Legend of Zelda, DS style!
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is Link and Zelda’s first adventure on the DS. Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to Wind Waker on the Gamecube. Meaning that it retains the art style of that game, so if you were absolutely repulsed by the cartoonish art style of that game, then this may not be the game for you. However it is still an extremely amazing DS game.
The story picks up directly where Wind Waker ended, with Link and Tetra sailing the Great Sea with the pirate crew. When the game starts, they’re on the hunt for a fabled ghost ship rumored to have a great treasure but also the cause of many disappearances. Before long, they run into the ship and Tetra jumps off to board it. The ghost ship almost immediately runs off, and despite Link’s attempt to leap at it, he fails and falls into the sea, washing up on a nearby island. Soon, your off to save Tetra.
As with previous LoZ entries on handhelds, Phantom Hourglass is played from a top down view. Of course, with the game being on the DS, its almost bound to have some sort of touch-screen based control scheme, and thats just what it has, and does it excellently. You move Link around by simply dragging the stylus to where you want to go, and attack enemies either by tapping them to jump attack them, or making a quick swipe in front of link to swing your sword. You can execute a spin attack by making a quick circle around Link. The items that you will pick up during the course of the game also make use of the touch screen. For example, when you use the boomerang, all you have to do is draw a path to show where you want the boomerang to go. You will also be using other features of the DS like the microphone. This new control scheme allows for a whole lot of new ways to solve puzzles, which results in some extremely satisfying gameplay, including one extremely fiendish mini-puzzle. Overall the control scheme is extremely tight and intuitive.
Another addition is that each dungeon’s map is displayed on the top screen. While this is usual Zelda fare to have a map, you can now bring it down to the touch screen in order to make notes on the map, be it to remind you where a item is or which lever to pull first. While this may seem like a small addition at first, you will soon realise its extremely invaluable.
Seeing as it is a sequel to Wind Waker, its only right that it has the sailing around the Great Sea. For those of you who absolutely loved the first game besides that one particalar part, fear not, the sailing in this game feels a lot less tedious. All you need to do is draw a path that you want your ship to take and it will automatically sail. You’re in a steam ship this time by the way, meaning you travel fast and the wind has no effect whatsoever. However, you still need to pay attention in order to dodge the occasional obstacle or kill the occasional sea monster.
There is also a multiplayer game that can be played either with local wireless single or multi card, or also over Nintendo Wi-Fi. The game is slightly reminiscent of Pac-Man, and you will probably find hours of enjoyment from it, or find it a little dull. The gameplay over Wi-Fi is fairly lag free for the most part, and allows you to select from playing against friends, people of around your skill level and around your region as well.
The graphics, as mentioned before, are abuot the same as Wind Waker, in terms of art style that is. They retain the same cartoonish art style that people either love or hate. The charcater’s faces are pretty expressive with tons of goofy faces. The environments of the game are pretty pleasing to look at too. On the technical side of things, its a slight downgrade from the gamecube but the graphics are still highly pleasing to look at. The sound, as is the case in most LoZ games, is of very high quality. The tunes are very memorable and add quite a bit of effect to the game. There is a lack of voice acting, apart from the yelps of Link, but that isn’t too big a deal for Zelda games.
Ultimately, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is an extremely satisfying game and a terrific effort at bringing the series to the DS. The control scheme is fantastic and will no doubt become the standard for many action games to come on the DS. Although the difficulty might be a tad on the easy side for seasoned players, it is still a title you definitely do not want to miss.
