The Legend of Zelda: Mask of Majora - Childrens Pages - http://maxpages.com/kidzpage/Review2

Genre: RPG/Action
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Player: 1
Available: TBA

Several months have passed since the events portrayed in Ocarina of Time, and Link is wandering through the forest when he bumps into a strange masked man named Stalkid. Stalkid then proceeds to steal Epona (the pony he earned in his last adventure) away from him before stepping through a portal into another world. It takes only a moment for Link to decide to follow him through, finding a world that is oddly familiar despite being so obviously different...

Thus begins The Legend of Zelda: Mask of Majora, the not-quite-sequel to Ocarina of Time, which has been hailed by many a player and reviewer as one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, games ever made. It is not, however, a true sequel... rather, Nintendo are toting it as a "side story" set a short while after the events in Ocarina of Time.

Mooning is cool

Once Link arrives in this new world he discovers that the huge, looming moon overhead is, in fact, about to smash into and pulverize it. In an interesting (though still only rumoured) twist, the game will be played in real-time, with a small gauge in the bottom centre of the screen to show you just how much time you have left before the moon will hurtle down and destroy the planet. Thus, Link's quest to get Epona back and return to his own world takes on a sense of pressing urgency... one minute in real time equates to one minute in the game, so you'd best move fast if you don't want to be pinned between a planet and a moon.

Unmasking Link

While the control system will (for the most part) be the same, there are some interesting changes to the gameplay. For starters, you will now be able to wear more than one mask, and some of the masks allow you to control, or even turn into, a different creature! This change isn't simply cosmetic, either; Link will gain the abilities of whichever creature he is currently disguised as (disguised as a Zola he will be able to swim a lot better, for example). This sort of thing will no doubt play a large part in the puzzle-solving in Mask of Majora... particularly given that, at a recent showing of the game, it was shown that Link has 20 slots available in which to keep the various masks he'll encounter!

Better graphics

Graphically, the fact that the game will now require the 4mb memory expansion pack means things are improving, while still retaining the same amazing style of OoT... though Miyamoto isn't working directly on the project, many of those working on Mask or Majora worked on the last game, too. Expect crisper textures, a longer draw distance, and more enemies on-screen at once... and that's just for starters. They're also pushing the game engine to new (and wacky) matters... can you say, "dance contest", anyone? Add to this a bit of cow-milking and horse-riding, and you have the interesting variety of gameplay styles in the one game that we've come to love Nintendo for.

While it's not a true sequel, don't let that worry you. Ocarina of Time was great, and even if Mask of Majora falls into the "more of the same" category, that's certainly nothing to be sneezed at. As things stand, Legend of Zelda: Mask of Majora is still shaping up as a must-have title.

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Page Updated Sun Jul 16, 2000 2:24am EDT