The Legend of Zelda:
Ocarina of Time/Master Quest (GCN)
Overview: Released
as a bonus disk in early 2003, Zelda, Ocarina of Time Mater Quest was highly
anticipated in the gamming community. Only to be released in Japan, all of us
everywhere else in the world had lost hope, until NOA reps stated that over 500
E-mails had been received on the topic, and they were to release the disk
world-wide. Ocarina of Time Master Quest is, basically just a re-make of one of
the best games of all time, but includes the never-before released Master
Quest, which includes newly laid-out dungeons and an ultimate challenge.
Story: The story
in Master Quest is exactly how we remember it, compelling, deep if you want it
to be, and makes the game a blast to play through. Other than that, the story
remains un-spoiled and un-touched:
A Long Time Ago...
Before life began, before the world had form, three golden
goddesses descended upon the chaotic
Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land to create
the earth. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth to
give the spirit of law to the world. Farore's rich
soul created all life forms who would uphold the law.
These three great goddesses returned to the heavens, leaving
behind the golden sacred Triforce. Since then, the Triforce has become the basis for Hyrule's
providence. Where the Triforce stood became sacred
land.
In the vast, deep
His name was Link.
Early one morning, Link was having a bad nightmare. It was
the same nightmare he had every night. During a storm, Link would find himself
standing in front of a mysterious castle. A rider on horseback, carrying a
girl, would race by. The girl would look at link as if to say something. Then,
another rider would appear. This big man clad in back would look down
menacingly at Link.
Link would then awaken.
"Link! Hey, get up, Link! The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you!"
As link opened his eyes, he saw a fairy floating in front of him.
This fairy's name was Navi. Navi
was sent to summon Link to the Great Deku Tree.
"Oh Navi, thou hast returned!"
said the Deku Tree. "Thank you, Link, for
coming. Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless, and full of
nightmares. A vile climate pervades this world. Verily, ye have felt it. The
time has come to test thine courage. I have been
cursed. I need you to dispel the curse with your wisdom and courage. Art thou
prepared?"
Link entered the Deku Tree and broke the
curse.
"Well done, Link! I knew that the were
worthy of carrying out my wishes. A wicked man of the desert cast this dreadful
curse on me. Employing his vile, sourcerous energies,
the evil one is searching for the Sacred Realm connected to Hyrule.
For it is there that one will find the divine relic, the Triforce,
that contains the essence of the Gods. Whoever holds the Triforce
can make their wishes come true. Thou must never allow the desert man to lay
his hands on the sacred Triforce. Thou must never
suffer that man to enter the Sacred Realm of legend. Link, go now to
The Great Deku Tree gave Link the
Spiritual Stone of the forest. Before dying, the Deku
Tree's last words were,
"The future depends on thee, Link. Thou art courageous."
Story from Zeldaphonix.com
Sound: Same goes
with the sound. Even though you are playing on the Gamecube,
the sound is exactly the same as the original N64 version, which by all means
isn’t a bad thing. The sound in Ocarina of Time makes you really believe you’re
there, and you’ll be humming those little ditties inside your head for days.
Graphics: In the
MQ disk, you can defiantly tell that this was an N64 game, looking rather
dated. But the gurus over at Nintendo have upped the resolution to more than
double what it was before, making the graphics looked pretty polished. They
have also taken the liberty to get rid of the bothersome slowdown (like
entering the water temple) which is very cool. Other than that, the game runs
at the same frame rate, and has all the original graphics.
Gameplay:
Now, because this is just a remake of Ocarina of Time, I would have given this
area an average score, but, because the disk includes the almighty Master
Quest, the game has to be looked at a little closer than that. The Master Quest
can be defined as just plain awesome. All twelve of the games original dungeons
have been re-done, and are very fun to play through, but, they are also
insanely difficult. But thankfully the guys at Nintendo have included an
On-Line player’s guide absolutely free to help you through it at www.zelda.com/ocarina.
The one complaint about the gameplay is the controls.
You can definitely tell that the game was meant to be played on the N64
controller, being that playing the Ocarina with the C-stick is kind of
troublesome, and the GCN’s control stick is less
sensitive, making shooting at small targets a little bit difficult. But, other
than that, the disk is awesome.
Re-play Value: This
disk has tons of re-play value, at least with Master Quest. This is if you have
completely worn out Ocarina of Time, like many of us hard core Zelda fans have,
but it is still pretty cool to play through it again what with the updated
graphics and all. But the real gold winner hear is Master Quest. The game is so
fun to play through, so you will want to try over and over, and, if you’re that
type of gamer, you’ll want to Master it, which is by no means and easy task.
But all in all, the MQ disk is pretty good in the re-play value department.
Presentation: Now,
because this disk was a promotion, a re-lease of a classics and an inclusion of
a never-before seen game, presentation is where it all counts. Nintendo disk a
very good job of making Ocarina of Time and Master Quest a blast to play
through. They have upped the resolution by a ton, and in fact, the game lets
you play in progressive scan mode! Also, this version of Ocarina of Time can be
labeled as version 1.3, as Nintendo has removed almost all the glitches in the
game, and problems such as slowdown are almost completely gone. The disk also
includes video previews of some games to come, which is a very nice touch.
Overall: Overall,
The Ocarina of Time/ Master Quest disk is just plain awesome. The graphics has
been updated, you get to play through a whole new version of the game, and best of all, it is the original Ocarina of Time we
all know and love. Nintendo has done an excellent job with this disk, making it
very demanded among the public. The only one gripe with this disk is the
control, but that really couldn’t be helped, and they did a pretty good job and
keeping it enjoyable to play. MQ is very nice, and should be looked at if
you’re into the Zelda series.
Score:
Story: 8
Sound: 8
Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 9
Replay: 7
Presentation: 10
Overall: 8 (Not an average)