cliche by now. The controls feel a little clunky without an N64 controller, which is a pretty funky controller to begin with. The characters are uninspired and don't have much personality. And the whole time travel schtick is far too similar to other Zelda games that execute the "dual worlds" concept far better.
If you grew up with this game, I'm not saying you should drop it and move on. I'm just saying that I never got into this game, and if you've never played it before, perhaps you can let it pass.
Rating: ** 1/2
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