Ever since its in-engine reveal trailer at E3 2013, The Order: 1886, a Sony exclusive developed by Ready at Dawn and Santa Monica Studios, has been looked to by gamers to justify their purchase of the PlayStation 4. With its unprecedented graphics and cinematic feel, The Order appeared to be the first game to deliver a uniquely next-gen experience. As a result, the game was burdened with some lofty expectations that it unfortunately fails to meet. Though it looks amazing and has its share of fun moments, The Order: 1886 focuses too heavily on attempting to approximate a movie and ultimately fails thanks to disjointed, derivative gameplay that is never quite woven together to create a cohesive narrative.

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Now that the Resident Evil series has made the jump to the eighth generation of video game consoles with the episodically-released Resident Evil: Revelations 2, it’s sadly hard to have high expectations. After a strong run of main franchise games with Resident Evil 4, 5, and Revelations between 2004 and 2011, Capcom has run into a cold streak, with 2012’s terrible Operation: Raccoon City followed up months later by the only slightly improved Resident Evil 6 (for those wondering at home, there’s essentially no logic to what constitutes a spin-off and what’s a main numbered game in the Resident Evil universe). But Revelations 2 does have a bit of a reputation to live up to; the original Revelations was one of the strongest games in the early days of the Nintendo 3DS, a well-paced blend of old-school survival horror the series cut its teeth on and the more fast-paced action of the more recent installments. If Resident Evil: Revelations 2 could build off the strengths of its predecessor, it might make fans forget about Capcom’s recent failures. Unfortunately, while the recently-released first chapter makes for a fun few hours, it doesn’t come close to reaching the heights of the best of the series.

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Ever since its initial release on the Nintendo 64 in 2000, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask has existed in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s shadow. It holds the distinction of not only being one of the few direct sequels in the franchise but also the direct sequel to what many believe is the best Zelda game of all time. What’s more, it was saddled with an impossibly short development cycle of just over one year, necessitating the re-use of the Ocarina of Time engine as well as many of its assets. With the uncharacteristically short turnaround between games, the memory of Ocarina of Time was fresh in the mind of gamers as they embarked on their next adventure with Link. Because of that, it was nearly impossible to evaluate Majora’s Mask without making direct comparisons to Ocarina of Time.

Perhaps that is why Nintendo did so much to differentiate the two titles in all the areas they could. Majora’s Mask was darker and stranger with a much heavier emphasis on side quests. Unfortunately for Nintendo, it seemed gamers didn’t want a differentiated game; though it received similar critical acclaim, Majora’s Mask could never match the commercial success of its predecessor. By comparison, it was a bit of a failure. Well, it’s now been seventeen years since the original release of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask has finally been given opportunity to come out of the shadows and be evaluated on its own merits. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D remake for the Nintendo 3DS delivers in spades as developer Grezzo has made all the right tweaks to make a fifteen-year-old game relevant and accessible in today’s gaming landscape. This is absolutely the best version of the game and also one of the very best reasons to own a 3DS.

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