The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time racially marked its 25th birthday today. If that’s how you’re feeling, then you may have some company – we put up our review of Nintendo’s first 3D Zelda action-adventure here on IGN, on November 25, 1998, that’s two days after it was released in the US.
We had received a special delivery of a boxed, final copy containing a shiny, golden cartridge only a few days before and you recalled consuming several sleepless nights during subsequent days playing through the game for review purposes in our offices of Imagine Media that we had at Brisbane, California, albeit south of San Francisco.
Outdated Graphics and Clunky Animations
Despite being groundbreaking in its day, Ocarina of Time looks rather old-fashioned. In today’s world of High-quality drastic graphics, the models are blocky, characters are sharp, the background texture is simple and animations are too rigid.
While these aspects may feel engaging enough for players clawing their way through the entrance threshold, they can detract immersion-wise.
Lack of Character Expression

In low-model polygon designs, there is always a lack of facial structures and, therefore, emotions are less heavily conveyed in scenes.
Repetitive Enemy Designs
Some opponents are used repeatedly, and they just have different colors or sizes, so some locations look all the same.
Low-Res Environments

What once was relatively fine with backgrounds and textures is now beginning to look ordinary, especially going by modern games.
Janky Movements
Link will often move in stiff motions, which are not smooth at all.
Tedious Dungeon Design
Ocarina of Time’s dungeon design is world-famous but the simplistic nature of the game has so some ridiculous slow parts. Firstly, the Water Temple has attracted people’s attention and has turned into a symbol of frustration.
Water Temple’s Confusing Layout
The repetition of changing the water levels and boots can often make this dungeon much more tiresome than anything else.
Repetitive Boss Fights

Some bosses look good on paper but use the same idea, so they don’t seem as varied.
Key Hunting
Some of the dungeons compel players to shuttle backward many times in their search for secret keys an aspect that interrupts the flow.
Limited Puzzle Variety
It is much of pushing blocks or shooting switches, and monotony sets in with many dungeons within the game.
Poor Camera Controls
Cameras are a big problem in Ocarina of Time. The Z-targeting system was new and well-implemented but the camera at times fails to follow Link correctly most especially in the narrow areas.
Frustrating in Small Spaces
In confined areas, the camera is locked behind a wall and you cannot see the enemies or just interact with something.
Z-Targeting Flaws

Z-targeting as one of the major revolutions in 3D combat could be pretty annoying when the targeting locks to the wrong opponent.
Limited Free Movement
It is stressful because players cannot change the view as they explore, and instead are only allowed to use static cameras frequently.
Bad Angles During Boss Fights

A few battles are undermined by wrong camera positioning which results in a lot of getting hit from behind or missing.
Weak Character Development
Ocarina of Time did feature many recurring characters but, like most of the game, the character development is not very deep and the characters seem rather flat compared to games after Ocarina of Time.
Navi’s Repetition

As much as Navi is a friendly character her constant guidance and riffing instructions can get tiresome once the player is aware of what comes next.
Flat Villains
It is surprisingly simplistic how Ganondorf’s motivations translate to his character when compared to many works today.
Lack of Backstory

Some common characters don’t have much development so it makes them less appealing.
Limited Dialogue Options
NPCs are mostly stereotypical characters and during interacting with them one can only speak and mostly has little to no choice in what can be said to them.
Limited Exploration
Ocarina of Time saw the beginning of a vast open world but is now hamstrung compared to others in comparison to more recent games like Breath of the Wild.
Sparse Hyrule Field

Hyrule field is huge but deserted for the most part with few landmarks the traveling feels boring.
Rigid Boundaries
Quite several spaces are inaccessible until getting certain things or mastering certain skills, thus limiting movement.
Invisible Barriers

There are usual limits that the player faces, which cannot get beyond a certain point of the game.
Lack of Side Quests
However, unlike later entries, Ocarina of Time presents significantly fewer side quests, or other fun things to do for the players.