Having just purchased a Nintendo 3DS almost entirely for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D one could argue I am a bit bias here. That wouldn't be entirely inaccurate - but I did put this title in with a certain degree of hesitation. Thankfully I was not only relieved by the lack of pointless changes but pleasantly surprised by what I found.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of my favourite games, I won't pretend it's not. I have re-purchased it a number of times, with its part in The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition (bundle of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask as well as its inclusion with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (with the previously unreleased Master Quest version) - both releases on Gamecube. This therefore is the third edition I have purchased - and it was absolutely 100% worth it.

From a purist point of view - the game essentially hasn't changed. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? The characters are the same, the locations are the same and the story is the same. And as far as I can tell the translation and script is the same (bar obvious changes to control instructions). What has changed then? For a start the graphics have had a significant overhaul.

The most obvious addition is the 3D effect - this is on the 3DS after all. Initially this was a hit and miss effect. If your eyes are not focussed on the right spot, the right distance from the screen and so on you see more than one of everything. Your eyes hurt, and you become distracted from the world. Once I played a bit more however, I worked out exactly where to focus - then all of a sudden the true genius of the 3DS hit me; this is fairly awesome! Unlike most 3D films it seems that some degree of thought was actually put into these effects; your ability to tell how far objects are for example is increased. One of the nicest effects was oddly enough during Zelda's story of how Hyrule was formed by the Golden Godesses - objects moving directly at the camera have an odd way of really thrusting you into the world portrayed.

There is more than the 3D effects though - the graphics have had a significant overhaul. New textures, new ground clutter, new animation and more are all present. The most apparent of these is the character animation: facial emotion and many of Link's actions are shown in far greater detail. For a nice comparison of the new and old, take a look at the comparison on Siliconera.

This new edition of Ocarina of Time also allows the player to use the system's gyroscope to control aiming projectile items (such as the Fairy Slingshot) and look around in first person view. This is another element of the release that attempts to draw the player in; it works. Like the 3D effects initially the system seems fairly pointless and slow, but once you grow used to it it feels quicker and less distracting. The new inventory system moves all GUI items to the bottom screen for a touch interface; the only item left on the top screen is a small map in the bottom-left corner. Not only does this allow for the graphics to be shown off more, but it is a very effective system to change items with on the fly. To make up for a lack of 3 buttons to use for item assignment, the game provides two virtual buttons on the touch screen in addition to the X and Y buttons. This is somewhat cumbersome and I find it fairly distracting to have to use the stylus every time I want to use that 3rd item. The ocarina's controls have also changed - for something who's been doing a left up right combination to play Zelda's Lullaby for years I find the concept of x a y confusing - since it's essentially an up right left combination on the buttons. As to why this was done I have no idea - perhaps it is more accurate to a real ocarina?

The game's design as previously mentioned is essentially unchanged - you can still get those rupees from the top of the bridge from the entrance to Hyrule Castle Town. The Stone of Agony has been replaced with the Shard of Agony given the 3DS does not rumble - it now plays a chime sound when secret grottos and such are around. These sorts of changes are extremely minor and had to be done - no silly decisions were made in design changes. I still made the fatal mistake of saying I wanted to hear what Kaepora Gaebora the owl said again, I sure wish they had of done something about him. That said the text in this game scrolls faster, so it was somewhat more pleasant.

The game also comes with a boss survival mode where after beating all of the game's bosses you can fight through them one by one with no rest or healing abilities. It also comes with a Master Quest version, this time the entire game's maps are mirrored and enemies hit for twice as much. These additions, along with a welcome graphical overhaul, smart item interface and very interesting 3D effects make this title a must-have for any fan of the original game.

Developed by Grezzo and Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is out now in all territories, including in Australia where the street date of June 30 has been broken.