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I've been on a Zelda kick ever since I played Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. I was able to get my hands on a friend's copy of Phantom Hourglass and have been enjoying the game this past several days.
The story takes place after the events of "Windwalker" with Link traveling with Tetra on her pirate ship. Early into the game, they discover a ghost ship and Tetra is the first to board the ghost ship. Immediately upon boarding, Tetra screams for help. In his attempt to follow her, Link slips and falls in to the ocean. Link is awakened on an island by Ciela who becomes Link's traveling fairy companion. Exploring the island, he discovers a hourglass and an old man, Oshus, who helps Link start his journey to rescue Tetra. Linebeck is enlisted to help cross the vast ocean.
The artistic style is that of a very cartoon-y look. While I get people's complaints about the artistic direction that Windwalker took, I think it was perfect on the DS. It contributed to the "lightness" of the game and I actually enjoyed the visual style of the game.
Gameplay is very high on the fun factor. The game has received criticism from some Zelda hardcore fans with how the game catered more towards the casual gamer. I guess I can be considered a casual gamer then because the level of difficulty feels just right. There are 2 areas of gameplay- the open sea and land. On the ocean, you will be traveling on a steam ship in which you will continuously upgrade with ship parts you have acquired on your journey. There are also things to shoot at using your cannon- from enemies to targets that give you reward for shooting them down. You can also go fishing which is actually a fun minigame. On land, you will do some exploring whether exploring villages or dungeons. Dungeons are short on first walkthroughs but some of them require a repeat walkthroughs due to some areas being inaccessible until you have acquired the right gear or the right event has to happen. The puzzles are fun to solve. Many require you work it out on the touch screen to solve them such as determining the spacial relationship between objects and drawing lines to find their intersection.
The controls are handled very well. This game is very stylus dependent. Ship movement is handled on the touch screen. You chart your ship movement by drawing a line from point A to point B and your ship will follow that line. Link's movement is handled by pointing Link in the general direction with the stylus. The camera works nicely for the most part with the most control going towards ocean voyage. On the ocean, you can rotate the camera 360 degrees. On land it is top down view.
In conclusion, I'm enjoying Phantom Hourglass very much. The dungeons don't overstay their welcome. Each dungeon will take you about 1/2 hour or less. Definitely not more than an hour. Each dungeon has its own unique style and the puzzles fit with the theme of that dungeon. For example, there is the dungeon on an island that is constantly besieged with high wind velocity. The dungeon and that particular island uses the wind ingeniously in its dungeon. The minigames are a nice diversion especially the fishing minigame. I frequently find myself diverting my ship from its programmed course when a fish is sighted. I look forward to the boss battles. Each has his own weaknesses for you to discover and exploit. Each require some tactical thinking to overcome them. For example, one boss was invulnerable to frontal attack and trying to get to his backside was futile because he always faced you no matter where you tried to position yourself. So you had to figure out how to expose his backside while trying to avoid his attacks.
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Adam Slape
United States
Collinsville
Illinois
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I think the boss battles were the highlight of this game...ingenious use of the dual screens on many of them.
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I just overcame the invisible spider boss in my quest to find the spirit of power. That battle was epic! It was weird seeing through the spider's eye on the top screen and if it wasn't for the spider's spawns, I would have died fairly early in the battle despite them being a nuisance too. I came away from that battle with 1/2 a heart left.
That temple also took the longest time. I've collected enough power crystals to flame up my sword. I'm guessing that at full power (20 crystals), I'll be able to shoot enemies at a distance with my sword.
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