smadakcin's Full Review: The Legend Of Zelda: Majora'S Mask for Nintendo 64
The nature of sequels is such that they are inevitably tarnished by the legacy of their predecessor. If the first installment was a success, expectations are such that an otherwise polished effort suffers by comparison; if the original was widely panned, few people will give the second a chance. Of course, Majora's Mask isn't technically a sequel - there have been four or five Zelda games before it, of varying descriptions and on various formats, but this is the sequel to Ocarina of Time, the first "modern" Zelda, and as such came with much eager anticipation.
We pick up the story pretty much where the first left off, with Link leaving Hyrule on the back of his faithful charge, Epona, in search of new adventures beyond the limits of his land. Suddenly ambushed by a gangly, impudent kid wearing a sinister mask (and his two faeries), our hero is knocked from his horse and robbed of the Ocarina. He pursues his attacker, following him into a great tree-trunk, where he is turned into a Deku Shrub (those insignificant nut-spitting fellas from the first game) for his troubles by the mask-kid.
Said rotter flees, leaving one of his faeries trapped with Deku-Link, who is a little peeved about this, and asks Link to take her with him to find her brother. In return, she may be able to assist Link in tracking down the mysterious thief who now has his horse and time-controlling Ocarina. Escaping from his prison, the pair emerge in a new, unfamiliar land, and learn from the Mask Seller (who made a brief cameo in Ocarina of Time) that a powerful Mask has also been stolen, and must be returned. Given that the Mask Seller talks of being able to return Link to his proper form, our boy agrees to help him, and steps out into Clock Town, Termina.
Innovation Nation
The game initially feels very similar to OoT, with an un-changed control system and comparable (if slightly improved) graphics. However, the two major innovations that distinguish this edition are soon introduced, as Link has to come to terms with being a Deku Scrub and, soon after, the radically different time-system.
The Mask Seller warns Link before he begins the game proper that he needs his stolen mask within three days (or 72 minutes as the game realises it). Although this is clearly not much playing-time, Link gets the chance to regain the Ocarina when he catches up with the Mask-kid at the end of the third day. From here on in, he can rewind time at any point back to the dawn of the first day. And if he doesn't? Sadly, it's not just the Mask Seller on his back - the moon appears to be falling, and will crush the earth when the three days expires. Which is, on the balance of things, not so good.
Cleverly, this re-setting of time is a little more than just a superficial gimmick, and isn't nearly as annoying and interfering as it sounds. Major events, such as the completion of temples, gaining of items and reaching of new areas remain intact when time is rewound, and there's a handy bank in Clock Town in which to deposit your precious Rupees before you wiggle back to the start. People you previously spoke to, however, and minor events such as the exploding of boulders, defeat of enemies etc. are lost in the sands of time, and will be as they were when Link first stepped out of the central clock-tower.
This is used quite neatly; certain events will always happen on the same time on the same day, and will need to be acted upon to achieve a variety of sub-quests. For instance, an old woman enters town at the northern gate at a certain time on day one, and will be robbed x moments later - intervene, and see off the thief, and you will gain the woman's gratitude and enable her to make her delivery, which you will rely upon to progress past a certain point in the game.
The second principal innovation is that of the gaining and using of masks, a minor part of the first game here dramatically expanded. You will come across three transformational masks and twenty-odd other masks - the first lot mandatory, the others largely optional. Aside from the Deku mask, Link can also turn into a Goron and a Zora, each coming with their own vital abilities and weaknesses; the Deku has the power of limited flight but drowns in water, the Goron is powerful but slow, and the Zora can swim to any depth, but is a little awkward out of water.
The other masks enable you to boost your journey in several useful, if non-vital ways, such as the Bunny Hood, giving extra speed, the Stone Mask, coming with invisibility and the Giant's Mask (rather self explanatory, and especially important for the penultimate boss).
Game on ...
As previously mentioned, this plays in an almost identical fashion to its predecessor, save for the aforementioned modifications. The controls are near-perfect, the level design is conducive to a tough, but manageable test and the aesthetics of look and sound are spot on (plus the "classic theme" of Zelda returns!). The weapons and gadgets are largely the same, save for a couple of peripheral items (the camera & seeds) - the bow and various arrows return, and the faerie sword can be upgraded to a nifty golden number via some Goldsmiths in the mountains.
The landscapes are even more ambitious than before; the snow-covered peaks and dazzling shoreline are particularly impressive locations, and as ever, the score is perfectly matched to the setting - especially for the ominous final level, Stone Tower. The enemies are largely familiar in style if not in look, although the bosses are often larger and more difficult, and the emphasis is to a greater extent on the puzzles in the dungeons, it seems.
Petite Problems
If this game does fall down (and as hinted at in the introduction, where it does, it is only by comparison with OoT, one of the defining games of recent years), it is in terms of the size of the game. Where Hyrule was a great and expansive world, featuring sizeable areas even away from the main field, several villages included, Termina is comparatively tiny - the field around Clock Town can be lapped in a minute or two, compared to the same time it takes just to get to one side of Hyrule field to the other. There are four main areas lying beyond the field (swamp, mountain, beach and valley), and while they are packed with detail and secrets, they too are rather modest in size.
The dungeons themselves are of a similar size and difficulty, but number only four against OoT's eight. Granted, it takes a little more to get to them (the combination of tasks and mini-storylines are one of the best parts of the game), but this only further contributes to the feeling upon completion; it was good, even very good, but there just could have been so much more ... another few levels, and some way of increasing the play area would have given the game a much greater sense of achievement upon completion.
Conclusions
All in all, this is a fantastic game, only let down by its lack of size. The main things which made OoT great return here, and as a result it's just about every bit as fun to play. However, the lack of a decent storyline makes it a bit hard to care about the actions you take, and difficult to get into the excellent gameplay. The ending in particular is especially anti-climactic, feeling like a resolution-by-numbers knocked out in the programmers' lunch hour.
This is, though, still a worthy successor to the first game, and is a must-play for anyone who enjoyed OoT; the original set the foundations for an awesome game, and created the definitive Zelda, while this one takes the premise onwards and plays with it, expanding it in a number of intriguing and enjoyable directions. Exploring the oceans as a Zora, or rolling around a mountain smashing up walls as a Goron is fantastic fun, and the challenge of getting all the masks (so as to earn the final one, the Fierce Deity Mask, a "good" equivalent of the evil Majora's Mask of the title) makes for lasting replayability. Such bonuses make up for the modest flaws of the game, and make this almost all a sequel should be.
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