*Please note that this review was made to encompass both Seasons AND Ages, and I will post this on both game's pages*
Game Review: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
The
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/ Ages, released May 14, 2001 for the
Gameboy Color, are the only two games ( Or at least that I know of )
that are not developed first-party by Nintendo. They are instead
developed by a company called Flagship. While this might seem like a
death sentence especially considering the popularity and renown of this
beloved series, Flagship made a fantastic game worthy of every praise
given to the first-party developed Zelda games.
This review is
technically covering two different games, but both of them are related.
The first is Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons. The second one is
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages.
These two games have mildly
related story-lines but you don't need to play both to have a great
time ( The only real payment for having both games is being able to
unlock some things like the Big-goron sword and battle with Ganon ).
First,
story. The game has a typical Zelda story making you go out and
vanquish various evil beings residing in dungeons. If you have played a
Zelda game before you will know what to expect. Not to say that it is
bad, on the contrary it is very good and captivating and is better than
the story in most other games but a Zelda fan will know that the story
isn't the main attraction.
The gameplay is simply fantastic. You control link from a top-down perspective and th
e
controls are like those in Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. The
controls are very intuitive and you won't find any problems here.
The
enemies you face are also great. You have your old enemies, such as the
octorok and others accompanying you to either Holodrum or Labrynna and
all of those scary bosses and mini-bosses. They are all very
imaginative and many have special little quirks to them that make them
unique. The enemies also seem quite well animated considering this is a
Gameboy Color game.
The environments you travel around are also
phenomenal. From the Maku Tree all the way to the depths of Subrosia I
was captivated by the places I was traveling around in this game. The
music accompanying these environments is also top notch. Of course the
music in all the Zelda games has been great and this one is no
exception.
The items Link gets are fantastic. They include
things like the master sword and go all the way down to items like
"Stinky Bag" which is given to you by an odd long white hand which
seems to be stretching out of a toilet ( Gross eh? ). All the classics
are here such as the sword's and shields, but some others for instance
the Rod of Season's and the Harp of Age's make their appearance as well
The Rod of Season's (Only in t
he
Seasons game) and the Harp of Age's (Only in the Ages game) are two
items that are really quite interesting and fun to use. The way the Rod
of Season's works is you stand on a tree stump and swing it, which
changes the season. This is involved in many puzzles and such in the
game and really is a joy to use. The Harp of Age's fills the same role
by initially allowing you to open up time portals scattered around
Labrynna but eventually is capable of simply going through time and
plunking you down right were you were either in the future or in the
past just by playing it.
Both of the items are great and are part of what gives this Zelda game it's particularly epic feel.
The
graphics are rather irrelevant at this point being that it is a Gameboy
Color game but I will say that considering when it was made it looks
quite nice. The characters and such all have a charm to them that
really enforces the atmosphere in the game.
I've already talked about the music but I'll just say that the sound effects are also good, and won't leave you desiring more.
And of course no Zelda game is complete without good dungeons, and this ga
me
has them aplenty. Every dungeon is jam packed with keys, enemies,
mini-bosses, and puzzles. They will all take a fair amount of time to
complete as well, making the game quite long in my opinion. The
atmosphere is once again great in the dungeons
Also, boss
fights. They are great as always. All the bosses have fun and unique
weaknesses which you can exploit to your advantage, giving all the
battles sort of a frantic puzzle feel to them. Top regards to the boss
fights.
Also, both the games are completely different. They are
two completely different games with different story-lines, so I really
urge you to get both so that you can get the most out of these
masterpieces. As when you have both you can fight Ganon and such, which
is always a treat.
As for one of the games being better than the
other, they are both equal. Although I will say I'm leaning towards
ages slightly, just as a personal preference. Buy them both, I urge you.
Is
this game fun to play? Yes, yes and yes. It is one of the best games
I've played in my life and I hope you buy it and see why. It's time to
dig out that Gameboy Color or Game Boy Advance and wipe the dust off of
it, because you are in for a treat!
I rate this game a perfect 10/10
