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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS, 2007) Review
By Jeffrey Matulef
I'm so excited to talk about The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass that I'm not going to bother with an oh so clever intro. Phantom Hourglass is that good.
"What makes it so good?" you may ask, curious reader. Well it is a Zelda game, so that may give you a start, but I'm not into recommending something simply because it's part of a franchise I love. In fact, I do just the opposite; because I love Zelda so much I hold it up to the highest possible standard there is and will scrutinize every detail that is less than perfection. And while no game is perfect, Phantom Hourglass is about as close as they come.
For the uninitiated, Zelda games are all about exploring a giant overworld, solving environmental puzzles, and ridding the world of evil. Pretty standard fair, I suppose, but very few games do it this well. In many ways Phantom Hourglass is a fairly traditional 2D Zelda adventure. You'll explore a variety of dungeons (6 in total) each built upon the concept of one unique tool that you'll need to find in the dungeon that will be the key to all its' puzzles. Like a grapling hook for example. You'll still do things like cut down grass$to collect rupees and take part in a variety of mini-games (the bow and arrow targeting practice game is amazingly fiendish- and addictive), and search for a plethora of cool secrets, but the most interesting thing about Phantom Hourglass is the stuff you haven't seen before. Most of it specific to the DS.
Most noticeable is the fact that the game is controlled completely with the stylus (and the shoulder buttons work as hotkeys to equip an item, which is very useful). At first, I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure I liked this. Moving Link around was certainly functional, but there is the inevitable problem of your hand sometimes covering up a wee bit of the screen, and it didn't seem to be doing anything that couldn't be accomplished with the D-pad. I still think having the option to use the D-pad to control Link would have been a nice option, but may have been uncomfortable to hold after awhile. But play on and you'll realize the true brilliance of the touch screen controls comes in when you start acquiring items and weapons. You can now draw the path you want a boomerang to take or throw a bomb exactly where you want it to go. The same goes with arrows. Using items is now a much quicker, more intuitive process than it's ever been before and it makes a world of difference.
But that's only the tip of the iceburg. Nintendo has crafted a variety of clever new implementations of the DS hardware. In one particularly clever instance, you need to stamp something to your map by snapping the DS shut for a moment, then opening it again. One of my favorite moments had a character asking me to yell something into the mic. I was in a social situation where this would have been awkward, so I went into the bathroom and tried whispering into the mic. A character in the game then makes fun of me for being so gullible and tells me I could have just as well snapped my fingers and had the same effect. Oh, those kidders!
The bosses too are extremely clever, each utilizing a new aspect of the DS hardware. One particular boss turns invisible, at which point the top screen stops being a map and instead becomes the fight from the first-person perspective of the boss.$ You'll have to determine where he is by how things look through his eyes. Very cool! Another boss it so tall that he spans two screens, but all his weak points are on the top screen, so you need to find a way to get them to appear on the bottom touch-sensitive screen. There's more where that came from, but I fear I may have said too much already.
And how could I write about the touch-screen implementation without talking about perhaps it's most innovative feature; the map. You can now jot down notes$onto your map making you feel like a true pirate. This will become necessary as the game wears on and it makes all other in game maps in all other games look extremely archaic and inefficient in comparison.
If there's one slight flaw of the game it's that it's perhaps a tad too easy. I died maybe twice the entire game, but this bothered me little as combat was never the reason I played Zelda games. The bigger problem is that all too often the puzzles are too easy. I mentioned how ingenious the map design is, but sadly the designers rarely take much advantage of this brilliant concept. Frequently you're simply given the answer to a puzzle and merely have to jot it down on your map. For example, you'll be told to draw two perpendicular lines emanating from two torches and dig where they intersect (i.e. "x marks the spot"). It's super easy and requires almost no thought, but you still feel extremely adventurous and piratey for doing it. My favorite use of the map is when you discover a tiny uncharted island that has no map and you must create your own, drawing it by hand as you survey it in order to solve the island's secret. It's gobsmackingly brilliant! More puzzles like this would have been much appreciated, and it's a shame that they don't go as far with this concept as they could have, but what's there is still so much fun.
Aside from the wonderful DS specific innovations, there are other simpler changes to the Zelda formula that are much appreciated. For one thing, you can now carry four digits worth of rupees from the start of the game, so you'll no longer have to walk around with a full wallet until you can get a bigger one. It's about time! Another hugely noticeable change for me was that the game has a much more spartan sense of collecting. Gone are pieces of heart and all the stupid little necklaces and feathers you had to collect in Wind Waker. There's still stuff to collect, but not as much. Instead, the things that you collect are that much cooler (like whole hearts, for example). It's a less epic game as a result, but$also a leaner, more polished experience.
Many who played Wind Waker despised the sailing, but even that is improved here. You can now control the path of your vessel via the stylus. You still don't have full control over it, but at least you won't have to keep whipping out your instrument, playing a song, and watching an unskippable cutscene. But yes, the sailing is still a largely passive process that will divide a lot of gamers. Some will appreciate the relaxing pace and epic sense of scale, while others will go batshit crazy with it. I happen to be in the former category, in case you couldn't tell.
There is one more rather divisive aspect of Phantom Hourglass, and that is the time-limited Ocean Temple; a temple that you'll go to repeatedly throughout the game as you delve deeper and deeper into it. It's a strange thing as it employs both time limits and stealth and feels distinctly unlike a Zelda game. I'm not a fan of time limits, but I like stealth, so it sort of evened out for me. Plus I always had enough time to get where I needed without feeling too rushed. But the idea is that after each dungeon you'll have to go back to the Ocean temple with your new tool and progress deeper and deeper into it to get a clue where to go next. There is a bit too much repetition in this area as you'll repeatedly start back at the beginning each time (there is one checkpoint, but it could definitely use another), but the great thing about this temple is that there's a plethora of shortcuts depending on what equipment you have and how observant you are. So even though you'll be treading familiar ground a lot, you'll be finding new neat little shortcuts each time, so it won't wear out it's welcome as fast as it would seem.
I realize that I haven't even mentioned the game's graphics, which are beautiful. I was in the minority that happened to really love Wind Waker's cel-shaded style and I'm glad to see it make a return here. It completely fits the almost Monkey Islandesque tone of the game and is a good counterpoint to the more serious (but equally lovely) Twilight Princess. I would love to see this spinoff series progress on the handheld market.
Phantom Hourglass is proof that Nintendo knows what they're doing. It may seem like these games don't come out often enough, but once you get a hold of them you know just why that is. As much as I absolutely adored Twilight Princess, that was basically a Gamecube game with Wii controls tacked on, but this is the kind of innovation I've been wanting from the Zelda series for a long time. Now if the next Zelda game could do for the Wii what this does for the DS we might be talking about the greatest thing ever.
10/10
pros:
+Wonderful new touch-screen controls.
+Brilliant bosses and level design.
+The greatest map ever in a game.
+Beautiful art style.
cons:
-A tad too easy.
-Doesn't really take full advantage of all its' new ideas.
-Ocean Temple has a tad too much repetition
By Jeffrey Matulef
I'm so excited to talk about The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass that I'm not going to bother with an oh so clever intro. Phantom Hourglass is that good.
"What makes it so good?" you may ask, curious reader. Well it is a Zelda game, so that may give you a start, but I'm not into recommending something simply because it's part of a franchise I love. In fact, I do just the opposite; because I love Zelda so much I hold it up to the highest possible standard there is and will scrutinize every detail that is less than perfection. And while no game is perfect, Phantom Hourglass is about as close as they come.
For the uninitiated, Zelda games are all about exploring a giant overworld, solving environmental puzzles, and ridding the world of evil. Pretty standard fair, I suppose, but very few games do it this well. In many ways Phantom Hourglass is a fairly traditional 2D Zelda adventure. You'll explore a variety of dungeons (6 in total) each built upon the concept of one unique tool that you'll need to find in the dungeon that will be the key to all its' puzzles. Like a grapling hook for example. You'll still do things like cut down grass$to collect rupees and take part in a variety of mini-games (the bow and arrow targeting practice game is amazingly fiendish- and addictive), and search for a plethora of cool secrets, but the most interesting thing about Phantom Hourglass is the stuff you haven't seen before. Most of it specific to the DS.
Most noticeable is the fact that the game is controlled completely with the stylus (and the shoulder buttons work as hotkeys to equip an item, which is very useful). At first, I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure I liked this. Moving Link around was certainly functional, but there is the inevitable problem of your hand sometimes covering up a wee bit of the screen, and it didn't seem to be doing anything that couldn't be accomplished with the D-pad. I still think having the option to use the D-pad to control Link would have been a nice option, but may have been uncomfortable to hold after awhile. But play on and you'll realize the true brilliance of the touch screen controls comes in when you start acquiring items and weapons. You can now draw the path you want a boomerang to take or throw a bomb exactly where you want it to go. The same goes with arrows. Using items is now a much quicker, more intuitive process than it's ever been before and it makes a world of difference.
But that's only the tip of the iceburg. Nintendo has crafted a variety of clever new implementations of the DS hardware. In one particularly clever instance, you need to stamp something to your map by snapping the DS shut for a moment, then opening it again. One of my favorite moments had a character asking me to yell something into the mic. I was in a social situation where this would have been awkward, so I went into the bathroom and tried whispering into the mic. A character in the game then makes fun of me for being so gullible and tells me I could have just as well snapped my fingers and had the same effect. Oh, those kidders!
The bosses too are extremely clever, each utilizing a new aspect of the DS hardware. One particular boss turns invisible, at which point the top screen stops being a map and instead becomes the fight from the first-person perspective of the boss.$ You'll have to determine where he is by how things look through his eyes. Very cool! Another boss it so tall that he spans two screens, but all his weak points are on the top screen, so you need to find a way to get them to appear on the bottom touch-sensitive screen. There's more where that came from, but I fear I may have said too much already.
And how could I write about the touch-screen implementation without talking about perhaps it's most innovative feature; the map. You can now jot down notes$onto your map making you feel like a true pirate. This will become necessary as the game wears on and it makes all other in game maps in all other games look extremely archaic and inefficient in comparison.
If there's one slight flaw of the game it's that it's perhaps a tad too easy. I died maybe twice the entire game, but this bothered me little as combat was never the reason I played Zelda games. The bigger problem is that all too often the puzzles are too easy. I mentioned how ingenious the map design is, but sadly the designers rarely take much advantage of this brilliant concept. Frequently you're simply given the answer to a puzzle and merely have to jot it down on your map. For example, you'll be told to draw two perpendicular lines emanating from two torches and dig where they intersect (i.e. "x marks the spot"). It's super easy and requires almost no thought, but you still feel extremely adventurous and piratey for doing it. My favorite use of the map is when you discover a tiny uncharted island that has no map and you must create your own, drawing it by hand as you survey it in order to solve the island's secret. It's gobsmackingly brilliant! More puzzles like this would have been much appreciated, and it's a shame that they don't go as far with this concept as they could have, but what's there is still so much fun.
Aside from the wonderful DS specific innovations, there are other simpler changes to the Zelda formula that are much appreciated. For one thing, you can now carry four digits worth of rupees from the start of the game, so you'll no longer have to walk around with a full wallet until you can get a bigger one. It's about time! Another hugely noticeable change for me was that the game has a much more spartan sense of collecting. Gone are pieces of heart and all the stupid little necklaces and feathers you had to collect in Wind Waker. There's still stuff to collect, but not as much. Instead, the things that you collect are that much cooler (like whole hearts, for example). It's a less epic game as a result, but$also a leaner, more polished experience.
Many who played Wind Waker despised the sailing, but even that is improved here. You can now control the path of your vessel via the stylus. You still don't have full control over it, but at least you won't have to keep whipping out your instrument, playing a song, and watching an unskippable cutscene. But yes, the sailing is still a largely passive process that will divide a lot of gamers. Some will appreciate the relaxing pace and epic sense of scale, while others will go batshit crazy with it. I happen to be in the former category, in case you couldn't tell.
There is one more rather divisive aspect of Phantom Hourglass, and that is the time-limited Ocean Temple; a temple that you'll go to repeatedly throughout the game as you delve deeper and deeper into it. It's a strange thing as it employs both time limits and stealth and feels distinctly unlike a Zelda game. I'm not a fan of time limits, but I like stealth, so it sort of evened out for me. Plus I always had enough time to get where I needed without feeling too rushed. But the idea is that after each dungeon you'll have to go back to the Ocean temple with your new tool and progress deeper and deeper into it to get a clue where to go next. There is a bit too much repetition in this area as you'll repeatedly start back at the beginning each time (there is one checkpoint, but it could definitely use another), but the great thing about this temple is that there's a plethora of shortcuts depending on what equipment you have and how observant you are. So even though you'll be treading familiar ground a lot, you'll be finding new neat little shortcuts each time, so it won't wear out it's welcome as fast as it would seem.
I realize that I haven't even mentioned the game's graphics, which are beautiful. I was in the minority that happened to really love Wind Waker's cel-shaded style and I'm glad to see it make a return here. It completely fits the almost Monkey Islandesque tone of the game and is a good counterpoint to the more serious (but equally lovely) Twilight Princess. I would love to see this spinoff series progress on the handheld market.
Phantom Hourglass is proof that Nintendo knows what they're doing. It may seem like these games don't come out often enough, but once you get a hold of them you know just why that is. As much as I absolutely adored Twilight Princess, that was basically a Gamecube game with Wii controls tacked on, but this is the kind of innovation I've been wanting from the Zelda series for a long time. Now if the next Zelda game could do for the Wii what this does for the DS we might be talking about the greatest thing ever.
10/10
pros:
+Wonderful new touch-screen controls.
+Brilliant bosses and level design.
+The greatest map ever in a game.
+Beautiful art style.
cons:
-A tad too easy.
-Doesn't really take full advantage of all its' new ideas.
-Ocean Temple has a tad too much repetition