The greatest game of all time: Ocarina of Time.

You might be shocked to know that despite being the worlds biggest Sonic fan my favourite game of all time does not feature the blue hedgehog at all. Hell it’s not even done by SEGA, but by their biggest rivals Nintendo.

Yes I am one of those who regard Miyamoto’s N64 masterpiece, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the greatest game ever made. While some might say it’s not THE best game ever few would argue that it deserves a place near the top.

With the recent 3DS remake I ask myself why, after nearly 13 years nothing has come to take its crown. In fact the only game that could claim to be better is itself, strange isn’t it?

So where to begin? I got Ocarina of Time for my Birthday soon after its release, so February 1999. I had rented it previously and was so blown away my money went straight on a shiny new copy of OOT. I had never played a Zelda game before and if I could I would go back in time and punch myself in the face for such stupidity.

Even before you put the game in your N64 you can’t help but look at the simple yet effective box. This game knows it’s good. So good all it needs is a logo and some text in gold writing. Nothing fancy, all it needs to convince you to buy it are the worlds “The”, “Legend”, “of” and “Zelda”.

The first thing you should notice is the brilliant title sequence music. So beautiful and elegant, perfectly describing the world you’ll spend your precious hours in. OOT’s soundtrack is truly one of the most memorable you will ever come across.

Visually the game was ahead of its time. There were moments that literally stunned me to my core, such as the twisting corridors of the Forest Temple. The opening questioning the reason for having FMV over in game cut scenes; it was beautiful and set the scene perfectly.

Even in the opening area the whole place lit up with life and energy rarely seen in games before. Not a drop of the NPC’s personalities held back, Kokiri forest felt oddly strange yet strangely familiar. Immediately it’s made clear that Link was teased for being different (not having a fairy) and already you’re relating to character before you’ve entered your first dungeon.

The game engine questioned everything you knew about gaming. Even at its core the lack of a jump button was inspired. If you had told me that before I played the game I would’ve been bewildered. You move from platform to platform without a jump button, what the fuck? But it works so well within minutes it’s just so natural.

The Z targeting system remains one of the best ways of handling combat in 3D. Being able to freely move around an opponent, blocking and dodging attacks and then countering with the minimum of fuss, it blended real time skill and strategy in a way that felt unique and special.

You enter Queen Gohma’s chamber, its boss time and you can cut the tension with a knife. The atmosphere builds in a big empty room, everything is quiet and then you notice something odd in the ceiling. The eye spots you, Queen Gohma drops from the ceiling and its go time. The pace of the music quickens and you know you have a fight on your hands. You fire several Deku nuts into her brain, slice her eye open like a turkey and you’re rewarded with your first heart piece.

And then just as you’re elevated the Deku Tree, the big tree that’s looked after you and your kind for hundred of years dies before you eyes. You spend a moment to shred a tear and then the real adventure begins. You thought the world was big and filled with life before, and then you’re introduced to Hyrule Field. The whole scale of the world before you becomes real; yes you do climb that Volcano in the distance later on.

Hours pass, you’ve sneaked passed guards and met Princess Zelda, you’ve made Darunia dance to the infectious Saria’s Song, went inside the belly of the beast, literally, and got yourself engaged to a humanoid fish creature and then finally you get your hands on the games namesake, The Ocarina of Time.

And just when you think you’re reaching the end the world expands even more. You pick up the Master sword in the temple of time and all hell breaks loose. Ganondorf gets the triforce, Zelda comes into hiding and Hyrule gets truly fucked over. Its seven years later and you are an adult.

Everything changes and you begin to appreciate OOT’s true beauty. Unlike any other game that went before it you are not just playing a game, you are experiencing the living breathing world of Hyrule. Things you do as a child effect the future, people you meet in the past have whole new lives in the future.

And it only gets better from there as you switch between them at will, effectively making Time your bitch. Your greatest weapon is not your sword, your bombs, not even the horse it’s that musical instrument that gets permanently assigned to a C-button, your Ocarina.

The world gets more insane, the bosses more epic, the puzzles more mind boggling and the experience more incredible, all building up to a fantastic final boss and a beautiful ending.

The game’s length is perfect. Long enough to stand on its own, short enough to be replayed over and over again. There is enough here to keep you going for months, even years. Not a lot of purely single player games can boast that.

The debate whether games are Art or not rages on. Some would say that you cannot have good Art and good Design. There is very little in this world that can say they have both, and I’m not just talking games here.

Ocarina of Time is one of the few, if not the only, games to does everything to an exceptionally high standard. The experience is second to none and remains a master class in how games should be made. One of the greatest creations of mankind.

Few games are truly brilliant, only one series is Truly Legendary, and In my opinion at least, Ocarina of Time is the best of them all.

Why I don't listen to anyone when it comes to Sonic

I’m not sure if I’ve ever said this before but I don’t listen to anyone’s opinions when it comes to Sonic. I may read reviews but they have no influence on me. When it comes to Sonic is only opinion that matters is my own.

Why? Well over the past ten years the views of people have generally been negative and to a certain extent they can be justified. Fair enough, but it’s the level of negativity that has always bothered me.

You don’t like Sonic, you don’t like Sonic, I’m not going to try to convert you. All I want is a little fairness when you judge the games and for the last couple of years I don’t feel that has happened.

Now I’m not saying the latest games have been amazing I just feel that games like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 2006 have left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. Because of that their views have been skewed by pure hatred to that point that the mere mention of a new Sonic game is met with lots of undue hostility.

I doubt there’s a single topic on a message board that doesn’t feature the infamous Sonic cycle image. The problem is people but more faith into that image than they do the developers. To them Sonic Team are the scapegoats for everything and with Shadow and 2006 cited as examples it’s hard to argue.

However there is a saying amongst Football fans that applies here, Form is temporary, Class is Permanent. Up until 2001 at least Sonic team were unstoppable. A symbol of originality and innovation, daring to push new technology and establish new standards.

It seems easy to forget that Sonic Team opened up the online gaming scene by releasing the first online game outside of PC gaming. Enjoy COD on your 360/PS3? You owe a debt to Sonic Team who brought online gaming into the Mainstream with Chu Chu Rocket. Played a 4 player co-op game, see Phantasy Star Online.

Adding to them, the genre-less unique NiGHTS into Dreams and the completely original Burning Rangers, not to mention redesigning Platforming in the Sonic series itself, Sonic Team should be applauded not hated.

Going back to the Sonic Cycle, if you do put your faith on that idea over the track record of Sonic team your setting yourself up for potentially missing some great games. Sonic team are bound to find their form again and a great Sonic game is due to come out, some would say it already has.

When that happens, when we get a truly brilliant Sonic game if you’ve put all your faith in the Sonic cycle for fears of “falling for it again”, you’re going to miss it. You’ll never know if a good Sonic game comes out due to the hateful, dismissive attitudes the Sonic Cycle has created.

Some would argue that this has already happened. Sonic Unleashed was great but many dismissed it from first announcement and there attitudes have not changed. Sonic Colours, even the reviews were favourable, was also instantly dismissed and ignored. Sonic Generations is the next big title but already the same attitudes are there.

Truth is, it’s very easy to criticise and with Sonic that is all too apparent. The slightest flaw or even just a difference sets off intense hatred for the series. Generations is a perfect example of this. The demo is fantastic and thankfully opinions on the game are largely popular. However this is a small minority I’ve come across complaining that the Roll mechanic is not 100% like the originals.

What the fuck?!? Seriously. This is enough to hate the game over; something is ever so slightly different so the game is a piece of crap. No other game series gets that amount of shit, I swear. It’s a lot closer to the originals than Sonic 4 and still it’s not enough and even then it shouldn’t matter.

A game, even a sonic game, should be judged on its own merits without being unfairly compared to older titles. In any other game gamers would pick up on the new changes and roll with it. I don’t recall anyone cursing CODBLOPS because kills from Killstreak rewards don’t add to your Killstreak total. Everyone just seems to get on with it.

To a lesser extent this extends to Sonic 4. Lots have been said for its completely different Physics. I hold my hand up and say it doesn’t play anything like the classic Mega Drive games. My argument is that it shouldn’t have to.

Here’s the acid test. If you take Sonic out of the game and released the same game, just with a different character and name, would it get the same hate? Hopefully your answer is probably not and you see what I’m getting at.

Instead of focusing on the differences and hating them, embrace them and make the game your own. This is why I don’t feel the demo should be used to judge the full game, particularly if you grew up on the classic titles. It takes a while to get used to the changes but when you do it is a good game.

Another example of all this is the Werehog in Unleashed. Take Sonic out of the equation, would it still get the same hate? I’m not convinced; I think it would be dismissed as a God of War clone aimed at Children, with some unique platforming features, possibly worth a 7/10 on its own.

Then there’s the Sun/Moon Medals, essentially a collect “x” amount of an item to continue mechanic. How many games have these and no-one gives a shit. Even Mario 64, a game hailed as one of the greatest, most influential, and all time classic games has this mechanic and no-one cares. Sonic has it, oh no it’s the end of the world, this game is shit.

So what I guess I’m saying is the hateful, dismissive attitude of gamers regarding Sonic tends to lead to people making bigger deals of issues than they actually are. Even professional reviews are the same.

This is the reason I generally ignore other people’s opinions when it comes to Sonic because it always seems to be negatively skewed. I’m happy making my own opinions on the new games, so yes I’ll let myself get excited by a new Sonic game, buy them when they come out and if they turn out to be shit, well at least I’ll know I’ve made my own decision on the title. I find this more comforting than blindly following the general consensus, skewed by the bad taste the poorer titles have left in my mouth.

P.S. Even as a Sonic fan I don’t judge every game to be great. Sonic and the Black Night was a terrible game with a fundamentally flawed mechanic that just didn’t work. However at least I came to that conclusion myself. I’d rather take the risk and be rewarded like with Unleashed and Colours.