The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a 1998 action adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo, released for the Nintendo 64, GameCube, and iQue Player.  Serving as the fifth installment in The Legend of Zelda series, the plot follows Link in the land of Hyrule, who sets out on a quest to stop Ganondorf, king of the Gerudo tribe, from obtaining the Triforce, a sacred relic that grants the wishes of its holder.

Positives:

• Good story
• Exciting gameplay
• Terrific soundtrack
• Great characters
• Large open world

Negatives:

• Dated graphics
• Lacks content
• Lacks replayibility

Campaign: The game does feature an extensive campaign that does tell a compelling story. There are a lot of great characters that are not only cool but memorable. There is Link, the silent protagonist and the main hero of the story.  Princess Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, enlist the aid of Link to stop the antagonist, Ganondorf.  One of the problems with the story is the lack of exposition in the world and the history. (3 out of 5)

Gameplay: The gameplay is pretty fun as well as challenging especially when it comes to the combat and puzzles. The various enemies to provide a challenge and for players to be more strategic. There’s a large variety of weapons and equipment for both exploration and combat as well as magical abilities. Hyrule is a vast open world and will take some time to explore. Players will learn about the land, discover hidden treasures, play mini-games, and challenge monsters. (3 out of 5)

Graphics: Although impressive for its time the graphics are dated. However, it does still manage to maintain a certain beauty and charm where the colors look very vibrant. Character detail or lack thereof can be a bit comical at times. This is definitely ready for a HD remake (which came out for the 3DS). The open-world of Hyrule is actually beautiful even though the environment does look like cardboard close up. (2 out of 5)

Score: The score is absolutely phenomenal. There are so many terrific songs that just standing in one spot and simply listening is more than enjoyable. The Lost Woods theme is absolutely epic. So the fact that it doesn’t have any voice performances does suck. There is no reason this game should not have any voice performances. (4 out of 5)

Replay Value: There are a lot of things to do; a lot of secrets to discover and a lot of treasures to find. The campaign does feel lackluster when it comes to replayability. They’re all the gold skulltulas which are scattered all throughout the game as well as the heart pieces. Even the time jumps between Adult Link and young link do provide some measure of replay value. There is a serious lack of content. There are no hidden content that can be sought after to learn about the war preceding the main story, history about Hyrule and its people, nor of other lands. No books detailing the backstory of Hyrule or the various races. Once a player beats the game there is literally no reason to go back outside of possibly finding heart pieces as well as gold skulltulas. (2 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a great game and does tell a good story. However, it does suffer from a serious lack of content, dated graphics as well as replayability when it comes to the main campaign. Despite these negatives it does deserve praise when it comes to the story, characters, gameplay, open world, and terrific soundtrack.  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time gets 3 out of 5.