1

2 /5

Competing against "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon," two of 1998's summer hits, "Mask of Zorro" was released with surprisingly good ratings and box office earnings. Typically, large box office hits automatically warrant that someone will pick up the license for a video game and as history tells us, nothing good can come out of this scenario.

Features:

Digitized Voice
Password Save
Only for Game Boy Color
Simply put, Mask of Zorro is a prime example of how bad a Game Boy game can be. Mask of Zorro starts out with a teasing introduction setting the stage for the rest of the game; the governor Don Rafael Montero refuses to relinquish control over Spanish California, and as Zorro, you must take down his corrupted empire and marry his daughter.

At first glance, Mask of Zorro may seem entertaining. The theme music is catchy and the use of fencing as your offense is a different spin than most games, letting you slash, jab, and under-slice your opponents while also allowing Zorro to block enemy attacks. But very quickly, and I mean VERY quickly, you'll learn that this "unique" fighting style is very uncontrollable and at times seem completely random. Close combat can ultimately mean sudden death leaving you with only the option to stab, run away quickly, and repeat. In fact, the third enemy you encounter in the game can kill you with one hit. For the inexperienced gamer it may take at least six or seven lives to get past him. Instead of fixing this glaring flaw, Saffire opted to give the player infinite lives. Trust me, you'll be very glad they did.

To make matters worse, the previously catchy Spanish guitar theme is now an overly repetitive tune. The rest of the sound isn't any better with non-varying sword clashes or any type of audio. Honestly, the game has only three sound affects: swords clashing, being stabbed and stabbing an enemy. Since sound is shot out the window, you'd think the visuals would pick up the slack, but alas, they don't. Mask of Zorro is as visually unappealing as road kill. The colors and backgrounds don't offer any eye candy and consist mostly of different shades of tan.

My biggest complaint would have to be the control. Specifically, the jump is totally awkward. Zorro will begin his leap with the normal "video game jump" of a slow rise above the ground with some floating but then abruptly fall straight back to the ground as if the earth's gravity shifted by 200%. So in those instances where you have to time your jump accordingly to reach that tiny ledge, you'll often miss and be forced to traverse half the level to try it again.