Overview
Today on the show, I'm going to review the latest handheld Zelda game to hit the market. Released for the Nintendo DS on October 1st, 2007, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is by far the best handheld Zelda game released to date. It features intense action, unique controls, amazing graphics and a sense of humor you'll grow to love. You can also connect via DS Download Play, Multiplayer and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to battle your friends wirelessly in a "tag, you're it" sort of game.
Single Player
The main part of the game is the Single Player mode. There are two save files, just in case you have a friend that wants to play or you simply want to make a back-up of your data. The storyline is simple but a bit cheesy. On a routine exploration to find a so-called "Ghost Ship", Tetra (Princess Zelda) gets abducted and Link falls into the ocean while trying to save her. When Link wakes up, he meets with a fairy, and the whole point of the game becomes to save Zelda, once again. What a surprise.
The graphics are pretty amazing for a DS game, although if you look carefully you can see the polygonal textures of the humans when close-ups occur. The cut-scenes are impressive to watch, however.
What's innovative about The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is that the entire game is controlled by the touch screen. Unlike previous Zelda games, the control pad isn't used at all to move Link. You move Link, attack, talk and select/activate objects using the DS Stylus and Touch Screen. However, it's apparent that this feature hasn't fully been perfected. For example, early on in the game, you had to use the Stylus to write a number on a sign, corresponding to the number of palm trees on the nearby beach. I counted how many there were and drew a 7 on the touch screen. Nothing happened. I went back out and counted again - 7! So I drew the number 7 on the sign again. Still nothing happened. Two to three times later, it finally worked and the door opened. Why? Apparently, you need to draw the 7 in a particular way, sort of angled to the right slightly (like a > sign), or the game won't recognize your drawing. A bit frustrating, to say the least.
Another innovative part of the game is the microphone feature. At one particular time, Link stands on one side of a cliff while a Goron stands on the other. In order to get the bridge to appear so you can cross the cliff, you need to shout into the DS Microphone as loud as possible to get the Goron's attention. Another time, you need to purchase an item, and the louder you shout into the microphone, the cheaper it costs, ranging from 300 Rupees all the way up to 1,500 Rupees depending on the loudness of your voice.
The third innovative part of Phantom Hourglass is that the challenges can be a bit tricky at times, but with lots of patience, you can figure them out. For example, at one point in the game, a map appears on the top screen of the DS, while an identical map appears on the bottom touch screen, except backwards. The hint given to you is to "press" the two maps together, to transfer the stamp from the top map onto your bottom map. What you really need to do is to put your DS into sleep-mode (by closing the cover of it and then re-opening it). Unique, to say the least.
The sound and music are the same as in past games, so no change there. Dungeons are somewhat easy and their bosses can be quickly taken down if you hit them in the right spot (which is usually easy to find, such as a red target painted on them). Unfortunately, the save feature has not been upgraded - when saving in a dungeon, no matter where you are in it, the next time you load your file, you return to the dungeon's entrance (even though any progress you've made in the dungeon is still saved, such as opening doors, obtaining keys, etc.).
Overall, Zelda makes excellent use of the innovative qualities of the Nintendo DS. However, game life is incredibly short. By playing about six hours a day for five days, I beat the game, collecting all the items and power gems.
Multiplayer
Phantom Hourglass has three versions of multiplayer, although each one is still the same game. The multiplayer function is a "tag, you're it" type of game for two players only. Each player alternates between controlling Link and controlling three Phantoms. The player controlling Link has to collect Tri-force pieces and bring them back to his "safe zone", while the player controlling the three Phantoms has to attack Link (only one hit is necessary) to stop him. The game alternates between six turns of about two minutes each, wherein each side gets three chances to play as Link (to obtain the Tri-force pieces and thus earn points) and as the three Phantoms (to stop the opposing player from gaining points). DS Download Play is available for a friend who doesn't have a Phantom Hourglass cartridge. Two game cartridges, however, can be used to play the same tag game, except your wins/losses/ties are tallied and saved. And Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection offers the same feature as DS
Download Play
The main problem I have with the multiplayer part is that since there are only 8 different stages, it's easy to figure out how to successfully navigate each one, both as Link and the Phantoms. Also, if you position all three Phantoms around your opponent's "safe zone", thus preventing him from gaining points, then the game becomes pretty dull (basically, you either have to get hit or wait till time runs out), since you obviously can't return any Tri-force gems you've collected to your safe zone to earn points.
Conclusion / Final Scores
To conclude, Phantom Hourglass makes excellent use of the Nintendo DS' features. The satirical humor in the game and overall storyline keeps you laughing while you try to decipher challenging puzzles and survive unique boss fights. We just wish the single player mode was longer and more thought would've been put into the multiplayer mode (two player co-op would've been nice).
Graphics: 8/10 Nice graphics, but some polygonal textures can be seen.
Sound/Music: 8/10 Same as previous games.
Gameplay: 10/10 Unique methods of using the microphone, touch screen & DS.
Controls: 7/10 Some bugs still need to be fixed, like touch screen drawings.
Lasting Appeal: 3/10 Once you completely beat the single player mode and collect all
of the items in the game, you don't want to have to go through it again. Also, after the completion of the storyline, there is nothing left to do after the final boss has been defeated.
Final Score: 7.2/10 Worth buying, but don't expect the game to take longer than
a week to beat.
