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I Picked up Zelda OOT 3D on friday, and after a weekend playing it almost non stop..here are my thoughts.
edit: Short version of the below (its a bit long) - It's an awesome game, its a reason to buy a 3DS, and it's worth the £170 that it will cost you to buy a 3DS and the game!
The Nintendo 3DS was released earlier this year with a lot of fanfare. There were preview events all over the country, mass advertising..and an awful lot of anticipation. The console itself was great - a technical work of art - but there was one key problem..the complete lack of good games for the system. There was pilotwings (really a fancy tech demo), and a couple of bog standard ports/franchise tie ins (Lego Starwars, Nintendogs, Pro Evo) but no real big name game to push sales.
This has now changed - if you have been putting off buying a 3DS, now is the time the take the plunge. Zelda has landed..
Hyperbole aside, Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time 3D is one of the two reasons that I personally picked up a 3DS (Starfox being the other), and I am very glad that I did. I loved the original OOT on the N64, playing it to death more than once. It was really one of the first "open world" RPG/Action hybrids to be released (especially on a console), with more gaming firsts than you could shake a stick at..but one big question still remained in my mind. Has this game stood the test of time..is it still as magical in 2011 as it was in 1998? Luckily, the answer is an emphatic yes!
For those that never played the original - You control Link, a boy who has a nice simple life in the forest, which is turned around very early on when he is sent on a series of quests to save the world. Along the way you fight through a number of Temples (aka: dungeons), complete numerous side quests (e.g. catching chickens!) and collect a whole bunch of items. Your adventure is played out in the lands of Hyrule, and you are completely free to roam about as you wish. There is an implied order of events that you are pushed towards (and following this pattern does make things easier for you), however the gameplay is still completely free - it's up to you if you go straight to the Deku tree or if you play with your childhood friends first. It's up to you if you want to just roam around collecting items rather than doing some questing, or hunting for random enemies to beat up. How you play can also have an impact on your progression through the game. For example along the way you need to upgrade your shield from a wooden one to a metal one, and there are at least 3 ways to do this. You can just save up the money and buy it from the shop, you can complete a side quest involving a mask and get a discount, or you can complete a different side quest and then get it completely free..or you can do all 3! None of this is that new in 2011, however in 2008 this was ground-breaking stuff, and even in 2011 this is pretty impressive on a handheld console.
I'm not going to review the actual gameplay much, suffice to say that it's the same as the original, which is no bad thing. Instead, I want to comment on what's new. Of course the biggest thing is the 3D effect and upgraded graphics. Starting off in 2D mode the game looks simply stunning - there is a lot of detail in the models and environments, and it looks like something that should be on a fully fledged (previous generation) console, rather than a handheld. It is easily the best looking game that has been released for the 3DS so far, and is a good example of what is possible on the console if time and effort is put in to it. The graphics really begin to shine though when you turn the 3D effect on. It's the best use of 3D so far in my opinion. The extra level of depth that it gives you changes the world completely, and you can really start to feel like you are interacting with the game world, rather than just sat on your sofa pressing buttons. Outside scenes feel larger and more open, interiors (especially the temples) also feel roomier, and well..in 3D. As you can tell, the effect is hard to describe but it's impressive. I'd suggest that you get down to your local gamestore and have a go just to see how good the 3D effect can really be. Adding yet another dimension here is the audio. I have been playing the game at various volume levels without headphones, but yesterday I was stood in the middle of a forest and there were birds tweeting..but I could hear them all around my head. This kind of thing happens through ought the game, really showcasing the 3D audio positioning capabilities of the 3DS. Of course it works best with headphones, but it was nice to hear it working without.
The developers have also included a bunch of new aspects to the game - nothing ground-breaking but they all add to the experience. You can now use the 3DS Gyro to aim various weapons, and to look around the world. This is one of the more questionable changes - it does work well, but it does tend to break the 3D effect when you do it. As a result I tend to switch to 2D mode temporarily when I am going to aim - no big deal. There are also new "vision quests" which are basically hints on what to do next - I’ve not even looked at this part of the game as it's really just something to help new players out, and I don't really see much benefit to this for me. Finally there are some new time trial aspects where you can time your progress through certain stages of the game, which does add some extra replay ability aspects. Otherwise the stock game is pretty much untouched. There are two new game modes which become available after completing it on normal - the "Master Quest" and "Boss Challenge" modes. Master quest gives you the chance to play through the game with increased difficulty and mirrored dungeons/worlds. It doesn't sound like a big change but somehow you do still want to replay this game time and time again, and this makes things a little different. "Boss Challenge" lets you replay all the boss fights in the game, sequentially. It can be fun for a while but it's nothing too special. Nice added value though.
One other thing that does deserve a mention here is the 3DS Browser. Many people will get stuck in this game, and since the recent 3DS update, you can now launch the browser in game (press home, then click on the browser in the top right corner), a bit like the Steam Overlay. This means you can look up how to get past a certain boss, or where to go next in a temple if you get really stuck. Nice.
There is a lot that could be said about this game, but the best advice if you are looking for a thorough review would be to go and read a review of the N64 version - it is the same game just made better in every way. If you own a 3DS, go and buy this game. If you don't - then go and buy a 3DS and then buy this game. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.
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Originally Posted by Spud1
