Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
| Developer: Nintendo | Publisher: Nintendo |
| Release Date: October 2, 2007 | Also On: None |
Nintendo makes amazing video games, but there isn't a franchise they handle more carefully than Legend of Zelda. Sure, Capcom made some great titles like Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Minish Cap, and Link to the Past: Four Swords, but none of those games really pushed the Zelda franchise any further than it was in the SNES days. Nintendo took the ropes back for Phantom Hourglass, Link's DS debut and arguably best 2D adventure since Link to the Past.
You might be wondering what the Phantom Hourglass is–it is a part of the story, which involves Link being whisked off to a strange land with an amnesiac fairy named Ceila. Tetra (if you forgot, she's Zelda in Wind Waker) falls victim to a curse while scavenging a ghost ship. Link's only hope to save her is to sail with a wacky pirate named Linebeck and gather the three fairies of Power, Courage, and Wisdom. With them he'll be able to discover the secret of the curse and its creator, and pursue further adventures. He'll have to use the Phantom Hourglass to survive the deadly gases as he dives down into the Ocean King's Temple, where the secret to Tetra's cure can be found. As Link descends he'll constantly have to mind the hourglass and the amount of time he has to escape the dungeon with more treasures and hints.
Sure, it looks like Wind Waker–it's a sequel of sorts, after all. Sure, its story doesn't spin an epic tale like a Final Fantasy or the Wii big brother, Twilight Princess. This doesn't make Phantom Hourglass any less credible. It takes the traditional 2D scheme, adds some nifty touch mechanics, incorporates those mechanics into some great puzzles and sidequests, and makes it all beautiful with 3D cel-shaded models and environments. You couldn't ask for a better handheld Zelda game, really.
Running around the collection of islands (there are quite a few) is done simply with the stylus, holding it close to the middle of the screen to walk and further across the screen to run. Link can attack when you swipe in any direction; his horizontal slash will swipe at that point. Tapping an enemy or destructible object will send link flying through the air with his jump-slash attack. Naturally, spinning a circle around him will result in the trademark spinning attack. It is as simple as that; some weapons use different mechanics but all of them are fun and simple, nothing becomes repetitive. Familiar items like bombs and arrows are easy to use, but all items can be equipped with the Left trigger, which acts as a sort of hot key so that Link can use the item quickly. Picking off faraway targets is incredibly easy with the arrows, and hooking onto solid objects with the grappling hook is quick and simple.
You will use the screen to draw on your maps, which don't need to be purchased, might I add. I found this deviation from the series (as well as many others, which I'll explain more of momentarily) to be helpful, and marking down hints and reminders changes the way Zelda games are played, in a way. The game is sometimes a little too helpful with its "hints", which are more like dead giveaways. Still, some of the puzzles require a bit of thought. They're all pretty clever, particularly one that involves the shape of an entire island. You can tackle most of a dungeon in much less time than previous Zelda games, thanks to the map reminders–still, you'll enjoy every second of them. The boss fights, lastly, absolutely rock, although some of them are too short and easy to fully enjoy. Again, in some instances the game gives away the secret and ruins the challenge of thinking about a puzzle or boss strategy.
As a sequel to Wind Waker, one would have to expect some sea-faring foolery. If you hated it in Wind Waker, you probably will come into Phantom Hourglass with a bit of a bias–expected, of course, because Wind Waker's sailing was dull and terrible. Phantom Hourglass speeds it up tremendously and adds more enemies, hazards, and points of interest–sailing isn't the dull affair of the past. To make sailing even more fun, Nintendo made the ship customizable. You can choose different hull designs, anchors, prows, cannons, and more as you find them, plundering the land for treasure. Speaking of treasure, using the Salvage Arm is a lot different this time around. You'll have to manually drag the arm downward, avoiding bombs and rock formations as you dive, secure the sunken treasure, and proceed in returning the catch to the surface. It's difficult at first, but after a few bumps and bruises you'll be snatching up treasure like a pro.
Phantom Hourglass feels pretty rewarding when you learn all of its tricks and clear out the islands. Still, as I hinted before, there are some nicks in the tradition of Zelda games that bugged me in ways and pleased me in others. When I play a Zelda game, I want to find Heart Pieces to form Heart Containers. I like a lot of them; Twilight Princess offered the most to date. Phantom Hourglass has none, and I was disappointed. I liked the ability to hold as many rupees as I wanted throughout the game, though–finding wallets was annoying, and even still you'll have to find a bigger bomb bag and bombchu bag, so not all of this collecting was axed. There aren't as many dungeons, but you'll have to re-play the same Ocean King's Temple multiple times, only finding a mid-way save point later in the game. The Ocean King's Temple combines the challenges of the other temples you have gone through before you are required to visit, but you'll still feel annoying deja vu going through it each time, especially if you die or run out of Phantom Hourglass sand.
This is a great-looking DS game, nicely mixing the vivid colors and models of Wind Waker with the DS's picky limitations. Up close, similar to Final Fantasy III, Phantom Hourglass gets a little blocky and pixelated; while playing it looks great and animates very well. The 2D objects reflect the Wind Waker style just as well as the models. I wasn't a big fan of some of the new enemy designs–particularly the multi-eyed creature you'll engage while sailing and a few of the dungeon bosses. I didn't think they reflected the dungeons as well as previous bosses have. The sound effects and music clips are all very familiar, and almost entirely recycled–take it or leave it, I say, I didn't mind anything but the ticking sound after hitting a time-activated switch.
The adventure will take seasoned Zelda players about 10-12 hours to complete. While this may come as a dear disappointment to some, I have to mention that there are a lot of treasures and ship parts to collect as well as mini-games and other goodies to find. The lack of Heart Pieces, it seems, was reciprocated by the increase in collectible items. There is also a fantastic multiplayer mode that supports multi-card play as well as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing players to compete against anyone on the globe. The game is addicting, players switch back and forth between Link and Phantoms, who must guard force pieces that look like Triforce shards. Link has to get the pieces to his safe zone while the Phantoms try to apprehend him; Phantoms can only be controlled by drawing lines around a map while watching Link dash around the corridors. Both sides are pretty equal, though Link turns invisible when he steps into safe zones that fill up some parts of the maps. He can become incredibly difficult to find, if the player controlling him is skilled at getting around quickly. Gather some friends and play if you can, you'll have a lot of fun.
I would recommend Phantom Hourglass to most DS owners. Fans of the series will want to check it out, though I have to send up a red flag about the lack of difficulty. First-time Zelda players or casual gamers will find it to be the most accessible one to date, and I can't really complain about that. I enjoyed every moment of the Legend until it ended.
| Graphics: | 9 |
| Sound: | 7.5 |
| Gameplay: | 9.5 |
| Creativity: | 9.5 |
| Replay Value/Game Length: | 8.5 |
| Final: | 8.9 |
| Written by Cliff | Review Guide |
Game Freaks 365 is not responsible and does not endorse the comments posted above from registered users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, or remove user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice. Items that may be considered inappropriate to post are those containing profanity, hatred, vulgar, unlawful or threatening comments.
Read 927 times.
