EmP's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass review

I'm playing through Phantom Hourglass for the first time (just before the final boss). I know this review is like 14 years old (oh god), but I'm curious if you stand by some of the things in here?

I think Windwaker (and to a lesser extent, Phantom Hourglass's) style is really interesting. It got so much hate when it was released ("Cellda") but it's presentation has aged probably better than any other game in the series. While Ocarina and Twilight Princess are kind of ugly by today's standards, Windwaker still looks great. Unfortunately Phantom Hourglass looks like a poor imitation of cell shading.

I think I'd be confident on walking back the anti-Nintendo intro, because who would have ever foreseen their complete attitude switch the, ahem, Switch regeneration period has granted them. I don't think my opinion on Hourglass will have changed much and that probably won't be tested unless I replay the game. Considering I (clearly) abhorred it the first time around, it's pretty unlikely it'll find its way back into my rotation. I appreciate I'm the minority voice in this but, then again, I doubt Hourglass will ever break into anyone's favourite Zelda game's list.

I wish I had thought up the Cellda pun back when.

You're definitely not a minority in disliking this game. It seems decisive even today, with most complaints around doing the Temple of the Ocean King over and over.

Did you play Spirit Tracks? I was really playing this game because I knew I'd never try it if I played Spirit Tracks first.

I have mixed feelings on this game. I like the controls more than I thought I would. The different uses of the grappling hook were fun. Some stuff, like blowing into the mic, was just annoying though. Some parts of the Temple of the Ocean King were ok as you opened new paths, but there's one part where you have to put these stupid shapes into holes that that really could have used a shortcut to skip instead of doing it every single time.

Going through that dungeon for the last time and genociding the phantoms was my favorite part.

All I can say about this game is that when I bought a 3DS, I quickly got Link Between Worlds and the remaster of Ocarina of Time, but after a bit of thought, I decided to not get this game or Spirit Tracks. Hard to put it into words, but something about those two just gave me a "minor league" vibe where I got the impression they were more into making games revolving around the stylus and touch pad than making legit good Zelda games.

But the main reason I posted here was less about the game itself and more out of the shock that once upon a time, EmP actually did reviews for games in big-name series. A few years of reading reviews for graphic novels, indie games you've never heard of before and so on and it's easy to forget he has actually reviewed a few mainstream games!

Dagoss: I've not played Spirit Tracks. I'm not a big Zelda fan, truth be told. I've played the majority of the main releases and the only one I've enjoyed enough to replay has been Link's Awakening. I think it was because LA was a kooky spin off project that I loved that I gave Hourglass a chance in the first place. It didn't end well for me.

OD: I'll show you -- by reviewing a game that has no other reviews for it across the whole of the Internet! Though, to be fair, I did review DiRT 5 earlier this year. That's pretty mainstream!

Emp with the dirt on mainstream game reviewing...