If you mention the words "Ocarina of Time" around people of a certain age, who owned an N64, the chances are you'll see a little something light up in their eye. Amongst many, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is considered as one of the greatest games of all time. Following Link, a young boy on an epic quest to save his land from the evil Ganondorf, it won plaudits for its puzzling dungeons, strong story, and the sheer amount of things there were to see and do.
And much in the same way as Pilotwings Resort, which we looked at yesterday, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is also getting an outing on the 3DS. But while many may have been satisfied if Nintendo had simply crammed the N64 game onto a 3DS cartridge, the company have gone a lot further than that, as Ocarina of Time 3D is a complete remake.
In the same way as the Pilotwings and Kid Icarus demos, the Ocarina of Time demo we got to play at the recent 3DS event in Amsterdam was split into three sections - the Kokiri Forest, the Deku Tree, and a boss fight against a scary spidery cyclops looking thing known as Queen Gohoma.
Thankfully, the version we played was in English, making the touch screen a lot easier to navigate...
The Kokiri Forest was where we began our adventure - much in the same way to the full Ocarina of Time game - as we ran around the village of the small elvish people, chucking rocks, pulling up grass, slicing signs into tiny pieces, and generally causing trouble. Showing off the full potential of the 3DS's 3D effect, the Kokiri Forest was an impressive demo of the technology, as the map and icons stayed right at the front of the screen, with the rest of the village stretching off into the distance. Whizzing around in-between the fore- and background were little fairy things, that only added to the 3D effect.
A few minutes in, we were quickly introduced to our little fairy guide, Navi, whose annoying "HEY! LISTEN!" was audible even over the crowds of journalists who'd gathered to sample what the latest Zelda had to offer. Always on hand to offer pointers when you're stuck, or simply yell at you, Navi acts as what's effectively a walking and talking tutorial should you ever be unsure of what to do. After doing a bit of investigative journalism (read: exploring the Kokiri Forest), we discovered a small passage which led to a maze, where a giant boulder lay waiting, seemingly patrolling its territory as it bounced off the walls, leaving you to simply pick your spot, and run, while praying you dont find a dead end. Waiting at the end of the maze was a treasure chest, which contained a sword, which you needed to get past the annoying gatekeeper of the Kokiri Forest, Mido. A great example of how 3D can benefit the gameplay, with the 3D slider turned up, it was a lot easier to tell how close the boulder was to young Link, and how long you had left before your imminent squishing. Luckily for us, there were also a number of recesses carved into the wall, which you could dive into while you waited for the boulder to roll past, which made getting from one end to the other a lot easier. In the scope of the demo, however, the Kokiri Forest was simply a hub for chatting to people, and demoing the 3D effects, with little else to do beyond simply attacking any signs that looked at you the wrong way.
Skulltulas - not the favourite enemy of people with arachnaphobia.
And so, having exhausted our options, we moved on to the next section of the demo - the Deku Tree. Zelda games have always been renowned for their dungeons, as they offer adventure in its truest form. With huge, sprawling series of interconnected rooms to explore, and puzzles to solve in practically each one, Zelda is far from a mindless hack and slash - it's a game that asks you to think first, and slice later.
On starting the level in the Deku Tree, you come face to face with a wall, covered in a giant spiders web. In fact, it's a good job it's there, as that web is your only way up, and into the further reaches of the dungeon - the problem is, there's a chuffing huge spider half way up. And while he may move aside were we to ask him nicely, the terrifying skull that's emblazoned on his back makes us think he may not be all that open to discussion. Our sword won't do the job, as we can't slice while halfway up a web - this is a job for the sligshot.
On the N64, switching over to the slingshot always required you to open a menu, set the slingshot on one of the buttons, then quit the menu, and press the button to pull the slingshot out. With its dual screens, the 3DS makes things a heck of a lot easier. Now, if you ever want to change item - whether you want to pull out a stick, or equip your sword, all you have to do is touch the icon on the touch screen, and Link will follow suit - although you'll probably have to have played the N64 game to appreciate how useful that is.
Ah, puzzles. Where would Zelda be without them.
With the slingshot armed, all we had to do then was to aim at the Skulltula, to give them their official name, and shoot - but again, the 3DS does things a tad differently. While you can certainly use the circle pad to aim, if you feel like doing things in a slightly less orthodox way, you can use the gyrosensors in the DS to simply point the DS where you want to shoot. Pointing your 3DS up, down, left and right will aim the slingshot up, down, left and right - the only problem is, if you're trying to use the Cirlce Pad to aim, you'll often find yourself tilting the 3DS slightly, which makes your aiming change. It's a bit of a confusing set-up at the moment, though we're fairly sure it was only for the purpose of the demo - the full game, we'd imagine, will let you choose either/or.
At the top of the web, we came across a ledge, a few more spiders, and, eventually, found ourselves in a room. Upon entering, the door slammed shut and locked behind us, with the familiar-if-you've-played-it-before Zelda jingle letting us know we were in a room with a puzzle. On the one side, a torch burned brightly, while opposite there was a torch that wasn't lit. While it was fairly obvious that the challenge was to light the other torch, it may not be immediately obvious how you're meant to light it. The answer? You use something that burns. Touching the Deku stick icon on the touch screen, we whipped out a stick (God knows where we'd been keeping it, seeing as it's taller than us), and being the pyromaniacs that we are, set it on fire, before legging it to the other torch, and burning that, too. With a familiar jingle, the door unlocked, we were free to carry on into the temple.
The boss, Queen GOHMA in all her/its glory. Pretty scary.
And while we played a fair amount of the rest of the dungeon, it's probably a good idea if we stopped here, as to say any more about what we did would be to spoil the game for yourself. And if the demo's anything to go by, the last thing we'd want to do is spoil the experience. From what we've played, it looks like playing through those dungeons for the first time - solving the puzzles, finding your way through, and saving the kingdom of Hyrule is going to be every bit as enjoyable as it was the first time round.
Now all that's left is for Nintendo to hurry up and set a release date.
