For Nintendo 64
Pros: | Cons: |
Amazing visuals and fully 3D towns | Low frame rate and textures need work |
Somber and dark music | Story feels like a sidequest |
Tons of unlockables | Only Four Major Dungeons |
Fantastic Zelda gameplay | Mostly annoying boss battles |
Controls work extremely well | Game’s saving abilities are terrible |
I’ll be honest right up front, I’ve never been a fan of Majora’s Mask, I’m not sure if it’s just because it’s the odd man out when it comes to Zelda, or if it’s because of the odd 3 Day gameplay mechanism, but I’ve never really “loved” the game. My recent playthrough of the game was actually the first time I’ve ever fully beaten the game, and I’m proud to say that I finally have. Majora’s Mask surely isn’t the greatest Zelda game of all time, but it’s certainly not the worst.
The one aspect of the game that sticks out compared to its younger sibling, Ocarina of Time, is the visuals, which by the way look amazing for the Nintendo 64. The terrains aren’t quite as blocky as OoT and it seems you can see further into the horizon, plus Clock Town is fully 3-Dimensional compared to that of Castle Town, and the worlds are more varied and feature more colors than ever before. The many character models are also quite impressive. The one flaw I noticed was that the frame rate in the game was often extremely low like when fighting bosses, and walking through Clock Town. The game seems to have more slowdown than other Zelda games, and causes a bit of frustration from a hardcore gamer like myself.
The music complements the game quite well offering dark, somber, depressing music and at times more optimistic tunes. Some of the better tunes include the Clock Town theme, Termina Field, and Majora’s Mask theme but there are so many others that are all worthy of their own praise. The sound effects also sound good on the ears for the most part, and the character noises are sometimes extremely creepy and effective (ex. Majora and Woodfall Temple Boss). I noticed the audio levels were off at times, and that the sound effects were often louder than the music itself, this saddened me as besides this, the game’s audio is pretty amazing.
The story in Majora’s Mask really can’t compare to the more optimistic approach’s the other games take. Basically Link must save the land of Termina from impending doom via the moon crashing upon the earth thanks to Majora’s Mask. Link must relive the same 3 Days over and over until he saves four giants and faces Majora himself. The game has plenty of mood and atmosphere, and makes you really feel for the characters even more so than in other Zelda games, however some of the story doesn’t feel all that well put together. Whereas other Zelda games feature Ganondorf and Zelda, Majora’s Mask does not and therefore feels more like a sidequest from the central story of the Zelda series, this is both good and bad, as it feels like a breath of fresh air, but also feels unimportant and unnecessary. It’s up to you as to your personal preference.
Like in most Zelda titles, Majora’s Mask has excellent controls that for the most part, work to perfection. From moving Link to shooting arrows to fighting octoroks, this game is as easy to control as it might look. The basic gameplay is basically the same as in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, and the usual dungeon solving, field roaming gameplay that has become a staple of the Zelda franchise continues in this amazing game. The dungeon design is not quite up to standard with other top titles, but it still proves to be really outstanding and creative. The two main gameplay mechanisms introduced this time around, each have their own pros and cons. The first is the many masks Link will acquire including the Goron mask, changing Link into a gigantic Goron, this allows him to roll around and punch enemies with unbelievable force. The masks are fun to use (except in the 4th dungeon in which you have to create statues with them) and are used creatively throughout the game. The other main feature, the 3 Day time structure, is also both good and bad, it is a nice hook to have in the game, but also is a massive pain in the butt when you have to re-start the time period (via the song of time) in the middle of a dungeon, and have to re-play everything. Another annoyance is the game’s saving abilities which will have you walking around all of Termina looking for a save spot, and if your game happens to freeze or get turned off while you’re playing, you’ll have to start all over from the last time you played the Song of Time, and from my own personal experience, it’s not fun. The final problem with the gameplay was the boss battles; of the five major bosses, two of them were hell, two were ok, and the final boss Majora, was way too easy but also impossible if you ran out of arrows or magic. Clearly the game has way more cons than a normal Zelda game, but that’s because it truly isn’t quite as amazing as other Zelda games, it did however have some serious pros including the amazing controls, character moments, and dungeons.
The massive world of Termina is bigger yet smaller than that of Hyrule, it doesn’t take nearly as long to traverse from one side to the other, but it takes much, much longer to fully explore and find every secret. And this is because Majora’s Mask has a ton of sidequests which lead to unlockables such as secret masks, heart pieces, and more. I will note that this material may not appeal to all players such as myself who may stick to the central quest and never unlock the rest. Needless to say there is plenty to collect for completionists. The central quest itself is sadly much shorter than other Zelda games, aside from Wind Waker, and feels too much like a sidequest to be a full length game. With only four dungeons and no final dungeon such as Ganon’s Castle, Majora’s Mask feels about half the length of a game such as Twilight Princess. The short playthrough you will have however will be enjoyable, as long as you don’t have to re-start a dungeon because of that stupid 3 Day structure. :)
With it all come and gone, I can definitely admit that I am now a huge Majora’s Mask fan, it is definitely not as superior as more recent Zelda games, nor does it compare to the older titles in the series. The one thing the game has which is more noticeable than most Zelda games is a heart, I constantly found myself feeling for characters, understanding their sadness, and being depressed by Termina’s state of doom. I found myself in love with the creepiness of the Mask Salesman and Majora himself, and saddened by the Skull Kid’s poor history, as well as his poor fate as Majora. And if there’s one thing that would be deserving of boosting my overall score and did, it would be the creepy moon hanging above Clock Town that adds a sense of urgency to the game, the design of the moon, as well as the animation and constant trembling create one of the most menacing antagonists in the history of gaming, if only a Lon Lon cow would jump over that moon, it’d be an automatic 10.0 from me! But sadly that’s not the case, before you check the final score do be aware that it may not be accepted by most hardcore Zelda fans, but I did have some troubles with the game so please understand that it is my opinion. I may never play this game all the way through, but I will admit that all gamers should play it at least once.
Graphics: Visuals look great with fully 3D towns, however low frame rate and textures 9.5 |
Audio: Dark and somber music, good sound effects, but audio levels are poor 9.0 |
Story: Story is unique and dark but feels like a sidequest, not always well put together 9.0 |
Gameplay: Amazing controls/gameplay, 3-Day structure works well but can be annoying 9.0 |
Gameplay Amount: Termina is fun to explore with lots of unlockables, only 4 dungeons 9.0 |
Overall: An amazing Zelda experience with multiple flaws; saving, bosses, frame rate, etc. 9.0 |
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