Say Hello to My Little Fairy.
*Massive Spoilers*
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How can you describe a game that practically defined it's time? Game of the year in '97 and a benchmark for many of our childhoods.
There's so many great things about this game, a lot of which you really have experience yourself to get the full effect. Music that is rivaled by few, the composed melodies entrusted to you and your ocarina has a wide range of styles and scale. Beautiful sceneries (amazing for the technology of the time, even if it were a PlayStation game) brought Hyrule to life in the epic adventure of Link, a fairy boy form the Kokiri Forest who has been summoned by the Great Deku Tree, the gaurdian of the Forest.
After liberating the deity of the evils that lurked within him, he reveals Link's destiny, which is to save Hyrule from a great danger in the form of Ganondorf, the King of Thieves (and later Evil). Link sets out for the castle to meet Zelda, the princess of Hyrule, who tells him of the ancient treasure of the land. The Triforce, that which has the power to grant the one who touches it the world. She tells you that you must protect it from Ganondorf at all cost. After you collect the remaining two Spiritual Stones, one from the Gorons of Death Mountain and one from the Zora race in their underwater domain, you return to the palace only to find that Ganondorf's attack has begun, and Zelda has fled the castle with her attendant.
Using the stones, you open the door of time and are transported seven years into the future when Ganondorf's reign has turned the world into a festering tomb of evil. Only by awakening the Sages that await in the scattered temples of Hyrule can you hope to contain him and heal the world.
You travel throughout the land, seeing familiar faces along the way, purging the temples of the evils that block the call to the Chamber of Sages, and returing the land to what it once was.
Once all of the Sages have been awakened, Link returns to the Temple of Time where the rest of the story is revealed, as is Shiek's true identity as Princess Zelda. Zelda grants you the light arrows which staunch the darkness that has chased away the light of Hyrule. Zelda is then teleported to Ganondorf's castle and the challenge is offered; brave the keep to save the damsel. The Sages bind thier powers together and make a bridge that leads to Ganondorf's fortress.
Once the trials are passed, the way to the evil king is open. After a grueling battle and Zelda is freed, you are given three minutes to escape while the stone walls collapse around you. Upon exit, Ganondorf rises from the remains of his "impeneterable" castle and is consumed by his own evil. He becomes the monster Ganon, and the final battle ensues.
After finishing off the former king, the Sages seal Ganon in the Sacred Realm and peace is restored to Hyrule. Zelda returns Link to his time and, with their task complete, Navi returns to the forest. Link however, retuns to Zelda's side, and the rest is up to your imagination. Criers play at your own risk, as the end will choke you up.
Graphics
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Wow. How else could it be put?. Yea, Majora's Mask was a tad crisper but for 1997 this was the pinicle of art given the technology they had to work with. The character models (ignoring some sharp corners in the nose and ear areas) are amazing and were brought to life with good facial expression, along with some superb and fluid animation that gave them a great sense of free movement. The landscape is beautifly crafted (again, ignoring some sharp edges) and really gives the player a sense of exploration when faced with the vastness of Hyrule Field, or the complexity of the many temples and dungeons. Both the characters and thier world have great color and depth, almost to the point of A Link to the Past on the SNES, and are pushed even further with the lighting effects to create the realistic shadows and highlights that would be perfected in Majora's Mask.
Sound
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This was the first game I ever had where I wanted to enjoy the music outside of gameplay, learning how to play the ocarina songs on my guitar and nowadays having a few on my iPod. The tunes are amazing, from the quirky ocarina notes that endlessly loop in the Lost Wood to the eerie tones of the Shadow Temple. The music in any game I believe has the power to suck you in completely to the experience, and this one definately delivers that. From the second you begin the game with the thunder booming and string section wailing as the Deku Tree sends Navi to you, to the end with the string section wailing a much lighter tune as Link accends the stairs to Zelda's side, you can't help but be drawn in. Each area has it's own specialized track to create a unique atmosphere which you can't help but love as it keeps things from getting stale, and your brain from exploding from a 20 second looping MIDI track that many older games cling to and run from start to finish. My favourite bits of music have to be the fully orchestrated songs that serve as warps to the game's temples, they're beautiful and fit the area they send you to perfectly.
Gameplay
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This game handles wonderfully on a system notorious for bad handling, which alone should garner some praise. It makes use of all of the main buttons and does so in a manner which allows for some comfort which is unhead of on the N64 controller. You can run, roll, and dodge enemies from the get go with little practise and the best part is that Link will actually do these things when and where you tell him. He turns on a more of a quarter than a dime while still maintaining the fluid animation I grovelled over earlier. The auto-targeting is intuitive and allows you to choose and change targets with ease and makes the already awsome free roaming combat a lot easier, especially when using the ranged weapons. It also allows you to pull off the jump slash move which is more powerful than your standard swing, while also getting you out of the way of a cold death in the form of whatever you may be fighting's attack. The only thing I could complain about is the difficulty of riding Epona while also attempting to work the bow that are somehow trying to share a control scheme (and I REALLY wanted that extra bottle...).
Replayability
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There's really no REASON to play the game again, as the plot is linear and there's no unlockables after the game's done but really, how could you not? This is one of those games where you'll get an urge to go back and play it every once in a while, even if its just for a few minutes (or so you tell yourself) and then end up spending a week doing nothing but. It's definately better than 90% of the stuff one the N64 so unless you have a really good 10% game on the sidelines patiently waiting for thier turn you'l end up drifting back towards it sooner or later.
Fun Factor
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So much. Sooooooo much fun. Hard at times yes, and frustrating as well, but still undeniably fun. Even if you dont bother progressing, you can go blow all your hard earned rupees at the mini-games, or go fishing, or just wait until the sun goes down and hack away at some zombies. Whatever you choose to do, you'l have a good time doing it.
Score
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Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replayability: 4/5
Fun Factor: 4.5/5
Overall: 35.5/40