What? A game diary entry? Surely not! Well, yes! I’ve been suffering from an extended period of gaming ennui of late, largely because between writing and working I never seem to have much in the way of time. On top of that, there really hasn’t been much of any interest happening gaming wise. Then the Nintendo 3DS arrived. I didn’t buy one on launch because I thought the price was really pretty ridiculous, but with the recent drop to around £120, I reckoned it was time to take the plunge (as I don’t currently have a DS of any kind anyway). A contributing factor, obviously, was the re-re-re-re-release of Ocarina of Time.
And oh-mi-god it’s lovely. Really. It’s one of the best Zelda games (in my opinion) to begin with, and in this incarnation it just looks magnificent. Long sweeping vistas, a real sense of depth, and greatly prettificated graphics make it gaming paradise for the likes of me. The placement of the face buttons (and in particular, the sliding joypad thingy) makes it  a cinch to play.
So far, I’ve done the usual Deku tree nonsense and have just arrived in Dodongo Caverns, which is pretty much the first real dungeon. The lighting is exquisite and the 3Dness of it all really brings it to life. It actually felt a bit creepy early on as it really does look like you’re controlling little blokes just through the window of the screen. Loving it so far, though – I can highly recommend both the console and, obviously, the game.
