NAME: Legend of Zelda: the Ocarina of Time
SYSTEM: Nintendo 64
MAKER: Nintendo
PRODUCER: Shigeru Miyamoto
GENRE: Adventure/RPG

GRAPHICS: 10. Crisp, with no pop-up, fog, tearing... the best N64 games get
MUSIC: 10. Really adds to the effect
FUN: 10. Gee, do ya think...?
REPLAY: 7. This game is so huge, when you start playing again you've forgotten how to win
DIFFICULTY: 10. Not for sap-suckers
ENDING: N/A (haven't seen it)
STORYLINE: 8. Awesome, but a bit too Shinto for my liking
MULTIPLAYER: N/A (one-player)
ORIGINALITY: 8. Like the first four but much better, and the control scheme is brilliant
REALISM: 9. You already knew this, didn't you? Wow, time even passes
CONTROL: 10. Extremely clever
MATURITY: 7. Quite a bit of fairy-tale stuff, but some parts are fit for a horror flick

Wow. Wow wow wow. This has been largely hyped ever since it was announced... and it lives 
up to every expectation!! Where do I start. The graphics are simply amazing. Play for a 
couple of minutes and you'll see. The music is very well fitting, and beautiful. Heck, the 
ocarina even sounds like a real one! The controls are really original. Take, for example, 
the Z Targeting. Tap it once, and you lock on to an enemy, person, rock, sign, fish, 
whatever. While you're locked on you can do a number of special things: special, higher-
efficency sword moves, shoot weapons and hold your shield while you're walking, always stay 
focused on an enemy, get advice from your fairy, and so on. And while I'm on the subject, 
the fairy can give out some pretty useful advice. And don't get me started on the A button. 
Now, if you've read the review for Zelda 3, then you'll remember that I didn't particularly 
like the religion-adorned storyline. But, man, that was small potatoes compared to OoT's 
story. For example, read the first three or four paragraphs in the manual's story. In case 
you didn't know, the whole ghost-gods-temple-sage-spirit-magic thing is called Shinto. 
It's a religion used by almost everyone in Japan. And, like I also said before, it's 
everywhere in this game, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Figure it out for yourself. The story is 
still awesome, though. Every part, when viewed by the normal person (psh) is perfect. Period.

OVERALL: ********** 100%                            !@#$%^&* CRANIUM'S CHOICE AWARD! @#$%^&*

Reviewed on New Year's Day, 1999