Legend of Zelda : Majora's Mask is one of the best titles in the entire Zelda franchise. It brings to the table the incredible puzzle solving, revolutionary Z targeting, and action-adventure we all loved in this series on the Nintendo 64. Majora's Mask is the sequel to Ocarina of Time, taking place when Link sets off to find a special friend who left his side after the end of the previous title. Despite the risk of never returning, he enters the Lost Woods to find them. They're called the Lost Woods for good reason, and even the Hero of Time would have trouble finding his way back...

There he meets a special imp, and ends up in the parallel world of Termina. Although it is a separate world entirely, the people resemble those of Hyrule, very close to a multiverse (and possibly that exactly) of Hyrule itself. The game features much darker themes than it's predecessor, and an entirely different concept of how time affects the game and everything in it. In fact, using time to your advantage is one of the few themes Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time share in terms of plot devices. It's hard to explain the brilliance of the time mechanics in the game without revealing any spoilers, but I'll do my best. In most games like this, nothing happens / changes until your character interacts with the world, but this game's world is alive regardless of what you do. Without your character interacting with anyone or anything, a woman will get mugged at night, a talking monkey will be executed, and the other characters will continue going about their daily lives. No matter what you may or may not do, the world around you will continue to go about it's course, which is a brilliant concept for the time this game was released.

The world of Termina itself is different from Hyrule in quite a few ways. First their mythology is different, believing in 4 giant guardians instead of the three goddesses. The map has the city of Clock Town at the center, surrounded in every direction by wilderness of varying terrain. Swamps to the South, Icy Mountains to the North, Ocean to the West, and Desert Canyons to the East. Each of the temples you must conquer are in these areas, and only by completing one can you gain access to another. Epona also makes a return appearance, helping Link along the way as every trusty steed should.

Graphics 9 / 10 -- The graphics in the game are extremely well done for the Nintendo 64. The N64 Expansion Pak is required to play the game, which adds more texture and resolution to the game's overall appearance. The Zelda franchise never really focused on making things look as realistic as possible, but the style they use is perfectly executed. The series (generally) has a more light-hearted almost cartoon-like look, while keeping everything proportionate and life-like in scale. The textures look great for what the N64 can pull off and for how much of it is packed into the game. Some of the environments can look a little bland, but only when it comes to something like a wall that doesn't require much detail anyway. In it's day, the transformation scenes when Link dons his Deku, Goron or Zora mask were breathtaking, albeit very disturbing and dark for a Zelda title. All of the supporting characters look great and are full of little details that make them unique. Each mask you collect looks awesome when Link wears them, showing the detail that was put into making the game look superb. Everything in the game is rendered beautifully, and pushes the N64 to show what it's hardware is made of.

Sound 10 / 10 -- I absolutely love the sound this game has to offer. The music is stunning, living up to the expectations created by prior Zelda titles. Each track fits the scenario it is used in perfectly. My personal favorites are the boss themes and the theme that's played when the main antagonist makes an appearance. Another nice touch is that for every transformation Link has, they each play their own unique instrument. An example being the Deku has a set of pipes to play instead of the ocarina. The sound effects are also well done. Striking a wall with your sword is different depending on the material, and is intentionally different when used on hollow walls to let you know something is behind it. Footsteps are incorporated, and listening to Epona gallop is extremely soothing in my opinion. I love that almost every character has their own unique sound byte when spoken to. Even the smallest things like popping a bubble or firing an arrow sound spot on. All in all, the audio adds even more to this great experience.

Addictiveness 10 / 10 -- This game is incredibly addictive, and has in one way or another an aspect every gamer would enjoy. Game play ranges from plat forming, to action-adventure, and lots of puzzle solving. The replay value is very high, since there will be tons of things you will likely miss on your first play through. The game is also full of fun mini-games, from Goron Racing to First Person Shooter (archery style) type activities which reward you for breaking certain scores or milestones. I found myself simply playing the mini-games for hours on end, forgetting about the main story for a while altogether. There are also tons of side-quests, many of which involve collecting masks that have various effects. For instance the Stone Mask (a favorite of many) has the ability to make you invisible to most enemies throughout the game, and the Bunny Hood, which doubles running speed. Almost every mask has it's own unique way of being obtained, keeping things from ever getting stale or feeling like you're simply farming for them. This game will make you fall in love and never want to let go.

Story 10 / 10 -- I'll try my best to sum things up here without giving away anything important. As stated in the overview, the story follows Ocarina of Time with Link ending up in Termina. Due to an evil, vengeful force, you only have 3 days (in-game) before everything turns to dust. How can Link save an entire world with such little time to do so? He must once again rely on the Goddess of Time's assistance to save not only himself, but everyone in this parallel world from certain destruction. My favorite thing about the story of this game is that it doesn't follow the typical Zelda formula of Princess Zelda being a damsel in distress needing to be rescued from an evil threatening her kingdom. Don't get me wrong, the story is written beautifully, and it's nice to see Nintendo change it up a bit (or a lot, actually). They pretty much designed the plot from the ground up, and it paid off immensely. Another great aspect is all the little story lines tied together through out the game. Everyone in the game's world has their own tale resulting from the main plot taking place, and they all interweave so well. It's incredibly brilliant.

Depth 10 / 10 -- As per the standard for the franchise, there's a lot to do in this title. Not only will the main plot keep you entertained long enough to get your money's worth, but there's even more to do on the side. There's a total of just over 50 side quests, some of which even span days (in-game) in length, requiring precise actions in certain places at certain times. These can range from horse racing, to protecting livestock, or simply fetching / finding a certain person or item for someone. The rewards are almost always worth the effort put forth, so if something is hard to accomplish, you'll probably be greatly rewarded with an empty bottle, a new mask, or even a heart piece. Some of these side quests are borderline invaluable, granting you better swords or increasing your magic bar. My personal favorites were the archery side-quests (or mini-games in some cases) that test your accuracy and skill, which grant you an increased quiver capacity, and a heart piece for a perfect score. Another favorite is the Goron Racing (maybe more like obstacle course?), in which you barrel through a track as a rolling Goron for Gold Dust, which is a component for forging the best 1-handed sword in the game. There's more than enough to occupy someone's time in this game, and the variety is nothing to laugh at.

Difficulty 7 / 10 -- The game ranges in difficulty in a few different ways. Overall, it's moderately difficult. Certain things can drive you insane, while others take little effort to accomplish. The combat and platforming aspects I found to be pretty easy. With the help of Z targeting, most enemies were a cake walk, even the most difficult enemies simply requiring better timing and more patience. The platforming was just as easy, not offering much in the ways of difficulty. The puzzle solving aspect is moderately difficult, not being too easy nor too challenging. All the puzzles can be solved with patience and a cool head if you just keep at it. None of the temples come close to the difficulty of the confusing maze that is Ocarina of Time's Water Temple, which is a big plus in my book. The most difficult parts of the game would be some of the side-quests. There's one in particular that requires reuniting two separated lovers over the course of the entire 3 days, and the word tedious doesn't come close to describing the process to go about doing so. The game has a good balance of difficulty overall, and any fan of the franchise or similar games will enjoy the experience.

Overall 9.5 / 10 -- I recommend this game, as well as the franchise to every gamer out there. Everything from a casual gamer to a hardcore fanatic can find things to love in this game, and it is considered a masterpiece for good reason. If you enjoy gaming, odds are you'll enjoy this.

Hope you enjoyed the review

I love Majora's Mask. It's my favorite Zelda game, and it's my 2nd favorite game of all time. This game lead me to love the Zelda franchise even more. I personally enjoyed reading your review! You included lots of details to it, and you wrote it a passionate way as well, which I think makes the review professional. I agree it's not an easy game (Please don't remind me of the Stone Tower Temple, please... ), and you have lots of things to do. Good thing you have the Bombers Notebook, though, it will let you keep track of things you have done and the things you haven't done yet (they improved it further in its remake).

After reading this review you made me want to play this game again!!