Australian Gamer Review :: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

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Even the outspoken skeptics probably knew, deep deep down, that Phantom Hourglass was going to be good. We al knew. We were right.

Players: 1 - 2 Players
Genre:
Release: 2007-10-11

Developer: Nintendo
Distributor: Nintendo

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The release of a new Zelda game always marks a significant day in any calendar. Sure, the console games will always get the blood running, but handheld installments are generally quality additions to the franchise. Fast forward from GBA crowd-pleaser the Minish Cap, and we've arrived at a new generation of hardware, and a new Zelda game on the most popular platform in the world. The addition of touch screen and 3D technology to a handheld Zelda game is a daring move, but we always knew it would probably work. It has, surpassing pretty much every expectation, positive or otherwise. In the cel-shaded quasi-Zelda style that originated with Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass continues this approach, and certainly finds a rightful place in the series.

The unique premise of Wind Waker was that of a high seas adventure. No longer was Link confined to a giant field - the entire ocean was his playground. This naturally meant the inclusion of pirates, and Phantom Hourglass picks up just as Wind Waker left off. Your friend Tetra is the descendant of Princess Zelda, but everyone has reverted back to their old fashioned piracy, which is far more fun than sitting around twiddling your thumbs in a stinky-ass smelly castle. Of course, Tetra is plunged into peril early on by the mysterious Ghost Ship which captures her, and in the ensuing madness Link finds himsel washed ashore on the nearby Mercay Island.

From there, players will learn more about the Ghost Ship, and the deeper machinations which throw the ocean into turmoil. Along the way, you'll meet a cowardly seaman known as Linebeck, who grants you the use of his ship in exchange for the possibility of finding treasure during the journey. Most characters are not what they seem, however, and Linebeck is no exception. The storyline as a whole isn't especially interesting, but it certainly fits the standard Zelda archetype of collecting various significant objects, subsequently gaining enough power to defeat the supreme boss.

The ocean is significantly smaller than what was found in Wind Waker, but never actually seems miniscule. You will believe the islands are of correct size, and the open sea stretches around the entire world in every direction. What's more, you won't be sailing for hours, and there is certainly no requirement to change wind direction every five seconds. Linebeck's vessel is a very capable paddle steamer, and sailing the oceans are as simple as charting a course on the map for the ship to follow. Occasionally the backtracking to different islands will grate on the nerves, but it never becomes a serious issue. Upon arriving at your destination, you'll probably forget all about the brief moments of tedium. Your ship is equipped with a cannon early on, and can be fired using unlimited ammunition at any time by tapping anywhere around the screen. It's powerful, accurate and satisfying.

I would have been skeptical about the all-touch controls if I didn't generally dislike the controls for the previous 2D Zelda games. They were awkward and clumsy, and lacked the free range of movement required for such a combat-intensive game. Phantom Hourglass fixes all of these problems. Hold the stylus to the screen, and Link will run in that direction. It takes around five minutes of padding about the first island to grasp the concept, but soon you'll be an veritable acrobat. Sword swings only require a small swipe on the screen, and a circle can be drawn around Link for a quick spin attack. Tapping on anything will make Link run up and interact with it, with has all kinds of advantages - picking up barrels and bombs is even easier than in the 3D games, as you simply tap on the screen and Link immediately throws it to the pinpoint position. In addition to the manual sword swings, you can tap on whatever you want to die. Some punk goblin thing is strutting his stuff on the other side of the screen, so Link needs to man up and bust this chump down to size. Tap him, and Link will run like a badass straight for him, more than likely performing a powerful leaping attack when in close proximity. This eliminates the punk and leaves Link to bask in the murderous glory.

In addition to normal movements and attacks, the touch screen handles the use of all other items and often does so far more intuitively than console counterparts. You won't find any real surprises, but classics like the boomerang and bombchu are extremely effective. Tap to bring up the item menu, and tap the item you want to equip. Only one item can be equipped at a time, but this never poses a problem. The boomerang is thrown by simply drawing a path for it to follow, and this can be used in any number of puzzles as well as against more difficult enemies. The bombchu in the 3D Zelda titles have alwasy been pretty lame, but here they use the sublime concept of following your drawings, and this results in many ingenious puzzles.

When roaming, Link's map serves an initially intriguing, yet ultimately shallow purpose. In a nutshell, you can make notes on almost any map using your stylus. At first the technique is used in a number of satisfying situations, but the usage severely declines over the course of the game, and even those players with a half-decent memory might be able to get by entirely without it. Still, it's certainly a positive step towards implementing the touch screen as a functional counterpart to more hands-on, action oriented gameplay.

As always, dungeons form a significant portion of gameplay, and play host to the majority of the game's puzzles. Each completed dungeon usually means Link gains an important story item, as well as the means to access a new area. All dungeons are uniformly excellent, being a good length and posing a solid challenge. You'll be using your many items in a wide array of situations, and encounter many unique and deceptively deadly enemies. Bosses are particularly memorable, and require you to both comprehend and successfully execute some truly ingenious dual-screen abilities. The invisible beast and giant stone colossus are two examples of superb graphical and conceptual advances for the DS hardware.

Phantom Hourglass features the best graphics yet seen on the DS from both a technical and artistic standpoint. The controversial Wind Waker style fits the handheld platform perfectly, as the simplistic cel-shading doesn't appear sparse and lacking detail as it sometimes did on the big screen. The graphical touches are quietly stunning, especially when sailing the open seas. Smoke billows from your ship when damaged, air visibly rushes past when performing a leap out of water, and the camera can be rotated at all angles to admire the sky and various creatures that inhabit the ocean. It generally plays as a top-down Zelda adventure, akin to the classics, but the view is never fixed and the envirnment is fully rendered in 3D, allowing for some epic boss battles and sequences at perfectly standard next-gen zelda camera perspectives. Given the capabilites of the DS and overall artistic vision and game design, there is only one word to describe the visuals in Phantom Hourglass - perfect.

Beyond the main adventure, there's still plenty of uncharted islands to discover and side-quests to complete. A bunch of sideshow games are dotted about the ocean, including an excellent Goron-rolling game which, if developed with care, could form a wholly enjoyable spinoff title for the DS. You'll find a cannon shooting gallery, treasure hunting game and even a persistent female pirate named Jolene, who has a tumultuous history with Linebeck which culminates in many battles over the course of the game. X always marks the spot, and bonus treausre charts reveal handy locations at which to use your salvage arm and hoist up some goodies. These treasures include rupees, rare artifacts, customisable ship parts and extra sands of time. Sands of time...what?

Hmmmm. This is difficult. Very difficult. What follows is a sharp criticism, and probably the single most damaging criticism in any Zelda game to date. This awful aspect of Phantom Hourglass is known as the Temple of the Ocean King.

On the very first island, you will venture into the Temple of the Ocean King to find a sea chart. The Temple consists of many floors, each with increasingly difficult puzzles and enemies. Fine, I like a challenge. What's more, this is where the title object comes into effect. The Phantom Hourglass allows entry into the Temple, but only for a certain period of time. You'll need to make it to your goal in the Temple within the time limit, or fail miserably and be forced to restart. It sounds difficult, and it is. However, at this stage it's bearable.

The problem here is that you'll need to venture into the Temple of the Ocean King many times throughout the course of the game, each time using a new item to delve deeper and deeper, making your way to a new sea chart and ultimately the final level. However, you aren't allowed to simply head to Floor 5, for example, pick up your new treasure and come back later to continue on from the same level. You'll need to start from the very beginning and complete the same puzzles on the same floors, over and over and over again. Eventually you'll gain a frustrating warping ability, but this is only convenient when maximising yout time in the earlier stages. For example, if it takes you ten minutes to make it to Floor 5, you can save progress and warp out. You can later warp back to Floor 5, but ten minutes are still eliminated from the clock. This could cause a situation where a player travels down, warps out, warps back in, battles through another five levels, then runs out of time because his original warping time wasn't ever going to be good enough to continue. Therefore, players might be forced to repeat earlier stages even more frequently, to keep improving on times and hopefully having enough sand left in the hourglass to feel confident in exploring even deeper with a chance of success.

Sigh. A giant black mark on what is otherwise a nearly flawless portable adventure. It sucks to be sure, but certainly isn't enough to keep me from guaranteeing absolute overall satisfaction with this title. So, in this instance, I'm going to invent a new concept. I've had this idea for a while now, and only picked up the motivation to develop it after finding a game worthy of receiving such an accolade. Phantom Hourglass is indeed such a game, so I proudly present:

Now, this won't be awarded to just any good, great or even excellent game. Nor does a game have to be truly excellent to be granted a seal - although it helps. This accolade will only be given to games that undoubtedly must be played by anyone and everyone who is capable of doing so. These will be games that, while possibly having flaws (and Zelda sure one great big one), it should not deter any self-respecting gamer from giving it a try. Temple of the Ocean King sucks? Too bad, play it. Don't like frustratingly difficult dungeons? Too bad, play it. The experience and insights a gamer can achieve by playing a Phil Seal game far outweigh any objective or subjective downfalls.

For a point of reference, examples of previous games that would have been awarded a Phil Seal include Guitar Hero, Resident Evil 4, Burnout 3: Takedown, Oblivion, Syberia and Deus Ex. I wouldn't have rated Burnout 3: Takedown with a truly superb review, but at the time it was the best example of high-octane racing and gave gamers the power to recognise that yes, this is a step in the right direction and we want to see more. A Phil Seal means any gamer at all (irrelevant of genre preferences) needs to play the game in question to understand just what it all means. Guitar Hero would have received a Phil Seal, but the latest iteration proves that the developers haven't really explored the possibilities of their amazing idea, and subsequently let themselves and many fans down. Yes, that means me.

Resident Evil 4 and Oblivion would receive the seal for simply being the greatest there ever was in the genre. Any gamer would be a fool to pass these up. Don't think you like RPGs? Suck it up, and play Oblivion.

There you have it. Phantom Hourglass is a truly superb game, among the very best on the DS in terms of innovation, gameplay and overall quality. For a Nintendo game we would really expect no less, and thankfully they have continued the Zelda legacy of excellence in fine form. It naturally receives a Phil Seal, so there's nothing left to do but waddle down to the store and buy it. Go, now!

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Final Verdict

Ask yourself the question: "Do I want to play the best game on Nintendo DS?" If the answer is no, you are wrong.

Pros
Stunning graphics, superb use of both dual and touch screen technologies, epic and challenging Zelda adventure that stays true to the ongoing series.
Cons
Temple of the Ocean King. Just, terrible.