The graphics of Zelda
64 are some of the best
seen seen on the Nintendo 64 yet. They are easily better than those of most PC games that require the use of the Voodoo 2 accelerater. The artists paid attention to every minute detail to bring the immersion to the most realistic level possible. The enemies and bosses are so huge |
and contain
so many polygons, they
make one
wonder if the Nintendo 64 will ever have a limit to its power. The sound in Zelda 64 was so incredibly done that it makes you feel like you're really in the kingdom of Hyrule. The programmers did so well with the |
surround-sound that you can almost
close your
eyes and navigate through the
world. Again, the
programmers paid attention to
every possible
detail: when Link is in a cave,
the sounds echo;
when he's under water, everything
has "fluidic"
sound to it. The music
in Zelda 64 is as incredible
|
as the sound effects
- everything from the fully-
orchestrated pieces on the ocarina to the choral sounds in the Temple of Time. The music even gets that fluidic sound when Link is underwater! The controls in Zelda 64 are wonderful in that they allow the player to freely explore the terrain |
without having to
worry about when to jump, etc..
The action button idea makes it really easy to do many different kinds of action without having to use several different buttons. The only part that falls short is the inability to directly control the camera, leaving the player facing a wall at times |
when in tight corridors
with corners.
The story line is one of the best in the Zelda series, and it is wonderfully evoked through the use of the 60 minutes or so of real-time FMV sequences. The story explains the creation of Hyrule and the histories of Ganondorf and Link through-out the |
progression of the
game.
Zelda 64 has an excellent replay value because of the countless subgames (like the fishing game) and the hundreds of items to collect. As of now, I'm still missing seven heart pieces, and I have 68 skulltulas of 100. Some of the subgames include |
the horseback archery,
the fishing game, the
diving game, and the various games in shops. All of these subgames alone could potentially keep a player busy for hours-on-end. (The fishing game could have even been released as a separate video game and sold tons of copies.) |
Overall, Zelda 64 is worth the
$59.99 price. If
you don't have a Nintendo 64
yet (what's wrong
with you!?), this game is the
best reason yet to
purchase one. As long as
Nintendo has Shigeru
Miyamoto, you can trust the company
with more
games as good as Zelda and Mario.
|
Category | Rating |
Graphics | 10 |
Sound/Music | 10 |
Controls | 9.7 |
Story | 10 |
Replay/Extras | 10 |
Overall | 9.9 |