The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) review on HonestGamers

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Review by Ben Lee
November 15, 2007

If I told you that the game I’ve been playing followed a forest-green-clad hero’s quest to save Princess Zelda, kidnapped by some malevolent evil, you could just as easily say it was one of the other umpteen Zelda games out there.

Likewise, if I said that along his way, he acquaints himself with a sidekick and explores several dungeons, collecting new items – bombs, bow and arrow, grappling hook, and so on – as well as claiming ~~spirits, metals~~ whatever to end up possessing the power needed to kick the big bad's backside all the way down to hell, you still wouldn’t be sure which Zelda I was talking about. It’s one of those series that can get away with recycling just about everything, and Phantom Hourglass is no different. Sure, said malevolent evil might be a Ghost Ship responsible for taking sailors and residents, said big bad might not be Ganon, and said sidekick might be a Navi-wannabe amnesiac spirit called Ciela, but by now, none of the plot twists the series throws at you should be shocking anymore.

However, each game also comes with a gimmick or two that distinguishes itself from every other Zelda, that keeps the series fresh, whether it be the Dark World in Link to the Past or Wind Waker’s excessive amount of sailing. Phantom Hourglass does away with conventional controls and boldly forces you to control Link pretty much exclusively using the touch screen. Nintendo reinforces this move by not only stopping you from going through menus and reading dialogue with anything other the stylus, but also providing no alternative D-pad scheme.

Lucky for us, the controls are integrated almost flawlessly, which is one heck of an achievement considering you can do so much with one short stick: drag your stylus to move Link; tap an item to pick it up; tap an enemy to perform a targeted attack; swipe in various directions to thrust and slash your sword; draw a circle around Link to execute the familiar spin attack. Rarely, the game mistakes a small step for a quick thrust, but at most it costs you a fraction of your health, and everything else works so fine that it’s easy to ignore. Even the items you pick up along the way make fantastic use of the touch screen. You can now draw paths for your boomerang and bombchus, as well as hurl bombs exactly where you want. Shooting arrows has never been easier with your stylus – no finicky control stick required to aim.

However, it's not the touch screen controls itself that make the game but the fact that most of the exploring is designed around it. Though Phantom Hourglass never gets too challenging, you still end up using your items in creative ways to get through dungeons, with inventive puzzles that take full advantage of the complete control you have over them. For example, one of the first dungeons involves hitting four switches at once with a boomerang in hand. And the grappling hook, usually used to slingshot your way across gaps, can also create tightropes and help you reach areas you wouldn’t normally get to. Bosses, too, wouldn’t have worked without the touch screen. With the speed and amount of precision needed to take the beasts down, such as shoving bombchus down a lizard’s throat from the other side of the room, it’s hard to imagine these fights working on anything other than the DS.

The touch screen can also be used to draw on maps, which are usually displayed on the top screen. What should have been incredibly gimmicky is actually an innovative addition to the game. Many of the puzzles fully utilise this, making you not only mark key locations to dig or bomb to smithereens, but also draw crests, invisible walkways, and other neat solutions that you’d never solve without it. One particularly rewarding sidequest even has you charting the whole island to solve the devilish riddle. If only Nintendo didn’t fully insist on trying to make the most out of every bit of the DS. Sure, I don’t mind blowing into the microphone to put out fires or start a few windmills, but as a commuter, I really don’t feel like shouting at the top of my lungs on the train just to save a bunch of rupees on a ship part. I imagine I’d look incredibly silly.

You know what else is silly? Forcing you to revisit the same stupid starting temple five, six times – maybe more if your allotted time runs out and you have to start all over. The dungeon itself isn’t half-bad; it has its fair share of cool puzzles, and the stealth and the hiding from invincible patrolling guards isn’t surprisingly all that lame at first. The only problem is that you’re forced to go through the same stupid rooms, avoiding the same stupid guards, solving the same stupid puzzles, and putting the same stupid keys found in the same stupid corners into the same stupid holes over and over again, just to get to the next set of unexplored floors. The mini-shortcuts you gradually have access to – thanks to the items you collect over time – does not make this insane amount of backtracking excusable.

At least the sailing’s a lot more fun than it was in Wind Waker: It’s as simple as drawing your route on the sea chart. No Triforce shard hunting, no managing the wind direction, all you need to do is blast the occasional feeble sea monster and jump over the odd hazard on your way to your next destination. And it’s made easier once you gain the ability to use cyclones to teleport around the Great Sea. Everything else about the sailing – exploring islands, using treasure maps, and salvaging for customisable ship parts and treasure – though completely optional, is all of a sudden so much more appealing, with the ease of travelling and a considerably smaller world.

That’s essentially what Phantom Hourglass feels like: a “light” Zelda adventure. Don’t be fooled. As innovative as the touch screen controls are and as spectacular as the Wind Waker-esque cel-shaded visuals look on the DS, this ranks amongst the easiest Zeldas. And for that, my dumb self is grateful – grateful that the puzzles aren’t as gruelling, and grateful that I never had to consult a guide or ask for help, not even once. Phantom Hourglass, though slightly marred by a couple of flaws, does an exceptional job at being both incredibly fun and accessible, while still retaining that unmistakable Zelda feeling you get whenever you reach the end of a dungeon.

Rating
8	Excellent Most of the elements of this game come together in fine form, meaning it's an experience you won't want to miss.
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Staff Score (Avg): 6.0 User Score (Avg): 6.0 Press Score (Avg): N/A
Reviews: 7 Guides: 0 Cheats: 0 Ratings: 12	High Scores: 0 Screenshots: 5 Videos: 0

Title: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: October 1, 2007

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