The Waiting Room: Ocarina of Time-off

There was supposed to be an Ocarina of Time review here, but unfortunately I had a major disagreement with the craptop – which I lost. So instead I’ll give some highlights.

The only other Zelda game I have played is A Link to the Past, so I was surprised when I found that Ocarina was very similar to it, just in 3D.

I liked combat and the new gadgets but found that the Z targeting system is a little fiddly, the new weapons were great but was a little upset at the lack of purpose of some of the items like the Magic Hammer.

The dungeon design was fantastic although not quite as focused and formulaic like A Link to the Past, but this works in its favour as it follows some of the other slightly unintuitive parts of the game which make it feel more like a point n’ click.

The hardest dungeon for me was the Shadow Temple and not the Water Temple like most others.

Overall I loved this game and it’s now one of my favourites, I particularly enjoyed that the game was able to make feel awe-stricken, which is a feat considering that I am playing it so late and I’m so critical. The last time I felt so amazed at a game was when I was playing Dragon Quest VIII for the first ever time, which went on to become my favourite game.

I’m currently taking a few days off work on holiday, which I am using to see Pacific Rim at the cinema. I don’t often go to the cinema as I dislike being penned in a room with a collective simple aim of watching a film that for the most part will not be understood in between the moments of inane chattering, checking of phones or stemming of infant’s trachea, all that I have the privilege of paying roughly a tenner for. But, for Pacific Rim I will make an exception, because Kaiju and also because I heard today that it’s not doing so great at the box office, not that I should care as a consumer, but it makes me feel very sad a film that leeches money and interest from viewers like ‘Sharknado’ will get more headway than Pacific Rim.

I’m not trying to pick on what is still clearly an under-dog here, but this film is the same sort of pilfering tripe we see come from The Asylum, uninspired, uncharming and unconvincing, these kinds of B movies are making a very insincere attempt to cash-in on the cult adoration of people like myself, and it’s all the more upsetting that people seem to be falling for it while letting a genuine fan-letter AND boundary-pusher like Pacific Rim trail in the box office.

Evil Dead made a very honest attempt at horror and failed, when they made the second film, which was completely aware of itself, it still managed to remain a very honest attempt at making a good movie, one with convincing characters and a solid plot. Just because you have sharks in tornadoes, it doesn’t mean you have a literary license to throw all rules out of the window without replacing it with context or consistent narrative. It’s just being ‘random’ for ‘random’s’ sake.

Anyway, in order to hype myself for tomorrow, here’s my top 5 Kaiju Monsters.

5. Rodan

Rodan began in his own movie of the same name but managed to mingle himself in with Godzilla in Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster. Rodan is more of a race of flying creatures, but he’s still included because he has sonic boom powers.

4. Mothra

Like many Kaiju monsters, Mothra began as a baddie in self-titled film from 1961 and went on to become a staple good guy in Godzilla movies after Mothra VS Godzilla, which was the first crossover Kaiju film.

3. King Ghidorah

A three-headed monster that is Godzilla’s rival, he first appears in 1964′s Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster. He is a fearsome opponent and uses gravity beams and other breath powers.

2. Godzilla

Go, go! Godzilla! With his atomic breath, he is the King of Monsters, well Toho monsters anway. Godzilla was created in 1954 and represents all of the horrors of nuclear energy and was inspired by the creature from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

1. Gamera

He’s a jet-propelled flying turtle with fire breath! Originally created in 1965 to cash-in on Godzilla, Gamera is more powerful and crazier. He becomes a good guy unlike Godzilla and fights all sorts of strange creatures. I prefer Gamera as the films only feature him against the antagonists instead of loads of different monsters. Also he has tusks.