The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Title: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Action/adventure
Rating: 5 stars

In 2003, Tor surprised me with the birthday gift of all birthday gifts, the one that has yet to be topped: A Nintendo Gamecube with The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. I have to admit, I was a little suspicious of the green clad little boy all made up in cell-shaded graphics, he was no Mario, no Ice Climber, no Alex the Kidd. Yes, fine, I’d met him before, in his NES days, but he didn’t really catch my attention at the time.

Until Wind Waker. As this is not a review of Wind Waker, I’m not going to go into lengths about why I loved the game and how I used to spend long, unemployed days playing it while talking to myself in the mirror on the wall by the TV (”why did you do that? You should’ve used the boomerang, not the grapple hook!”). Anyway, Wind Waker is the best video game ever to grace the genre of action-adventure. It gave me entertainment for hours, a reason to get up before noon, something to do instead of the dishes. I loved it, truly loved it. When I finished it, it didn’t matter - it is the game that keeps on giving (as long as you don’t do 100% of all side quests on your first playthrough, but honestly, who ever does that?), and I always find myself wanting to play it. Always. Like right now? I want to play it.

But again, I digress! The reason we are all gathered here tonight is to praise not Wind Waker, but its sequel, Phantom Hourglass.

Phantom Hourglass picks up sort of where Wind Waker let us all go (or in my case, never let go): Link and Zelda (using her pirate name Tetra) are sailing the high seas looking for goodness knows what - they might have told me in the beginning of the game, but I was too excited to catch everything. Tetra is kidnapped, and Link goes on a quest to save her and most likely the world. Again, sailing around to different islands is a key point of the game. However, the islands are changed since Wind Waker, so it’s a whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew. Also, the boat is steam powered, and comes with a lazy, slightly snarky captain.

New in PH is the way of controlling Link and the boat. Everything is done using the DS’ stylus - you don’t have to touch the D-pad or the buttons at all unless you really really want to, and even if you try it feels odd and plain wrong after having used the stylus for a while. I was a little apprehensive about this new, innovative way of controlling Link (much like I was apprehensive about the Wiimote, or the Gamecube controller for that matter), but once I tried it, it was smooth sailing and felt like the most natural thing in the world.
The stylus is also used to draw on your world and island maps. Rather often you’ll get hints on how to solve a puzzle, where to find a treasure, things like that, and you’ll be encouraged to write it down on your map. So far in my adventure I’ve also come across an uncharted island where I had to draw the map myself (note to self: do not quit your day job to become map maker). Thankfully you also get the option to erase what you’ve drawn and try again. I tried leaving this island without finishing the map, but Captain McSnarkypants told me to get on with it and make that map already. Wanker.

The game gets its name from, believe it or not, an hourglass. There is a dungeon you keep returning to that drains your life energy unless you’re in safe spots, which can be few and far between - however, with the Phantom Hourglass in hand you get a certain amount of time where the dungeons life-drainage doesn’t harm you at all. It also adds a certain degree of stress which could have you tearing out your hair because you turned the wrong way AGAIN, and where is that damn switch, ARGH.

I have to admit I’m not that far along in the game. Silly things like work and exams keep getting in the way of me playing, which might be a good thing - now I can bring it along with me when I go home for Christmas and face long hours on planes and in airports (flying north during the winter season is always a gamble with time, you’re lucky if everything is going along as scheduled). However few hours of playtime I’ve had though, I can tell you this: Awesome, awesome game. The storyline is intriguing enough to keep you interested, the dungeons are just as hard as they should be, the monsters are just as cute and/or menacing as they should be (those phantoms creep me out), and Link is just as persistent in his quest to be the hero as he should be.

In the end, I have to go along with what everyone else is saying about this game: If you’re looking for a reason to acquire a Nintendo DS, this is it. Do it. Do it now.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 00:43. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.