I have been a Zelda fan since I was about 5 years old, so Zelda has a big impact on me. I remember playing the original Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the pure frustration of fighting the later bosses. It was fun but frustrating to my childish mind. After that game, there was the release of Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. It was definitely a change from the bird’s eye view scope of the game. The dungeons in 2D were frustrating and borderline aggravating! I remember spending almost 3 hours as a kid trying to fight Horsehead. (I can kill Horsehead like cake now, but it still can be a grueling fight.) The Super Nintendo release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Zelda III), it was received well by fans who liked the bird’s eye view form of battle and puzzles. I enjoyed this return to a “pure” experience. The side story games like Zelda DX: Link’s Awakening and other games that were for the portable platforms used the bird’s eye view method to display the action.

When the Zelda franchise went 3D, you had some purists who were angered because the “pure” experience was ruined. At the same time, you had fans who were praying for the moment to “see” Link’s realm from his eyes. Ocarina of Time’s release and the two off-shoots (Majora’s Mask and Master Quest) were well liked by the consumers and fans while winning awards all around. Many thought all was well, until Nintendo tried to take the next Zelda to the cell-shading craze. Wind Waker had a unique reception on its release… Some hailed it as a refreshing take on the franchise by remixing the story a bit. Some felt that the “childish” experience dulled the game from being part of the “pure” storyline. When the last major console release game returned to a pure Link experience and not the antics of young Link… Fans were overjoyed to see the series return to its “roots”.

The DS has been Nintendo’s pride and joy of the portable gaming world lately. With most of the games that have come out, they have seriously remixed how to play some of the most classic Nintendo franchise games. Zelda is no exception, it was one that got remixed to the DS “touch and play” approach. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a brilliant game that takes some of the basic features of the system and incorporate it into the game play. This is boldly advertised on the case of the game:

Take Control of an Epic New Adventure!

The cover even has screenshots of the game and methods of how to play the game being demonstrated. For those curious about what the story line is about… it’s not the “traditional” story. It is an offshoot of the Wind Waker story realm, so for those who do not like the cell shaded designs and such… You will have to get it over that to really enjoy the game. A synopsis of the story is that after the adventures of Tetra and Link killing the dark lord, they took to the high seas to be treasure hunting pirates. Tetra hears rumors of a ghost ship full of treasures and that search leads to disaster and new adventures. A very non-traditional take on the Zelda story. The main focus of the story is on the secrets of the Phantom Hourglass and the old temple of the starting island.

The graphics are pretty good for a bird’s eye view sort of Zelda with 3D graphics. The character models are a bit rough, so don’t expect something super clean like Final Fantasy XI. The playful graphics go well with the game, so I don’t mind or bitch about them. The game plays 95% with the touch screen, so I will emphasize that patience and tolerance are required virtues for this game. The battle system is pretty simple and same for movement. Make slash marks to slash at enemies, tap on enemies to do the lunging jump slash, and make a circle around Link to do the spinning slash. For movement, just point the direction and Link moves. Rolling is a much harder issue… point your stylus to the edge of the screen and make a swirl motion. The feature that really makes this game shine out is the ability to annotate maps. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times map annotation has saved my bacon… Especially for switch puzzles that mention pulling certain switches in numeric order. The fun doesn’t stop there… Sailing is pretty interesting. That process is completely touch oriented too. To sail to a new location, it essentially becomes a game of connect the dots to go to where you want. The thing that makes it a challenge are the enemies and obstacles that get in the way. The cannon and jump function of the ship allow for you to evade and fight off adversaries at sea in an efficient manner. The open sea maps are much like the land maps with freedom to completely annotate what you need to remember. The top screen primarily functions as your map/radar screen. I say “radar” as some enemies you will encounter will be invisible to your battle view, but show up there. The radar has a “Metal Gear Solid” aspect as you can see the “viewing cone” of your enemies in certain dungeons. During some boss battles, the top screen may act like an extended arena. This makes for a very unique experience to the game.

[POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT!!!!!]

Most of the important bits of the game do focus on the old temple at the starting island (Mercay Isle). What makes this temple such a challenge is that certain parts of the dungeons architecture are “safe zones” and don’t drain away at your hearts… but when you’re on the main dungeon every second saps away about 1/2 a heart. It won’t be until you can claim the powers of the Phantom Hourglass, that the challenge gets “easier”. The magic hourglass basically has a limited allotment of time in which the life draining powers of the dungeon are nullified as long as the hourglass has magic sand in it. Safe zones basically lock the time from draining away, but the game throws in Phantoms (nearly invulnerable sentries) to the dungeon that up the challenge factor. The Phantoms move rather quickly and on striking Link, the game takes one whole minute off of your Phantom Hourglass and you restart at the beginning of the floor you were last at. This can get aggravating when you’re not observing patterns as escaping to a safe zone may end up being a task that wastes time on the hourglass and being potentially risky. As you go lower and lower, the game will challenge you with much stiffer things, but at the same time, the new tools you gain will give you an edge over previous runs and may even cut down your times.

While the touch feature is one way to play the game… The buttons get used only as “shortcuts” to the map, inventory, and equipping subweapons (bombs, boomerang, shovel, etc). Nintendo does realize that there are left handed gamers, so you can even adjust the settings to accommodate your dexterity, definitely a great move on their part. The microphone is also used as well, surprisingly. One of the uses is in a dungeon where there’s an enemy is weak to “loud noises”. How do you make noise? Yell into the microphone, of course! On yelling, the enemy shrivels up into a blob and basically cowers in fear while you kill it with a death slash. The “sleep” mode of the DS is used and, believe me, it’s not in any way I would have imagined it… The development team really got creative with the game, kudos to Nintendo for simply brilliant concepts being put to use!

My only gripe with the game is that the touch game play can be a bit of a pain in the side rather than fun… Like in dungeons with time limited switches, if you mess up on your stylus position, Link may end up jumping off a ledge when you may have actually needed him to run across a thin bridge. This not only end up killing your time, but it aggravates you because you may have to reset the room just to get the puzzle to work properly again. Another thing that’s minor at best is map related puzzles may not be accurate if you have an issue drawing straight lines. You may find that you may be off by a single space, but not a serious issue, more user related if anything.

I like this game and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great Zelda game on the go. The save times are quick, so you could play a part of a dungeon during a break or lunch period and pick back up when you returned home. The casual fan could probably pick up this game quickly and end up being addicted rather quick. I have found myself having to beat myself over the head to get to sleep all because I wanted to knock out 2 dungeons in a night. Patience is required to not get too frustrated with it, but definitely worth the expense.

Zero’s Rating: 9/10
Good: Innovative and refreshing take on game play, challenging puzzles, fun battles!
Bad: Quirky touch only approach can make some dungeons a frustrating experience.

Check out Nintendo’s official site for more details about the game: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass