The Mask of Zorro

Review by Alecto

"When Movie Licenses Go Bad"

It really annoys me that a movie I rather liked (mainly because Anthony Hopkins was in it) has such a crappy videogame counterpart. Yet, why should I be surprised. It’s nothing new for games about movies to be awful and cheap affairs, and Mask of Zorro gleefully exploits every single one of the license-from-hell stereotypes.

Stereotype #1: The game will have no plot explanation, because the developers assume that everyone has seen the movie.

After a confusingly small bit of text dialogue giving us some sort of history lesson, the game immediately begins with Zorro leaping around amongst some buildings. But we aren't sure why. After reaching the end through trial and error, a picture briefly flashes of Antonio Banderas, then all of a sudden Zorro is in his hide-out being forced to attack a large stick. When this level ends, Zorro is suddenly leaping around the same buildings again. Confusing slightly.

Of course, people who had seen the movie would eventually be able to piece together the chain of events, yet even for us it’s still a stretch. All that’s really presented to the gamer is the fact that Zorro must stab everything that moves before it stabs him first, and go in and out of doorways where he will occasionally find a woman to kiss. (Apparently finding the women is considered to be some sort of hidden “bonus.”)

Stereotype #2: Organization and level design will appear haphazard and half-assed, and will likely be fraught with technical glitches.

The levels will often have doors in them, which lead to another part of the level. The problem is that the entire level has very few features that distinguish one part from the next, so it’s rather like travelling through a giant hall of mirrors. It’s also impossible to tell where the level ends. Zorro will be walking around and suddenly the level will be over…triggered I suppose by walking over a certain area that is neither expected or climactic in any way.

Not only are the levels confusing, but some are downright lame. Take the training level, which was supposed to depict the part in the movie where the torch gets passed from the elder Zorro to the younger one, who spends time undergoing a period of intensive training and honing of skills. In the game, this moment is reduced to a one-on-one battle in a pit with a revolving stick that has a sword attached to it. Vanquish the stick, walk to the other edge of the screen, and the level is over.

Stereotype #3: The controls and gameplay mechanics will stink due to lack of effort or care.

Zorro attacks with a sword, but instead of the dazzling fencing that we see in the movie, the characters simply poke at each other until one of them falls over. Hit detection is non-existent; I still haven’t figured out how the computer decides if the enemy has been hit or not, since the life bar will spontaneously go down without Zorro even necessarily hitting an enemy. The technique of choice is to button mash as quickly as possible, trying to get as many “hits” in as you can before your character dies from the enemy’s own phantom hits.

Another annoyance is that Zorro’s moves take so long to execute. You just don’t get the feeling when playing this game that your fingers on the buttons are connecting properly with the character you’re supposed to be controlling.

Stereotype #4: The graphics and/or audio will be poor.

There were two Zorros in the movie: The elder one, played by Hopkins, and the young one, played by Antonio Banderas. In the game, you play the first level as the old Zorro, then the rest of the game as the new Zorro. But the sprite used is exactly the same for both. This is just one example of the lacklustre effort taken with the graphics, but it spreads to all parts of the game. Characters are one step away from stick-figures, which is unacceptable for a Game Boy Color game. The still shots are grainy and pixellated, and really not worth looking at.

The music in the Mask of Zorro is the kind of clichéd Spanish stuff you’d hear in one of those “Around the World” medleys along with Rule Britannia, Sakura Sakura and the Volga Boatman song. This coupled with the GBC’s less than stellar audio capabilities makes for a rough ride soundwise.

There’s nothing more to say really. Such an uninspired game doesn’t deserve an inspired or funny concluding statement. Sloppiness and a general feeling that the developers didn’t care overly much about the project permeates the game and results in nothing but frustration for the player, making The Mask of Zorro nothing more than another movie license gone bad.