The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Genre-Defining

I have been thinking about my reviews of Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword and I decided to go through the gauntlet of playing the classic mainline 3D Legend of Zelda games. Where better to start than the iconic Ocarina of Time. I have talked about the legacy and importance of games such as Super Mario 64 and Final Fantasy VII, but Ocarina of Time is also one of the most important video games in video game history. Ocarina of Time is the book of Genesis of the open-world, action-adventure game, and the plethora of action-adventure games released since Ocarina of Time can trace its roots to this game.

There have been many innovations that came from Ocarina of Time that are still regularly used today. This was the first game that I can remember where you can lock-on to an enemy during combat, which made attacking and dodging much easier. There were innovations in level design, especially in exploring the various dungeons of the game. Ocarina of Time also has probably one of the most influential soundtracks in video game history, and you can associate a particular song to a particular area of Hyrule. The cut-scenes were revolutionary at the time and gave the overall story the feel of a video game epic. All these innovations lead many to believe that Ocarina of Time is the best video game ever made.

I have not played Ocarina of Time since university, and I wanted to revisit the game and play it from start to finish. I wanted to know if the game still holds up today, and whether the game was still fun to play. Not only does this game hold up and it being still fun to play, but Ocarina of Time is still a genuinely better game than many triple-A action-adventure games now.

When I play games from Assassin's Creed, Farcry, or the Horizon series, they do feel a bit bloated when it comes to the size of the areas and the amount of boring side quests. Ocarina of Time still feels like a tight and focused gaming experience. Areas are easy to traverse, and there is not much to do other than achieve your main objective. There are side activities (some I enjoyed, and some I did not, such as collecting the Gold Skulltulas) but they are fewer, and feel more satisfying. To fully complete the game 100% took about 25-30 hours, which felt like the perfect length for this game, and did not overstay its welcome. Even the obvious issues with the graphics and camera because of the game's age did not feel that bad.

Ocarina of Time is still an excellent game to play in 2022, and it made me appreciate a time where games were not bursting at the seams with boring filler content as games are now. The combat is still good, even if it is a bit rudimentary by today's standards. The puzzles are still sensationally crafted, and offer a great challenge. Ocarina of Time is not so much a video game of its time, but rather a video game that defined the times, and set the motion of what action-adventure games could be from Ocarina of Time's release to now and beyond.