"(Insert yet another remark about the game's difficulty)"

Yes, 75% of the reviews posted complain about the difficulty at some point or another. It honestly doesn't bother me. I'll further explain the difficulty later on in the review; I just put this here because I couldn't think of anything else for the opening paragraph and figured this would suffice. So, on to the important part of every good review:

||-Graphics-|| {8/10}
Don't get me wrong, they're good, but nearly the entire game is filled with green and brown. Although, this has been the case with almost all of the Legend of Zelda titles. The graphics are excellent for the DS. They look very similar to Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (Cel- Shaded), well, as similar as they could with the DS' graphical limitations anyway.
Overall, the graphics are very good, except for the abundance of green and brown.

||-Music-|| {9/10}
For the music, it's really the same as always, not like that's a bad thing in fact, it's a very, very, good thing! If this is your first Legend of Zelda game (Shame on you!) and you don't know what I mean when I say "same as always", the music is wonderfully orchestrated music by some dude's name I can't remember. The music is very good, the one thing keeping it from a ten is the way they brought back old tracks but made them sound worse.

||-Controls-|| {8/10}
Well, as you probably know, this game is controlled by the Touch Screen. Every. Single. Part. There are NO button controls in this game. The ONLY time you will EVER use ANY buttons is if you're too lazy to move the stylus to the bottom of the screen (OH NOES!! YOU HAVE TO MOVE YOUR HAND!!). So, if you are too lazy, (for some, odd, reason) You can press LEFT or RIGHT on the D-Pad to bring up the Menu and Items screen. To move, you must touch where you want to move and Link will run there. Guide your Stylus across the screen and Link will chase it like a cat and mouse. To slash your sword, you must make a "slashing notion" on the screen. This can be hard so the developers put in a targeting slash. It's self explanatory but I'll explain it anyway: you simply tap the opponent that you would like to hit and Link will jump or run over there and perform a weaker-than-normal swing. Weaker than normal because targeting is just too easy for it to be powerful. Sometimes, the opponent can move to fast for the targeting slash to even hit, so you should resort to the previously mentioned slash. There's also a somewhat easy to perform slash that is also powerful, unfortunately, using this four times in a row will cause you to be dizzy. This is called the "Spin Attack". You simply draw a circle around Link and he'll perform it.

I had to take two points off because of one flaw with the controls-- sometimes, switching from slashing your sword to walking/running can be hard causing some mistakes that normally wouldn't happen.

||-Game Play-|| {10/10}
Definitely the best game so far to utilize the Touch screen and mic of the DS.
Assuming you didn't skip the whole review just to get to the Game Play part of it, you've already read how you walk/run and attack with your sword. As far as the touch screen goes, there are plenty of other cool things you can do with the Touch Screen. For example, when you throw your Boomerang, you draw out the path you want it to take and it follows the path. There's also a nice feature that will hopefully stay with the DS versions of the Legend of Zelda-- The ability to use your maps to make note of things. It's actually a really cool feature that I greatly enjoyed.

For the difficulty, if it was button-controlled like it's previous titles, this game would be easy, but obviously, it's not. The difficulty was pretty average. The game had it's hard parts but then it had the parts where you would say "That's it?!"
As for the Mic, there are a couple times when you have to use it to solve puzzles. For example, there's one point where you need to get a Wind Mill-ish things to start spinning so you blow into the Mic. There's another time where you need to buy something and to determine the price you must make a loud noise into the mic. It's pretty cool.
And lastly, the Dungeons. They were surprisingly shorter but still fun. Unlike the other games, this one has a "Master Dungeon" that you will dig deeper in as you get farther in the game. The boss fights after each dungeon were INCREDIBLE. Not only were they very creative, but they were still really fun and, in most cases, pretty difficult.

||-Story-|| {10/10}
Ah, the best part of the game. This game is a direct sequel to the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. At the end of Wind Waker, (STOP READING IF YOU DIDN'T FINISH WIND WAKER)Link, Tetra, and her crew set off on their Pirate Ship to explore new islands.
As the crew is sailing, a mysterious "Ghost Ship" appears, Tetra foolishly jumps on board. Minutes later, Link and the crew hear a scream. Link, being the hero he is, jumps on the boat. Well, he tries anyway. He grabbed hold of the hand rail, as he tries to climb up, he loses his grip and slips into the ocean.

Days later, Link wakes up on a beach with a fairy named Ciela buzzing around his face. Then, the adventure begins.

||-Longevity-|| {9/10}
For the average gamer, this game should take around 20-30 hours; very good for a hand held. For a Legend of Zelda veteran, well, I wouldn't know, I'm definitely not one. Although, it should be around the same with the change in controls.

||-Wi-Fi-|| {7/10}
I've always liked Wi-Fi in a game, it made the game last infinitely longer. The one problem with all Wi-Fi is that it doesn't last forever. Eventually, people get bored with the game, and don't play anymore. However, with such a popular and well-liked title like Legend of Zelda, it should last fairly long.

Anyways, what you do is, one of two players plays as Link, who's goal is to collect Force Gems and to place them in the appropriate area. For example, if you were Player 1 playing as Link, you would collect Red Force Gems and throw them into the red area. The bigger the Gem, the slower you move. However, the bigger the gem, the more points you get. The other player will control three Phantoms. You'll be introduced to these as you progress through the game. You control them on the Touch Screen. If you're playing as the Phantoms, your goal is to hit Link with your sword with either of three Phantoms. If you manage to do so, you will control Link and the other player will control the Phantoms.

I had to take points off because of the ever-present problem on Wi-Fi-- Lag. Lag can really ruin this game. If for some reason you don't know, Lag is slowdown that occurs very often in any Wi-Fi game. It's an un-fixable problem for the most part, so I guess I can't really complain.
Some people are poor sports and will disconnect (Shut the power off) on you before you can win. However, this comes at a price. Next to your name is a picture of Link. Every time you disconnect, his expression will darken, giving players a good idea of how the match is going to turn out.

||-Overall-|| {9/10} (Not an average. I'm no good at math)
This game is excellent. It has flaws, of course, but they're very minor ones.
Another solid title not only for the DS, but for the series itself.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/07

Game Release: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (US, 10/01/07)