Pros: Extremely addictive gameplay, good controls, challenging puzzles, medium replay value.
Cons: Game seems too short to be a "Zelda" game.
The Bottom Line: A very spectacular action/adventure game. Sacrifices some of the puzzle atmosphere for more of a action game, but it's still a great play.
rmskater's Full Review: The Legend Of Zelda: Majora'S Mask for Nintendo 64
This game doesn't quite come up to the shoulders of its big brother, "The Ocarina of Time". However, it can definitely hold its own against all of the other action/adventure video games on the market.
One disappointing note to the previous Zelda fans is that it is less of a puzzle game. Yes, it does have many crucial puzzle functions, but it has shifted to the action/adventure spectrum of video games, and away from the puzzle games. It's still a wonderful Zelda game however.
The opening is typical Zelda for the Nintendo 64. There is a gigantic cut-scene at the beginning, introducing you to the peril that poor Link (the Protagonist and your character) will soon be relying on you to get him out of. This cut-scene is very long, so make sure that you have all of your chores done, so that your mother doesn't make you get up in the middle of the scene and you have to restart it again.
From the beginning, the game starts out nice. You start learning about the special masks in the game, and you are very quickly introduced to the function of time in the game, and you soon start learning your songs.
The masks, which you collect throughout the game each have a special individual power. One may make you invisible to enemies, while another will boost your speed. Another one will allow you to "blow up", causing damage to everything around you. A note: if you don't want to get hurt, when you use the Bomb mask, then hold your shield up before you detonate.
The time function in the game is quite unique also. You have three days of game time to beat the game. However, the catch is that your ocarina's time hopping abilities have greatly improved. Now, instead of just time leaping a fixed 7 years forward or back, you can choose to slow time down, speed it up, or restart it. A nifty concept when you think about it, and Nintendo beautifully executes it.
Your faithful steed, Epona returns to help you also. You will not utilize her as much as you did in the previous game however.
Another awesome feature of the ocarina is that you can now activate warp points, or owl statues, by hitting them. You then use the accompanying song to warp to get to one of these warp points. Believe me, this is a whole lot faster than your bunny mask or your Goron mask. Well, it looks like Epona is definitely out of a job.
You will have three "special" masks soon, once you start "getting into the game". One, a Deku scrub mask, you will receive at the beginning of the game. With this mask, you actually transform into a scrub.
The next, being a Goron mask transforms you into.........a giant bird. Just kidding. You become a Goron. With this mask, you can roll around the country side to get places faster. Looks like Epona may have to find a different job. When you get a big magic bar, you can really cruise. Spikes'll pop out of your body and you'll really be flying. Even though this uses up your magic bar, you can just roll through the jumping green jelly enemies around the field to replenish your supply.
The last "special" mask is a Zora mask. Yes, you're a Zora. It's actually very fun to swim in the water and the sea as a Zora. You have a magic shield and you can walk on the ocean floor. You can breathe underwater and you fire your fins as boomerangs. Awesome.
The gameplay is nice. Like I said earlier, the game has shifted into more of an action adventure game, rather than a puzzle game. You'll be doing more exploring and fighting than actually pushing chests around or stuff like that.
I thoroughly enjoyed that this game's environments got you extremely close to the sights and feelings. When you're a Zora, there is place where you must go to solve a mission. This place is a big hole in the sea floor and is filled with giant sea snakes who pop out of their holes. When you're down there, you actually get tense and feel as if you're down, in a spooky hole, underwater, with giant snakes trying to eat you.
Once you get to the end of the game, if you've gotten all 30 of the masks, then you can obtain a special "Super Mask", called the Great Deity Mask. This mask lets you defeat bosses in just a matter of seconds, rather than minutes. Unfortunately you get the mask too late in the game to actually be able to have any real fun with it.
I noticed in addition, that while the game sacrifices irritating boss battles for more action throughout the game. Now, as you go throughout the game, you may feel more threatened by the enemies, but when you get to the actual bosses, it won't take you but a few tries, if that to defeat them. No longer will you be breaking your controller saying that the boss is too hard. Instead, you'll just say that you need one more chance. And that's it, you do. The bosses ARE much easier.
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