My Review: The Legend of Zelda- Phantom Hourglass (DS)

For me, the defining moment (and often moment of purchase) of a new system is when a game in one of my favorite franchises gets an installment on it. In fact, you can probably track all of my console purchases to the proximity of available Kingdom Hearts games, but that’s a story for another time. In the case of Nintendo, the arrival of a new Zelda game pretty much cements my purchase of their latest gadget. Usually, it’s worth it. Phantom Hourglass, the first Zelda game for the Nintendo DS, uses many of the DS’ unique features, while also providing one of the best portable adventure gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

STORY

Phantom Hourglass is a rare direct sequel to a prior game in the Zelda series; in this case, The Wind Waker for the Gamecube. Zelda games do tend to be self-contained, however, and the main story of Phantom Hourglass doesn’t really have too much to do with The Wind Waker, outside of a few references at the beginning and the presence of some minor comic relief from Tetra’s pirate crew. For all intents and purposes, Phantom Hourglass is a similar game to The Wind Waker, but it’s not necessary to have any experience with the prior title.

Phantom Hourglass begins with Tetra, Link’s lady friend/pirate captain, getting captured by the mysterious Ghost Ship. Link tries to pursue the Ghost Ship but falls overboard. When he wakes up on the shores of a nearby island, he meets a fairy named Celia and an old man named Oshus, who send link to the nearby Temple of the Ocean King to see if they can track the Ghost Ship’s whereabouts. Once there, Link enlists the help of Captain Linebeck, a local seafarer who is also seeking the Ghost Ship in the hopes of finding a great treasure.  Together, Link, Linebeck, and Celia search the Great Sea for the Ghost Ship, and Tetra.

The story in Phantom Hourglass is pretty standard fare for the Zelda series, with the requisite missing girl, ancient powers that need releasing, helpful magical McGuffin (in this case, the titular Phantom Hourglass), and mysterious evil force all accounted for. Link doesn’t make this journey alone, however, and a fairly banal plot is brought to life by the eccentric and likeable characters. Linebeck in particular is notable for being one of the most fleshed-out comic relief characters in the Zelda series, delivering some of the game’s most memorable and hilarious moments while also developing as a character. The overall story may not quite hit the high notes of some of its peers, but it’s still a very charming and entertaining adventure.

GAMEPLAY

The core gameplay of the Zelda series hasn’t changed all that much over the years, and with good reason. Nintendo seems to have stumbled across some secret formula of engaging game design (or just Miyamoto). Phantom Hourglass doesn’t try to fix what was never broken, but it does take advantage of its DS real estate to provide some new gameplay elements.

First off, the game is controlled entirely using the touch screen. A few minor functions can be performed by pressing buttons, but Link is controlled by dragging the stylus in the direction you want him to move. Combat works similarly as well, by tapping and slashing enemies with the stylus. The idea of an action-adventure game being entirely touch controlled may seem odd at first, but Phantom Hourglass pulls it off incredibly well- the controls are smooth and responsive, and never seem clunky or out-of-place. In addition, the DS’ unique features are used with some of the game’s items, such as drawing the path of a boomerang, aiming a bow and arrow, taking notes on your map, or blowing out candles using the microphone. A particular favorite moment of mine is when you actually close the DS to transfer an icon onto your map. It’s little touches like this that makes Phantom Hourglass such a unique entry in the Zelda series.

Sailing once again plays a large role in Phantom Hourglass. Similar to the expansive overworlds from its counterparts, you’ll sail the great sea in Linebeck’s customizable ship. In order to sail anywhere, you simply use the tough screen to chart your course, drawing a path to your destination with the stylus. Enemies prowl the seas, but a simple tap of the stylus will fire an onboard cannon for sea combat. You’ll sail to various islands throughout the great sea, where the gameplay formula follows a more traditional Zelda formula of talking to townsfolk, solving puzzles, and exploring dungeons. Speaking of which, Phantom Hourglass’ dungeons and puzzles aren’t enormously complicated, but are still clever bran-teasers perfect for a portable game. Boss battles are a little on the simplistic side; the tried-and-true ‘use whatever item you found in the dungeon to kill the boss’ strategy is still in full effect. Still, Phantom Hourglass’ dungeon design is among the best I’ve seen.

If I have one complaint about Phantom Hourglass’ otherwise great gameplay, it would be the thing that pretty much everybody seems to bring up, which is the game’s central hub. For pretty much the entirety of the game, you’ll need to find new sea charts or other clues to where to go next after you finish a dungeon, and in order to do that you must return to and delve deeper into the Temple of the Ocean King. The Temple of the Ocean King is pretty much the exception to the great dungeon design I mentioned earlier- it’s long, tedious, filled with unkillable enemies, and even worse it’s timed. The Phantom Hourglass marks the time limit you have to complete each section of the dungeon, and while a bit more sand is added to the hourglass when a dungeon is cleared (or sometimes in treasure chests), near the end of each section you’ll often be pressed for time, especially if you’re trying to figure out a puzzle. All this might be a little more bearable, if not for the worst part about the Temple of the Ocean King, which is that you have to replay each section you already got through every single time you go back, which wastes precious time.  It’s an annoying piece of forced tedium that really undermines the game’s otherwise stellar pacing. Still, the rest of the game is so good that it’s easy to overlook a small blight. There’s simply a ton to do- outside of towns and dungeons, there are treasure maps to seek, uncharted islands to discover, sidequests to undertake, and minigames to play, and the core gameplay is as excellent as one would expect from a Zelda game.

PRESENTATION

For a DS title, Phantom Hourglass’ visuals are decent, but not fantastic. There are a few neat little touches here and there, such as the distinctive design of each island and the seagulls that scatter whenever you fire your cannon, but Nintendo clearly played well within the limits of their handheld. It’s not a bad looking game by any means, though, and despite little graphical flair, the game runs very smoothly, and the art style of The Wind Waker fits very comfortably with the limited technical prowess of the DS. The same could be said of the music- it’s decent, but not extraordinary. Still, for a DS game, the presentation is well above average.

CONCLUSION

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is about as good a DS debut as the series could have gotten. It takes the classic Zelda formula, and uses the DS’ unique aspects to creatively expand upon the series’ timeless gameplay. If you’re looking for an engaging portable adventure, look no further. Phantom Hourglass is a great one.

SCORE- A-