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Taking place shortly after the events of The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass returns the Zelda series to the cartoon-inspired graphic style of the Gamecube game. If I remember correctly, the hero of this timeline is not actually Link, but a small boy from a village that takes up Link’s sword and shield to defeat evil in his archipelago, which is situated above the long since flooded kingdom of Hyrule. Essentially, it’s ‘Waterworld’ with puzzles and elves. What sets Phantom Hourglass apart, aside from the lack of the titular character or the usual hero, is the game is controlled entirely by the DS stylus. While slightly awkward at first, this shift in the usual control scheme becomes second nature after the first few levels, and the game accommodates the limited agility of the stylus control with slower, less powerful enemies. Rarely is the player required to dodge excessive projectiles or maneuver quickly to avoid death, making the entire process a joy to control. To swing Not Link’s sword, simply tap an enemy and Not Link will walk over and slash it. Items, too, are stylus based. The boomerang, for example, is thrown by drawing the trajectory on the touch screen, which then unleashes a boomerang throw that defies all laws of physics, but is sure fun to use. The dreaded sailing from Wind Waker has been thankfully aided by the stylus as well. Now, simply draw the course on the main map and the ship will follow it exactly. Also, players can write notes on the map to remind themselves of locations they may need to visit, or the order switches need to be pressed, or anything else, for that matter. The control worries assuaged, one can focus on what has always been the series’ strongest suit: the puzzles. There are six proper dungeons in the game, as well as several peripheral quests, and for the most part they are the perfect balance between intellectually challenging and fun to conquer. Rarely was I stumped for prolonged periods of time, and once a solution was uncovered it felt more rewarding than a product of sheer try-everything-and-hope-it-works luck. This could be my favorite Zelda game since Ocarina of Time. I enjoyed Wind Waker, but found the constant wind changing and sailing to be tedious. Also, the game required an irritating scavenger hunt to enter the final dungeon, which was promptly GameFAQs-ed. Before that was Majora’s Mask, which was just crap. My biggest gripe with Phantom Hourglass is the game makes the player replay the same dungeon several times, which wouldn’t be that annoying if it was fun to play (it’s not, really) and wasn’t filled with enemies that are invincible and can stop Not Link with one hit, causing him to return to the entrance to the room. Also, it’s timed, and running out of time required the player to start all over. Once new items are acquired, the dungeon becomes a little less grating because shortcuts are opened up, but I still loathed each return to the same squalid environment when all I wanted was a map to more ocean. Still, this annoyance is not enough to ruin what is an otherwise stellar game and something everyone with a DS should play.
