The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is an Adventure/Puzzle game for the Nintendo DS and was the first Zelda game to be released on the system. This was actually the first Zelda game that I played and completed. Now is this a great introduction to this majestic series? Lets find out!

Story - Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to the Wind Waker for the GameCube taking place several months later. The game begins as Link and Tetra are sailing in their ship when they encounter a Ghost Ship which has been haunting the seas. Tetra jumps aboard to explore but the ship suddenly begins to disappear with her aboard and it is up to Link to save her. Link see's a vision of Tetra as she is calling for his help. He then wakes up on an Island where a fairy named Ciela finds him. Ciela takes him to see her grandfather named Oshus which tells Link to meet a man named Linebeck who has a ship so that they may sail the seas and find the Ghost Ship. I think I've said just about all I can that isn't a spoiler.

Gameplay - The gameplay is very simple but really difficult to get used to. Moving around is done entirely by using the DS stylus, so all that needs to be done to move around is to point the stylus in the direction you want to go and to attack enemies you can either use a targeted attack, where you point on the enemy with the stylus and Link jumps on him with his sword, or you could just swing the stylus around to make Link swing his sword in front of him. Now for the sailing parts. Before setting sail you get the sea chart on the bottom screen. This is where you draw a line on the chart representing the path you want to go. Later on in the game you get a cannon which serves as your weapon out in the sea.

Puzzles - Now this is basically the prime element in every Zelda game, the puzzles, you just can't have a Zelda game that doesn't have dungeons that make you solve all kinds of puzzles. To me, the puzzles were fun and challenging without being frustrating. I'm not going into detail on every puzzle or anything but all I can say is that they were fun.

Music - The soundtrack did have some really good tunes. The music while sailing the seas and fighting the final boss were some of the best tracks of the entire series. But other than those the soundtrack didn't really have any memorable tunes, the song while running in the wild just sounded like noise to me and the song for the central dungeon didn't have any melody to it, it was just sound that was repeated in an infinite loop.

Conclusion - Phantom Hourglass is a great game to introduce gamers to the Zelda series, although there are better way's like Ocarina of Time with its new 3DS remake, this game did get me into the series, and I don't regret getting this one.

8.5/10 - I would give it a 9, but only being able to use the stylus just knocked it down a little.

(www.plasticpals.com) Phantom Hourglass, the first Zelda title designed for the Nintendo DS, picks up where The Windwaker left off. A comical seafaring adventure in the cel-shaded style, Phantom Hourglass makes excellent use of the DS graphical capabilities as well as its touch screen, delivering one of the best games for the system yet.

The DS begged the question, "How would a Zelda game play using the touchscreen?" and Phantom Hourglass is the answer. Eschewing both the d-pad and face buttons entirely, Phantom Hourglass can be played with the touch screen alone, with the option of using the L button for readying secondary items. This is a big change, but die-hard Zelda fans can breathe easily as the controls couldn't feel any more natural.

Link will move wherever you touch the screen, and attack enemies when you tap on them with your stylus. You can also perform fancier moves, such as the spin-slash by drawing a circle around him. Where things get really interesting (and innovative) is how the player uses secondary items such as bombs, arrows, and the boomerang. It's amazing how intuitive the controls are for each item and in most cases it's an improvement over the typical 2D Zelda control mechanisms.

One of the coolest additions to the game play is the ability to draw on the map screen. Clues for solving a puzzle can be quickly jotted down, or the location of buried treasure can be sketched onto the map. This isn't just a gimmick as you'll be making memos throughout the entire game. X marks the spot!

Phantom Hourglass even improves on game play specific to The Windwaker. Instead of having to conduct the wind to sail around the ocean, players simply plot their course by drawing a line on the map. Tapping enemies that attack you on the high seas will fire the cannons with surprising accuracy. You can even upgrade and customize your ship with dozens of different parts.

The best new addition to seafaring is dragging up treasure from the deep. In The Windwaker, you simply navigated to the spot marked on your map and the treasure was yours. In Phantom Hourglass, you now get to control the salvage arm as it drops below the water's surface. Collecting each buried treasure plays out like a mini-game where you have to avoid mines and rocky cliffs while snagging rupees, until finally latching onto the treasure chest on the sea floor!

Key to solving the mysteries of the game is delving deeper and deeper into the Temple of the Ocean King. Unfortunately, the temple is cursed – anyone who dares to venture inside will have their life drained – and there are Phantoms about who mean serious business! This is where the titular Phantom Hourglass comes into play. The hourglass prevents your life from being drained for a time (just how much time is determined by how much special sand you have collected). Making things a bit easier are safety zones which pause the timer and prevent Phantoms from seeing you.

It's a bit of a chore to return inside the temple (which players must do at least 5 times throughout the game), but the handy warp points and Link's arsenal of items provide for handy shortcuts, cutting down on the back-tracking quite a bit.

The DS isn't exactly known for its power (often playing second fiddle to the PSP) but Phantom Hourglass looks and sounds like a portable version of The Windwaker. It may be a little rough around the edges, but it does a great job overall. Characters are especially expressive by DS standards, and the bosses and cinematics (often stretching across both screens) are a sight to behold.

Enticing non-gamers to play is Nintendo's mandate, and Phantom Hourglass could be described as an "entry level" Zelda game. Relying entirely on touch screen controls required a simpler design, and some traditional Zelda elements were truncated as a result. Dungeons are linear, puzzles are easier, and enemies don't put up much of a fight. That said, the game is still fun to play, the bosses are epic even by Zelda's standards and the mini games will test even the best player's skill with the touch- screen. For my money, Phantom Hourglass is one of the best DS titles available, and a solid if not spectacular addition to the Zelda franchise.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass follows Link after the events of Wind Waker as he travels with a band of pirates led by Tetra, when the mysterious Ghost Ship appears. It steals both Tetra and Link into another world, where Link must embark on a journey to save his captain and ultimately the world.

I had a lot of fun playing this game. The gameplay itself is largely well-realized and engaging, and while it wasn't always as responsive as it could be, that is possibly caused by my fairly old Nintendo DS console. I think that certain aspects could have been done better by making them easier to control or less complicated to use properly, but that was only the occasional point here and there in the game.

The graphics are, while nowhere near great, stylized in such a way where it's obvious that this wasn't the intent. It's a very interesting looking game, and could probably look better on a higher-end console with the capacity for something better. Regardless, it looks pretty cool, but it's not always great. The occasional slip-up here and there does little to hinder the experience, but those mistakes are still present.

My biggest gripe with the game is the storytelling and heavy exposition. The game feels the need to over-explain things, whether that be simple game mechanics or how to use certain items, and it often gets tedious. Maybe it's because I'd already played the game years before, but Ciela the fairy got awful annoying after a while. Speaking of Ciela, she's the chief reason the exposition is frustrating. She'll often say a few simple phrases to tell you what was just explained to you seconds before, and this is not an exaggeration. A character will explain something, and the second that dialogue bubble ends Ciela will pull you aside and say the same thing in summary. Despite this, the story itself is pretty interesting. It's largely standard for a Legend of Zelda game, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

Overall I enjoyed The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I don't know if I'd play through it a third time, but I had a good time. Save for the heavy exposition, this is a fun, stylized game. In the end I would recommend it.

Phantom Hourglass took the beloved classic formula of The Wind Waker and distilled it into a fresh, inventive handheld experience on the Nintendo DS. It managed to capture the spirit of exploration and puzzle-solving while making smart use of the DS's unique touchscreen controls, giving the game a distinctive feel that set it apart from other entries in the franchise.

The art style maintained that charming cel-shaded look, which kept the lighthearted and whimsical vibe alive, perfect for the adventure across the vast seas. The story, while not the deepest in the series, was engaging enough, with Link's quest to save Tetra adding emotional stakes.

Gameplay-wise, the puzzles were clever and challenging without being frustrating, and the dungeon design kept things interesting. The Phantom Hourglass mechanic itself was a neat twist that added tension and strategy to the dungeons.

The touchscreen controls were a bit divisive-some players loved the intuitive aiming and map navigation, while others found it took some getting used to. But overall, it enhanced the immersion rather than detracted from it.

What really stood out was the game's pacing and accessibility-easy to pick up on the go, yet rich enough to keep seasoned Zelda fans hooked.

If it had a flaw, it would be the somewhat repetitive sailing sections, but the charming islands and side quests helped break that up nicely.

All in all, Phantom Hourglass was a fantastic adventure that proved Zelda could thrive on handhelds with smart design choices and heart.

A solid 9 out of 10 - a must-play for any Zelda fan, especially those who love innovation and portable gaming.