Ocarina of Time is the definitive textbook Zelda game; setting the bar for many games to come. A perfect 10.
The Good: The game flows, as in there are no plot holes and there are no tedious aspects of the game between levels; massive game, 9 dungeons/temples; balanced difficulty, easy at first and gets appropriately hard throughout; for its time, the graphics were great and can still pass for a mediocre Gamecube game today; combat and puzzles are both well implemented into the game; awesome Zelda style tunes
The Bad: some bosses are easy; aged well but not perfectly, some may have a new favorite
When The Legend of Zelda came into the 3D world, people around the globe praised it for its perfect Zelda gameplay and wonderful graphics and sound. This game is the textbook Zelda, it has all of the elements for a wonderful game and a perfect Zelda game.
If you have played Zelda before you will know what to expect from Ocarina of Time. You will advance through the dungeons, picking up various weapons to be used on the boss, and there are a bunch of side quests and fun things to do in between. In Ocarina of Time, there are 9 dungeons, and every one of them are packed full of enemies and puzzles.
The puzzles, in fact, may be one of the most fun and interesting aspects of any Zelda game. And in Ocarina of Time they are near perfect. You may find yourself in a room for ten minutes, trying to figure out what to do. And when you do, it is a very rewarding feeling to move on after figuring it out. And you will find yourself praising the ingenuity of some of these puzzles, and you will be praising yourself even more for figuring them out.
The puzzles and combat in dungeons are balanced perfectly, and almost none of them get too hard or punishing (except maybe the Water Temple, in some players' opinions.) In the dungeons you of course need to find small keys to unlock doors, and these can be tricky to find sometimes.
The main element of the game, and what it gets its name from, the Ocarina of Time, is a musical instrument that you will use for various puzzles and other things throughout the game. As the game progresses, you will learn many different songs for your ocarina. And all of them have some kind of useful purpose, but not all that you can get are necessary to advance in the game. And there are interesting things to do with these songs, like making it rain inside a windmill, for example.
In Ocarina of Time, you will start out as a kid, and after three temples, you will gain the ability to turn into an adult. Like the light and dark worlds of A Link to the Past, child and adult Link is a fun mode of play and it has a great story to go along with it, but I won't spoil it.
One of the great things in Ocarina of Time is that the game flows. The story is well told and does not jump around and doesn't leave you guessing about what happened. You will always know the reason why you were sent to a certain temple. And there are no tedious quests that purposely lengthen the game, as we have seen in some other Zelda games.
And the length of the game is a good one. You will probably spend anywhere between 20-40 hours on the main quest, depending on the gamer, and then there are side quests and collectibles for the completionists. Like killing all 100 Gold Skultulas, scattered throughout the world.
And a massive world at that. Hyrule field itself is very large. And then there is Lake Hylia, Gerudo Desert, and Kokiri forest, just to name a few. It may take some time to travel across the whole of Hyrule field, unless you get Epona the horse, however. The transportation of choice for this Zelda game. And Epona is a lot of fun to ride on. You can shoot your bow while riding, and Epona can kill some enemies just by riding into them.
The graphics are superb for the N64. There is immense draw distance, detailed environments, and short load times for them all. These graphics can still be impressive to people today.
The music in Ocarina of Time is the same and different. While there is no overworld theme from the original, the new Hyrule field theme is just as good. The shop music and town music is joyful and lively, and all of the music just seems to capture the mood of what is happening on screen. The dungeon music is extremely creepy, as it should be. The music in LoZ games is always one of its strong points, and Ocarina of Time does not disappoint.
So why is this the best Zelda game? There is really nothing that hinders this game. Wind Waker has a sailing gimmick that gets tedious after awhile, Twilight Princess is easier than it should be in some places, and Majora's Mask is based too heavily on sidequests. Ocarina of Time has none of this. The difficulty is almost perfectly balanced, the mode of transportation is fun and engaging, and it is long without relying on sidequests.
All in all Ocarina of Time is the definitive example of what Zelda is all about, and every Zelda fan and action adventure fans in general should play this masterpiece.