The Legend Continues

Sometime in early November, my roommate and I saw a commercial for a video game. It featured a classic hero fighting beautifully rendered 3-D enemies in a quest to save a princess. A cliché story line, but nevertheless, when the commercial was over, we both turned to each other and uttered one word: "Damn." The game was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (aka Zelda 64) for the Nintendo 64. I had to play it.

After finishing the game, I can truly say it is the best video game in creation to date. The story is the same as before, with a small twist. You start as Link, a small boy who must recover three stones to protect the Triforce from Gannondorf, the current incarnation of evil. After mastering three 'dungeons,' Link grows up, traveling forward in time seven years to collect six medallions, again in an effort to save Hyrule. Six temple mazes and one horse later, once again Link fights the epic battle with Gannondorf for mastery of the Triforce, Zelda and the fate of Hyrule.

So what makes it so different from other Zeldas?

*Graphics and Play Control: Zelda 64 boasts the best implemented 3-D environment ever in a video game; it is smoother and easier to control than Mario 64. The new 'Z-targeting' system, which allows Link to rotate 360 degrees around an enemy without taking his eyes off it, makes battle sequences realistic while maintaining excellent play control.

*Depth: There are many items to be found in the land of Hyrule, both necessary to the completion of the game and not. I played Zelda 64 for hours even after I had beaten it to collect all of the secret items. My favorite is the Big Goron Sword, which turns Link into an ass-kicking machine.

*Puzzles: This is not a beat'em up game. Multitudes of puzzles need to be solved to get treasures, complete mazes, kill enemies and even get the aforementioned Big Goron Sword. You will not go far if you don't bomb every wall, shoot every odd statue and play Ocarina songs in strange places.

This is the first time I've been drawn to a Nintendo game since I stopped playing them in the early 90s. The characters seem like old friends on the screen, sucking the player into the fantasy world of Hyrule one last time. -By Dave Nigro