Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Duel Pack

Description
This is possibly the only time that merely [i]seeing the title of a submission[/i] will make me exclaim "Holy " and instantly steal the file out of whichever reviewer's folder it was in. [i](Hehe... Sorry bout that, Data. :p )[/i]

So, what do we have here? Awesomeness. On all four counts - technical, aesthetic, gameplay, and accuracy. Not meaning to sound like a drooling fanboy, but I was literally stunned at how much of the originals I could recognise in here. I even had to set up my N64 and do a comparison, just to be sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me.

Four maps are included here - Temple of Time, Zelda's Garden, Chamber of Sages, and The Sacred Realm. For each of them, I had no issues whatsoever. Almost no glitches, perfect lag-free gameplay, and a noticable lack of retinal injury. All four maps stand out enough to look more like Zelda than Jedi Academy, but they don't stand out so much as to contrast with the game.

I'll start with Temple of Time. Firstly, the texturing job looks very professional, and is incredibly accurate to the game, down to the very last pixel (although some artistic liberties have been taken for things the game doesn't actually show ;) ). The Master Sword's room at the back is, literally, the perfect representation. Even the little stones have been added in, looking just like they should, right down to the texture and shader used.

Zelda's Garden is just as it was in the game. This was where I encountered a glitch or two - in the side rooms, they pass off into the void. This doesn't happen in the throne room though, which I'm sure any roleplayers or movie makers will be glad to hear, if they ever intend on a Zelda RP or movie. The water shader is surprisingly pretty, and has a good degree of cartoonyness to it (I make words up a lot - so sue me :) ), although it's not exactly like the OoT shader. That can be attributed to the engine, though.

The Sacred Realm, while not seen in it's exact form, is as close to any rendition I've ever seen. I had a bit of a gripe, namely the Triforce - it clashes with the flare used. Personally I would have added a dynamic glow instead, but at least this way, anyone can see the glow. Other than that, not much else to comment on - it's a fairly simple map.

Finally, the Chamber of Sages. All I can say, is "neat". Take a look, and see for yourselves. This room did have more glitches, though - the water shaders are visible through each other, and if you use noclip, you can see up through the central column and clearly see where the medallions and Triforce are caulked. Not really anything that can be done about that, though, aside from putting a stone column in the center of the water - and that is not how it was in OoT.

Frankly, these maps are beyond constructive criticism. It's clearly visible that they've been tested, retested, tested, retested, and tested some more until the authors were happy that they'd perfected them. I can pin glitches and slight flaws on, but I severely doubt those were fixable due to Q3's limitations.

It makes me a happy panda to see that authors have gone over their work repeatedly, making sure everything is fixed, and pushing the quality of their work to the limits, and for that, Jeffrey and Gaara deserve some kudos - and that's before observing the quality of their work.

I can't wait to see how the Hyrule Castle FFA map turns out, and no doubt there'll be more to come. Just keep your hands off the Fire Temple and Water Temple - those are [i]my[/i] bishies! ;)

This pack is an absolute must for any Ocarina of Time fan, any Zelda fan in general, and a definite item of interest for anyone who likes quality duel maps.

~ Kouen

[b]Bot Support:[/b]
[b]Custom Textures:[/b]
[b]Custom Models:[/b]
[b]Custom Music:[/b]

[b]Gametypes:[/b]
Duel
Powerduel

[b]Other Files of Interest:[/b]
[file=63486]Link (4.0)[/file]