The Mask's various incarnations have all resonated with me at some point - the animated series (together with Animaniacs) satisfied my teen self's need for irreverent slapstick. I owned the VHS of the movie and watched it more times than I can count, thanks to Jim Carrey's prodigious talent at physical comedy and Cameron Diaz's dramatic acting chopsyeah okay I had a crush on her, I'll shut up and continue. I discovered the comic when I was a little older and that made quite the impression on me too. So it's no surprise that I played the heck out of my neighbor's copy of this game and really enjoyed it. How'd it hold up on a replay? Well...

You know how some people say "I'd like x game more if it weren't a Final Fantasy/Resident Evil/(insert franchise here) game", because it's decent but doesn't quite match the identity of the rest of the series? Yeah, well, the Mask is the exact opposite of this. It has so much bullshit that if a reskinned version of the same game were released I would absolutely hate it. But what elevates it to a decent experience is the fact that it stars the Mask and manages to capture his personality, joyfully distilling so much charm into that small 16-bit sprite that you just can't help but stare at his savoir-faiiiirrreeee!

...Ahem, excuse me.

Hmm, this review ended up having less meat to it than I normally write - and I suppose it's fitting for this style-over-substance title. It's not a good game, but it's a decently fun time, and I have to give it points for that.