MazM: The Phantom of the Opera

The combination of an atmospheric musical score, eye-pleasing graphics, remaining true to the original novel and adding well timed humour and melodrama, makes MazM: The Phantom of the Opera a captivating puzzle adventure on Nintendo Switch. The ability to play it in handheld mode or on the TV makes it even easier to continue playing the at times nail-bitingly tense thriller, which is hard to put down once started.

Overall, this is a pretty nice Phantom of the Opera presentation that digs deeper into the characters and story than other versions. If you’re looking for intricate gameplay, your princess is in another opera house. But if you’re interested in a different spin on an old story, or if you just hate reading books, this is a lovely but creepy multisensory production you can curl up with as if you’re diving into a familiar classic novel and biting your fingernails over the drama.

Mazm: The Phantom Of The Opera is an extremely good adaptation that turns the classic novel into an enjoyable adventure game, and updates it for the modern audience. It faithfully recreates what the original story did well and improves upon what didn’t stick as much. Whether you’ve only heard the name of the story or you’ve seen multiple variations of the tale, you’re sure to get something out of this title, despite the strange lag.

While a more ambitious transition to a home console format would only do better, the game is very competent at creating an atmosphere of suspense, even if there are several moments where the gameplay experience finds itself unnecessarily interrupted.

MazM: The Phantom of the Opera is what I would like to see more of in video games; it's a genuine effort to engage with a more meaningful side of art. It's less pop culture, easy content as it is an adaptation of a masterpiece of the gothic literature genre. The developer succeeded in capturing the aesthetics and generally representing the story, but there have been some big compromises made to hammer this nail into place, and the gamey elements and technical proficiency are just not there. Not for the Switch version, at any rate. As a Phantom of the Opera fan, I do highly recommend like-minded fans check this out, as it is a curiosity, but if you're going into this looking for a game... you'd be better off picking up a copy of the film adaptation of the musical.

MazM: The Phantom of the Opera would have been a wonderful way of experiencing the story of the classic novel, but it is dragged down by a touchscreen interface that does not translate well to controllers and bizarrely does not allow for the use of the Switch's touchscreen.