The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

"The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is filled to the brim with AWESOMENESS!!"

Ah, Zelda. I have seen you grow through the years, yet you never fail to surprise me. First, you amaze us with your first game on the NES. You revolutionized the way games are today, by 'throwing out' the way we play video games. You 'threw out' the idea of 'winning', and gave us this: Get through all of the dungeons, solve all of the puzzles, and kick some serious monster ass. Then, on the SNES, The Legend of Zelda: A Link the Past was released.

I'm a gamer by heart, and I have a sneaky suspicion that this game, even though I didn't play it until 2003, influenced my life before I was born. My Mom is a gamer, and she was playing this game when I was in the womb, to be born on Thanksgiving.
Then, in 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released on the N64, get N or get Out. This game, was the very first game I have ever laid my hands on, and played.

This must've influenced me, because I was changed for the better from video games. I learned many things from video games. I played dozens upon dozens of video games, reaching into the hundreds. Yes, I have beaten over 100 video games. But, today, I am going to review The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

Graphics: 10/10
Honestly, as of now, these are the best graphics for the DS yet. The characters show emotions, the monsters look menacing, the sea wavers as you sail on it, and the effects are just gorgeous. Link almost looks just the way he was from Zelda: Wind Waker. Of course, due to the graphical limitations of the DS, he doesn't look as great as he did on the GameCube, but he still looks fine.

Sometimes, the DS uses both the bottom and the top screen to make the battles look nice, for example, the fight against Eox is well done, so you can find the weak point of the boss.
The sea uses very nice 3D graphics. I was staring, half-amazed, at what I was looking at. the Islands are in 3D, the enemies look nice, and this game rates as the best looking game in the DS yet.

Story: 9/10
To tell you the truth, the story in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass isn't going to blow you away. But come on. It's a Zelda game. In which Zelda game does your best friend side with evil and become the final boss? None. It's basic Zelda formula. Girl gets kidnapped, Link goes to save her, gets lost, big adventure starts to fight an ancient evil. At least in this game they don't use Ganon or Vaati.

No, in this game they use a totally new entity of darkness. In this game, I found that the evil is more sinister than any other Zelda villain. I'm not giving any thing crucial away, but some parts, may surprise you. They surprised me, at least.

Control: 10/10
I really wish I could rate this more, as the control in this game is just perfect. Instead of using the Control Pad, and the buttons, you use only the stylus. That's right. Only the stylus, the microphone, and the touch screen.

To move around, you just press on the touch screen and Link will move to that spot. To use the Boomerang, you draw a line and the Boomerang will follow. To attack your enemies, you can simply tap on them to do a full body jump-strike, or you could draw a line between Link and the enemy to do a horizontal slash. Also, there are some enemies that are impervious to physical attack, and can only be defeated by shouting into the microphone, thus laying that enemy to rest.

One gripe I have about the controls is, is that sometimes the controls will fail you at crucial times. It's nothing big though.

Puzzles: 10/10
Prepare to be stumped. This happened to me a lot during the game. Using the unique abilities of the DS, you have to solve puzzles that any other Zelda game doesn't have. For instance, there is this on puzzle where you had to draw a Triforce symbol, but you can't take the stylus off of the screen.

This didn't exactly stump me, but it did stump others. And another one, where you have do physically press a map up to a wall, by closing the DS itself! Brilliant! It may have been used in Hotel Dusk, but it's still, very, very clever. Aside from the unique puzzles, there are some classic ones. Like the old: turn so and so into so and so. An example is using the Grappling Hook to make a reflector for Link's arrows, so you can rebound them into the switch. Very clever indeed.

Ship Travel: 10/10
This was a large issue in Zelda: Wind Waker, but I didn't have a problem with it. The Ship travel in the Wind Waker was boring, and really nothing was happening. People said that they don't want to wait an entire day to reach one island. The were over exaggerating, as it only took five minutes.

But, they did have a point. Ship travel wasn't that fun. First, you had to change the direction of the Winds, then you had to make sure you weren't going to change directions, then wait 5 minutes. But this is fixed in the Phantom Hourglass. No longer must you change the direction of the winds, as the boat is now motorized. Also, there are enemies appearing more frequently, and it took like 30 seconds to reach a destination. So ship travelling will never, ever bother you in this game.

Replay Value: 9/10
After you defeat the final boss, there is still much to do. Such as finding all of the Ship Parts, which is not an easy task. And there is also finding all of the Heart Containers. Then you can find all of the gems of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. There is 20 apiece, making 60 for you to find. You can also play the Multiplayer, but that's a different story.

Dialogue: 10/10
Along with The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, this is the funniest Zelda to date. Linebeck is this game's Ezlo. Some of the things the characters say are outrageous, and then the game can get serious, so the dialogue will suck you into the moment. The writing is very life-like, and never bland.

Multiplayer: 8/10
Good!! The multiplayer isn't like it is in Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, but it's more like a Capture the Flag type of game. And I have always loved those. First, you control Link, while the opposing player controls the Phantom. As Link, you must bring Force Gems to your base, while avoiding the Phantoms, and before running out of time. To add to this, if you do something special, you get awarded a Big Play, and those are recorded onto your status.

Dungeons: 8/10
The Dungeons in this game are nice and elaborate. There are 7 in total, and every one of them have their own feel, and design. You won't see anything copied, like the issue in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Sometimes the dungeons will overwhelm you, but just press on, and you will make it through.

Overall: 10/10
This game is just plain awesome. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an an adventure of epic proportions. Come on, it's only like 40 dollars, go to your nearest Wal-Mart and buy the game already!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/07

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