Zelda Majora’s Mask has recently been re-released on 3DS from the Nintendo 64 version that was originally released in April 2000. The original is by far a classic and is considered to be one of the best action-adventure games ever made (I’m sure people said the same thing about Ocarina of Time, but what do I know?).

 

I picked this up solely because I loved the original and also have found myself going back to classic games that I remember from my youth (read my reviews on Starfox and Ocarina of Time) and was intrigued to see how much of it I remembered and also whether or not they had added or taken away what made the game juicy and enjoyable.

 

The story expands on the optional side quest in Ocarina of Time where you are given various masks by the scary bloke who runs the mask shop in the town of Hyrule. In Ocarina of Time, the masks didn’t actually do anything by the way of bonuses to young Link, except give the player something else to do instead of taking on the dungeons. But in this game, the masks play a pivotal role in the actually gameplay and story and I think, that is what gives the game the appeal it has. But is it as good as I remember, being older and wiser?

 

The story hinges around the fact that you have three days to save the land and stop the moon from colliding with it. You play as Link, the unlucky guy it always falls on to save the world from chaos. To do this he transform into members of the various races, crawl through dungeons, collect masks and also complete the ‘Bombers Notebook’ to expand his life capacity. I think the story is actually what will sell the game to thousands of both new, and old players, because it really mixes things up a bit. It also has the potential of hours of gaming time (if you care to do all the side quests) and it is interesting enough to keep people interested.

 

The graphics are similar to the Ocarina of Time 3DS version. They are smoother and sharper and a large number of the glitches have been ironed out. The gameplay has also improved dramatically, allowing you to set masks on the touch screen inventory to slots so that you can switch it up with a lot more ease and flexibility, in essence, enhancing the gameplay experience. You can also aim with the built in camera for an added experience, but this is tricky and takes a while to master it.

 

The only thing I have found that lets this game down is the fact that you have to reset time and take everything back to the first day otherwise the game will end. You can unlock a song that will slow time down, but all it does is delay the inevitable. Once you go back to the dawn of the first day, everything you have achieved with blood, sweat and tears is reset back to the way it was before, meaning you have to do certain parts all over again. To me, that was more hassle than it was worth sometimes. The same applies to the various side quests. Time is a HUGE factor in this game and some of them only happen at certain times of the evening.

 

Overall though, I was impressed with the game and thought they had once again done an awesome job of remaking it. It’s the classic I remember but now that I am a lot older (but not so much wiser) I find that there still could be more room for improvement. This game is a MUST buy for any of you who own a DS or are looking into getting one.