Mazes of Fate was a first-person RPG that played somewhat like games back in the day such as Eye of the Beholder, or Might and Magic. Released as one of the last titles on the Game Boy Advance, Mazes of Fate was a nice surprise. It appeared out of nowhere, and was received rather well among the community. Jump forward about two years, and Mazes of Fate has now appeared on the ever popular Nintendo DS. Boasting itself as a complete 3D remake, Mazes of Fate DS is a lazy port of what is a pretty decent RPG.
The game opens up with a story of gods and humans, where the gods aren’t too happy that the humans have ignored them thanks to the discovery of magic, and plan on replacing them with a new submissive species of goatmen. Enter King Harlac, who has just swore an oath with the gods to forgive man for their wronging and plans on sealing the pact on the Stone of Redemption. However, on the day of the ritual, the Stone is stolen by the Resistance and the gods essentially tell Harlac that he’s screwed unless he can complete the ritual. The overall story remains the same as the GBA version; there are no surprise changes to be found here.
The first, and probably only, change to be found is in the character select screen. Originally, you were only given a list of three default classes, along with a custom character of your creation. In Mazes of Fate DS, these three defaults are intact, but included now are four more default classes: the Priest, Assassin, Valkyrie, and another Warrior. Making a total of seven classes to choose from, these new entries come with their respective avatars to use on your custom faceless character. Like before, you can use one of the defaults, or create your own character, giving you more say in how your opening stats are distributed. Since the game’s story, world, and various back-and-forth fetch quests remain the same, there’s no particular need to explain it again.
While the overworld and towns function and look the same way, the next major change, and the only difference between the two versions, is the completely remade 3D dungeons. Exploring the dungeons requires a bit of juggling of the stylus and DS. Using the d-pad or face buttons (for the left-handed) to move your character, you use the stylus to turn the camera, allowing you to turn around corners, or scan the walls and floors for items and switches. It’s a bit cumbersome starting out, having to hold the DS in one hand, and the stylus in another, but you quickly adapt and find yourself navigating tunnels with relative ease.
At first glance, you’ll notice the dungeons are now in 3D. However, the layouts are exactly the same, so any hidden passageways you remember are still there, which puts a dampen on the whole mystery of what could be around that next corner. Discovering hidden switches on walls is much easier now, since they stand out amongst the many repeating wall textures. Items also appear 3D, and are much easier to deal with. When you see an item on the floor or in a wall, simply tap it, and drag it up to the top, where your item list will appear, and you can add it to your stash with one quick motion. Items can also be dragged from your inventory to the dungeon, usually when required to solve a puzzle. While in a dungeon, the top screen acts as your mini-map, which is a most welcome change, unlike the screen-blocking map from the GBA version.
Enemies are in complete 3D now as well, and the battle system remains the same, for the most part. As you explore the dungeon, you’ll come across the assortment of enemies who stand in your way. When your progress bar fills up, you simply tap the enemy on-screen to strike. If you plan to cast a spell, then tap the magic button and select your spell for preparation. Some spells, such as the fireball, are in 3D as well. The game remains in real-time, so the enemy will still continue to attack while you’re waiting for your next turn to start. This isn’t much of a threat, as enemies still move extremely slowly, and you can easily circle strafe around them and attack to your heart’s content. Unfortunately, you’ll both still miss constantly, so get used to hearing that "whiff" sound once again, coupled with the constant tapping of your stylus. Items are handled much easier in battle as well, using quick drag and drop motions to heal on the fly.
While the previous version of Mazes of Fate had a fairly nice and colorful 2D art style, Mazes of Fate DS changes this to blocky 3D with generic textures, and everything just feels dull and lifeless. This is especially evident in the robotic enemies wandering around. Each enemy only has a few frames of animation, and will constantly loop them as you tap away, like a Rock’Em Sock’Em robot. The game runs at a steady frame rate, but it helps that there’s usually nothing on screen most of the time. Unlike the redone dungeons, the music and sound effects remain unchanged. This isn’t necessarily a problem, since the sound effects and tunes are pretty decent, but with the extra power the Nintendo DS hardware provides, it would have been nice to get some new tunes, or perhaps a remix of sorts.
Mazes of Fate on the Game Boy Advance was a nice, niche title to come across, although it was pretty difficult to find in stores. While it was compared to classics such as Eye of the Beholder, the new 3D revision is more akin to the likes of King’s Field for the PlayStation. The main problem is that even though the game is supposed to be a remake, the game is exactly the same as two years ago. This is a double-edged sword, because you have one group who may have not played the original, so it’s pretty easy to recommend this title, being the competent, although standard, RPG it is. Then you have the people from two years ago, who may be thinking they have a reason to dive right in again, only to find nothing new to discover. Even Super Mario 64 DS took the time to add new things, so some new characters or quests, or a longer story to flesh out the world would have been extremely welcome additions. Instead, we are given a lazy port of a decent game disguised as a new experience.
