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Thursday 21 February, 2008
LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME
SESSION #1
SUMMARY: In OOT, you play the role of the Link, a young boy who's destined to save the land of Hyrule from evil forces. OOT is an action based RPG, which includes traversing the vast land of Hyrule while visiting dungeons and towns. Link uses his sword, shield, boy, and a wide variety of other items in order to conquer obstacles that come in his way.
GAMEPLAY: OOT is just one of those games that has that magical feeling that prevents you from putting the game down after starting it. This game simply has the perfect balance of combat, story, puzzle solving, and exploration. The game has a stunning level of originality, along with some outstanding songs. Right from the start in Kokiri village, you can feel the magical natural aura of the green vegetation along with the buzzing fairies. The tutorial aspects in the village not only teach you the basic sword, shield, and movement mechanics, but presents them in a non linear way. By exploring different areas of the village, you can learn various gameplay aspects.
The first dungeon, the Great Deku Tree, exemplifies many of OOT’s innovative systems. The combat system, Z-Targeting, makes good use of the N64 controller to make a combat system. When an enemy is targeted, the camera centers around the enemy, and Link goes into an offensive stance. This system is great because the enemy and Link are both always on screen and are in plain view. The initial enemies are stationary (parasitic flowers and spiders), and so the game eases you into combat. Zelda mainstays like the dungeon map, compass, and the dungeon specific treasure are still in effect. And each of these treasures lies within a puzzle or enemy guarded room in the Great Deku Tree. One innovative aspect of the Deku Tree is the spider web that blocks certain rooms and passages. In one instance, in once instance, you are required to jump from a high platform to stretch and break through the web to get to the floor below. In another instance, you use fire via a deku stick to burn the web. The treasure of the dungeon, the Slingshot, is a wonderful reward, as it is immediately effective against pesky hard to reach spiders.
The combat in the Deku tree turns intense with the boss Gohma, a giant spider parasite which attacks viciously while pumping out baby spawn. The feel and intensity of this battle is terrific, as the music and graphics of the boss arena set a dark and dangerous feel. It is certainly satisfying to hear the slashing and ripping sounds as the metal sword slashes through the boss’s eye. As the boss is defeated, you are rewarded with a heart container, and more of the intriguing story is revealed as the Deku Tree gives you a sparkly green emerald.
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