The Legend of Zelda was
released for Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, with a sequel "The
Adventure of Link" following. In the early 1990's "A Link to the Past"
for the Super NES and "Link's Awakening" for the Game Boy. These were
the only real Zelda games up until 1998 when The Legend of Zelda series
makes it's return, with skyrocketing success. But is it as good as many
say it is? The game starts off with a nameable character living in a
village. When the Great Deku tree summons him, Link (or your name for
the character) must rid the inside of the tree of evil. Then you get a
cut scene about the creation of Hyrule. Then your quest starts. I do
not want to spoil anymore about the story, it is very good with some
plot twists and important events. The gameplay is unlike any Zelda game
before it. Most Zelda games had 2D top down combat. But here, the
combat is in full 3D. The new lock-on feature allows you to keep your
camera and attacks toward the enemy that you are locked-on to. It is an
easy system that is not hard to learn and you will quickly become at
home with it. There is also a roll that is useful when evading attacks.
Overall, the combat is very good and well done. The Dungeons return,
you go to many of them including a Forest Temple, Fire Temple, and
Water Temple, just to name a few. These are very challenging, but
original areas. Link will need to go to several areas in the game, all
of which can be reached from the over world like area named "Hyrule
Field." It is very big and is hard to get around without Epona, Link's
horse. However you do not get her until later in the game.
You get many items in this game, for example, there is: a regular
sword, the Master Sword, Hover Boots, Din's Fire, fire arrows, Deku
Nuts/Sticks and more. You will also be getting different tunics to
match the conditions of an area you are trying to enter. For example,
the red tunic will let you go into hot areas and the blue tunic will
let you go into water without drowning. The gameplay is addicting and
fun, while at the same time very hard. Puzzles are more challenging
than ever and the bosses can be a nightmare if you don't know what you
are doing. The sword based combat works well and I am very happy with
it. Overall, the game is amazing, this is easily the best part about
this game. The game has many side quests that you will want to do. The
BigGoron Sword is a sword as long as Link's body and is the most
powerful weapon in the game, but you can only get it by running from
place to place exchanging items in one of the side quests. Another one
involves finding heart pieces, when you get four of them, you get a new
heart container. However, you will want to do these things before you
finish the game. So once you finish the game, all that's left to do is
any unfinished side quests. Overall, this game is simply amazing. This
game is one of the best to come out in 1998 and is on par with other
great games to come out in the same year, like Metal Gear Solid. This
is the Nintendo 64 at it's best, any Nintendo 64 owner who does not own
this game is making a mistake, this is the best Nintendo 64 game there
is!-Brandon
BSG
Breakdown
Gameplay - 10, The sword based combat is amazing, the new lock-on
feature works very well
Story - 10, Great story with twists and turns to keep you guessing
Replay Value - 9, Unfinished Side quests
Overall Score - 9.7
