Phantom Hourglass Review
The Good: Sharp touch based control, incredible use of functions on the DS, crisp and vivid visuals, decent sound, a great story with a lot of plot twists, interesting new puzzles and boss battles in dungeons, an additional multiplayer mode with online play
The Bad: Short for hard core Zelda fans (14 hours or so), frustrating and punishing locations, repetition Well 2007 has promised and still promises its great games, and among them, Phantom Hourglass was one of my particular interest. After playing it for a while, I was pleased with the results of this game- it was what Zelda and maybe even non Zelda fans wanted. It is highly recommended to both types of gamers alike, as it is not the hardest to the Zelda franchise. Nintendo put a lot of work into this one, and Phantom Hourglass is marvelous from start to end in pretty much all fields. So, the story in the game follows right up from Windwaker for the Nintendo Game Cube. As you may have foreseen, this game tells a powerful tale with surprises and plot twists. That is pretty much what gamers could expect from the Zelda franchise. While this story is not the most amazing of them all, it is indeed a great one. As I said, it is a sequel of the Windwaker, and you may be worried about not knowing the entire sequence of events. You do not need to worry; it has a very artistic recap at the very start of a new game. The storyline of the game goes something like this (remember that this is my summary so it may not be the best and it might be vague)… You (being whatever you named yourself) start off on a pirate ship with Zelda (a.k.a. Tetra). During your sailing, you run into the Ghost Ship. Tetra gets imprisoned on it and you end up washed away on an island. You encounter this spirit and an old dude who aid you in finding the princess. To locate the ghost ship you must do a bunch of tasks which is pretty much how the story rolls on. Oh and you somehow forget everything because of amnesia when getting washed away. That is your basic introduction to the game. It is time to get into the core game play itself: the adventure. As you could expect the basic formula and elements in previous Zelda titles is here. Going around in dungeons finding key items to proceed, using many unique items to clear puzzles, sailing around the sea- you can pretty much expect all of that. While the franchise has been basically the same, it still is not getting old, and Phantom Hourglass, using the functions of the DS to above and beyond perfection, keeps the formula original in its own fun ways. Yeah, the Nintendo DS is used in some ways you could never imagine. First, all control is touch based. Link moves by dragging the stylus, he swings his sword by tapping an object, drawing a small line, or drawing a circle to do his famous spin attack. Items are selected from a small screen and you tap a small box to use them. All of them are pretty easy to use. For example, take the boomerang: you draw the path you want it to take and it follows it precisely. You can take notes on your maps which helps finding secrets. Even sailing is entirely performed with the touch screen. In fact, sailing is a lot better in this title as a pose to its predecessor. It is easier and much shorter. I thought it was great of Nintendo to redo the whole sailing thing in the Zelda series. It was popular for sure, but with some renovations, Phantom Hourglass pretty much perfects the popular idea. Aside from touch screen, the double screen is used. One represents the game being played itself and a bunch of interesting maps and things of such can be found on the top. You also have to yell in your DS- it intimidates specific enemies. Oh and here is the one specific thing I found pretty amazing as far as DS uses. In this game, there is a part where you must figure out a clue. By closing your DS and opening it back up, the secret is revealed. Although this is a minor feat, I was so impressed with it and was positive to include it in my review. It is these little things that make Phantom Hourglass go above and beyond. In this title, the characters introduced are very memorable and have their own dominant personalities. Many people see this in adventure games and RPG’s, but I found these characters to be very interesting- far superior compared to other ones. There are so many characters, many of them being new, and they all look incredible on the DS. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the main characters more and more as the story rolled on. As far as the adventure goes…It is pretty challenging I must say. There are a bunch of puzzles that may throw you off, but it definitely isn’t the hardest of the Zelda games and it is on the short side. I would say it would take a gamer maybe 14-16 hours to beat the game. As far as the additional side quests though, there is an extra 5 hours or so. Hard core Zelda fans could beat this easily and may be a bit disappointed, as it is easy and fairly clear the whole way through, but these 14 hours are memorable ones. Every dungeon is fun, the story has its surprises…Overall, it is quite the experience. Oh and for those of you who can not stand the fact that it is shorter than you wanted it to be: know it is on a portable console. I too was disappointed in the game’s length but still, it is what it is. That is one of the very few problems in the game: the length. It is the most dominant of the problems. Still, it is very enjoyable and the game is highly replayable anyway. Bosses are awesome, that being simply put. The battles are all creative and very fun. All of them make use of that specific item you obtained in the dungeon and they all take some sort of strategy. They are big and difficult at times. Overall though, they are not the hardest bosses to the series. Luckily, there is not much frustration taking down these brutes with the touch screen controls. Occasionally, you may have trouble using items. For example, the boomerang takes a few moments to activate. You have to draw its own path. Still, this game is easy so annoyances like that are easily forgiven. The main thing I liked about the bosses was each one’s originality. While you never get to really know or listen to most of them, each one is unique in look, fighting style and of course method to defeat. It is all an overwhelming experience entering and leaving a boss room and these battles are definitely some of the main highlights in the adventure mode. Another slight problem I’d like to point out there is repetitiveness. There is one temple you must revisit a total of I believe six times. Each journey to it, you try to see how much further you can dig into it. This is the famous Temple of the Ocean King. It is known for its torment and repetition. The hardest part of this game is probably hacking away through this temple. First of all, you are timed. There are areas in the temple that drain your life away and its pretty much located everywhere. Using an hour glass (yes, the phantom hourglass), you are timed. If time runs out you lose. It is as simple as that. If that were not enough, this temple contains invincible knights you must sneak past, moving platforms and all of that good stuff. This temple is why the game often gets tedious, tough and ultimately highly repetitive. Nonetheless, it is at least a challenge and what a difficulty it is. Phantom Hourglass includes a neat little multiplayer mode. It is not the best part of the game but it is for multiple people and it has wi-fi so some credit is due for the addition of this mode. I have not played it, but from what I heard it is amusing and it is at least worth a look. Kudos to Nintendo for having an online Zelda game- I never thought it would happen. There isn’t anything else for me to say about that. As a general wrap up, Phantom Hourglass contains superb game play. The adventure mode is a good 14 hour run, there is a fun additional multiplayer mode, there are plenty of memorable items/bosses/dungeons/characters/et cetera, and it makes great use of all of the DS functions. The graphics in this game are excellent. They are beyond good for the Nintendo DS. I was very pleased with the results. The sound was also pretty good. The tunes were not as catchy as some of the music in previous titles, but it is still nice to hear the sounds. Overall, Phantom Hourglass definitely is recommended for its excellence in all areas. I have had a lot of fun with it and had some nice memories and I hope gamers out there can have the same pleasurable experience I had. Thanks for those who read my review and I’ll catch you again some other time.
