Despite the fact that I thought that this would be a major "kiddie game", I bought it anyway, because I kinda have this thing for games where you can cut the shit outta everything…what one can't do in the real world can be done in another, yes? Anyway, thankfully, I was much surprised.

Despite the fact that game had the "E" rating, I certainly would not give it that, simply because of the patience factor. There are a lot of puzzles in the game that require much patience, and thus the game is for a slightly more mature audience than, say, a 6 year old. Either that or I still have to grow up…

Graphically, for a game that does not use the Expansion Pak at all, Ocarina looks excellent. From the little flaming bats to the magic balls that Ganondorf fires at you, it looks superb. Also dungeon textures were well done, and considering the year the game came out (I'm quite sure it was 1998), graphically it is light years ahead of Rare's Goldeneye.

Gameplay is, thankfully, rather simple, albeit VERY repetitive style-wise. How? Well, because just like every other goddamn Zelda game, you have to find your first sword and shield. Common sense would say that a warrior like Link would start out with some decent gear, but no, you have to go into a sidequest to find your goddamn sword…thankfully it's short. There are lots of gizmos as well that are a constant in most of the Zelda games, such as the bow and hookshot (It was in Zelda for the SNES, anyway), as well as some magic, too. I personally liked the fire arrows, meself…

Level/area/dungeon design was awesome, and I don't just mean looks. I mean size, too. The field linking all of the game sections [Volcano, the palace, the forest, the waterfall (which looks gorgeous, almost as nice as Unreal's), etc., etc.], if only I could remember them all…haven't played the game since I beat it last summer.

Despite the mixed feelings from adventure gamers, I would say that the nay-sayers of this game are wrong. The action is solid, the dungeons are huge, it looks nice, plays smoothe, has no easy-to-spot bugs, and despite the new look, the play-style is still vaguely similar to the older Zelda's, except for The Adventures of Link on the NES…which was god-awful hard…Hey, no one said I was a great gamer, right?