Hourglass has given a fresh perspective on the Zelda franchise.
After the enormous commercial success of previous Zelda games, it was only a matter of time before a Zelda game would be developed for Nintendo's DS. The result is a unique and immersive game that will tingle your gaming senses.
While The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass may seem like the same old Zelda game, there is something refreshing about the game that ultimately reinvigorates the series in a brilliant way.
One thing Phantom Hourglass is excellent at doing is making you feel like you are in your own adventure. If you're not making charts, you're picking up clues or jotting down directions via your stylus for later use. It doesn't take much to figure it out, but the illusion is impeccable, and will drive you onward to the next challenge.
The controls for the game have been reformatted for use on the DS. Directing Link to wherever you want to go is as simple as pointing or dragging the stylus in your desired direction. Attacking is as simple as jabbing and slashing your enemies on the screen. The way the controls are applied across the game world to solve puzzles is enthralling in totally new ways.
Even the most obvious things - like realising you can activate a switch around the corner by drawing a line for your boomerang to travel along, or blowing into the microphone to put out candles - will put a subtle smile on your face.
The ability to draw on your map is a simple yet effective method to keep track of what you have and haven't done, the order to pull switches, or the best path to take. When you are annotating the map, it efficiently sits on the top screen so it is always on show.
You would expect the game to have shrunken down graphics for the DS but this is not the case with Phantom Hourglass. Despite the game's lack of graphical prowess, the simplistic animations and artistic nature of the game make it outstanding to look at. It may not have graphic you would expect from the PSP, but it offers something colourful and fun.
You don't have to have played Wind Waker to get into Phantom Hourglass's story. The story revolves around Link searching for the mysterious Ghost Ship which has kidnapped Tetra. To find the ship, you must search for clues amongst the six main dungeons, which are alive with puzzles and monsters to battle, along with a boss to destroy at the end of each dungeon. Each boss is different and you have to be resourceful and use your weapons and environment to defeat them and progress.
One of Phantom Hourglass's issue is it's almost stubborn reluctance to let you figure out the quest for yourself. For experienced Zelda players the game may be a bit too easy. The clues are too bold, and the fairy who guides you have a chest full of giveaway tips that it dishes out, and is omnipresent through the game. The illusion of being in an adventure is quickly threatened due to the suppressing need for the game to 'hold your hand' through the experience.
Forgiving these flaws are easy, though, and not just because everything is such a delightful riddle, but because it's just as charming and as humorous as all the other games have been. From when Link extravagantly finds a new important item; from the upbeat music; to when a new fairy friend bounces around you playfully. The whole mood of the game is something that would put a smile on the face of even the grouchiest man.
When the single player is over, you're left to a surprisingly engaging multiplayer game, where a player plays as Link and collects Force Gems and the other plots the path for roaming Phantoms to stop the other player. It may be in a whole other world from the superb singleplayer experience, but it is a fun little add-on to occupy your time.
Even among Nintendo's best games, Phantom Hourglass manages to capture your imagination and catapult you into a quest that you will never forget about anytime soon. It may be over sooner than you expect, but you won't wish that it had lasted longer. You'll wish more games were tuned the way Phantom Hourglass is. This game wasn't made for the DS, but the DS was made for Phantom Hourglass.
