Nintendo DS Review: Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Review by: Pierst179

When first announced, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was expected to be the big sequel for Ocarina of Time that most gamers had been waiting for since 1998, but disappointment struck almost everybody who watched the first minutes of footage from this game, instead of the mature Link presented some years ago we had the cell-shaded Link and Shigeru Miyamoto quickly went from a genius to a stupid guy.

But time would prove us all wrong and Wind Waker turned out to be an astonishing game, it is nearly impossible to find a game with such a unique and beautiful style, the huge overworld was hiding tons of sidequests, and the main quest, despite not being too long was still really fun. Nintendo had shown once again that they always know what they do, it doesn't matter how wrong it seems to be.

The success was so big that many fans of the franchise started to claim for a sequel. But not a sequel that would finally present the adult Link, what people really wanted was the cartoon graphics once again, the sea, the pirates and all that overwhelming feeling contained on the Wind Waker. Fortunately Nintendo heard everybody's pleas.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was developed to be this sequel. The game starts exactly after the ending of the Wind Waker, and it is one of the most blatant sequels of the whole series since the main characters have all been maintained, which is awesome since the Wind Waker characters are really nice, and so Link is sailing with his pirate friends.

Tetra and her crew are looking for the fabled Ghost Ship, an evil vessel that according to the local tale is kidnapping sailors and villagers that live in that region of the Great Sea. Tetra thinks that this story is a big lie and that the Ghost Ship's crew is actually a bunch of pirates trying to threat their domain over the sea, so in order to stop their plans they need to find the ship.

Not surprisingly they succeed on their mission and a few minutes after the game starts the Ghost Ship is spotted. Tetra quickly jumps of her ship and swims toward the haunted boat that suddenly vanishes, Link tries to follow but he doesn't make it and he ends up on the shore of some mysterious island, then your adventure finally kicks in and you get to control Link for the first time.

Using the touch screen instead of the D-pad to move him soon proves to be not such a smart move. The overall result is pleasant, but there are some minor shortcomings when it comes to the gameplay.

For example, if you are right-handed then every single time you need to head to left your hand will stand right in between you and the screen therefore completely blocking your vision of what's going on, and if you are left-handed going to the right will be a problem. And this can be a tad annoying, especially if you are running away from some enemies.

Generally the touch screen is very responsive to most commands, but sometimes when trying to move while holding an object Link may decide to drop it on the ground when you touch the screen intending to make him walk. Rolling can also be a problem, to activate this action you need to draw a circle at the edge of the screen but sometimes the game just doesn't get it, but since rolling is not so important it won't bother you so much.

It is also very important to say that this is the first 3-D Zelda that doesn't make any use of the famous lock system that has been used since Ocarina of Time. This makes the battles harder, especially when you encounter armored knights, because you will spend most of the time just running away from them waiting for a chance to use your sword. Fortunately there aren't many of those enemies during the game.

The classic items of the Zelda franchise are all back. But this time around they have some new twists, because in order to use them you will have to perform some actions with the stylus on the touch-screen. The items itself are the same, but the way you use them makes the whole game feel more fresh.

In a nutshell, the gameplay is good but I definitely think Nintendo should have given us the option to control Link with the D-pad if we felt like it, because the items work very well with the touch screen while the movement is not so sharp.

Sailing from one island to the other is not as boring as it used to be. This time the wind isn't so important because you will be controlling a motorized boat, I love technology don't you? So if you want to travel you just need to draw a path on the map using the stylus, and the boat will follow the exact same path, just don't leave your DS while doing that because the sea is filled with enemies that can sink your boat.

Speaking of which, the boat can now be customized, you will collect some new parts as you advance on the game and you can head back to a shop at one island where they will add those parts to your ship for a steep price.

The soundtrack is good, you obviously can't compare it to the console games, but it does justice to the franchise, as usual there are some remixed tunes, most of them based on Wind Waker's songs. The sound effects are also very well done.

The graphics are outstanding. I thought it would be nearly impossible to translate Wind Waker's amazing world and feeling to a handheld, but I was wrong. Link and all other characters remain very expressive and funny. All the islands have their own unique characteristics, the textures are good and there are some nice effects.

Now off to the most important part of any Zelda game, the dungeons. Some may be disappointed and some may be happy with the fact that there is no backtracking at all involved on the process of finishing the dungeons. You will solve a puzzle, open a door and head to the next room where you will basically do the same thing until you get to the boss key that's usually very close to boss room.

While the dungeons are extremely linear the puzzles within them are creative. I have to say that out of my favorite puzzles of the franchise quite a bundle of them belong to this game. The use of the stylus adds a lot to the solving of the puzzles, sadly they are not hard enough, and if you enjoy getting stuck on a temple for a while trying to figure out what to do next you can just forget it because it won't happen on this game. Another quality of this game is the bosses. Believe me, they are all absolutely amazing. They make full use of all DS capabilities and on some battles the developers have used the hardware power to the absolute edge. You will be surprised when you discover a way to defeat them, they are all very inventive. Once again the main problem is the level of challenge.

Finally, the replay value. Zelda games have always been famous by its dozen of sidequests and Phantom Hourglass is not different. There aren't nearly as many here as in the Wind Waker for example, but you will have some fun exploring the Great Sea, discovering uncharted islands and strange creatures.

Phantom Hourglass is a Zelda game, what else can be said. With awesome puzzles, bosses and dungeons it stands out from most other DS titles therefore this game is a definite must-have. While a little bit too easy, it is still a lot of fun, the whole adventure can be finished in around 20 hours, which is quite a good length for a handheld adventure.

Most of its characteristics set the bar for every DS title that's still to be released.