Oct 24
Review: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a fantastic addition to the Zelda series. In fact, this may be the greatest DS game I’ve played all year, and I am very confident to say it probably will take that title when the year is over. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has amazed me with its superb graphics, great detail, extremely fun gameplay, and its overall fun.
I honestly love this game. Read on to find out why.
The story picks off where the Wind Waker ends. The game begins by giving a nice and simple sum of what happened in the previous game, using beautiful cut scenes. Link and Tetra are sailing the seas on the hunt for a mysterious ghost ship. This ship has been known to contain an amazing treasure. It’s also known for making people disappear. Tetra goes off to this ghost ship, when suddenly, she screams. Link chases the ship, but the fog becomes too heavy and Link wakes up on the shore of an island.
It doesn’t get all too gripping, but it really does get pretty damn good. The story is simple to follow and understand, but it still can excite at times. The more and more I get further into this game, the more I wanted to continue playing.
This is the most fun I’ve had out of my DS all year. You use your stylus to lead Link around. The closer the stylus is to Link, the slower he goes. The farther, the faster. Swiping the screen causes Link to swing his sword manually. You can tap on enemies to attack them. Boulders, signs, and people can be tapped as well for interaction. Jumping is automatic, while rolling involves you making a circular motion with your stylus while running. Going from temple to temple, finding new items to use and more enemies to fight is a total blast. A great feature on this DS game is the ability to write notes on your map. You can easily jot down the locations of specific places you need to go, or treasure you can find. In Phantom Hourglass, nothing becomes too repetitive, no frustration anywhere, and there’s never an overly difficult task to do. Of course, I do warn those huge Zelda fans out there: This will be easy for you. Those experienced with the franchise, and love it, are probably going to fly through this game no problem. However, newcomers, and others, will find the difficulty setting perfect.
Nintendo is making love to your eyeballs with Phantom Hourglass. Seriously, these graphics are some of the best I’ve seen on this handheld. Everything is detailed. Not overly detailed, but enough to get the feeling of the cel-shaded world perfectly. The graphics and presentation are a stunning in this game.
Nothing overly shocking or amazing, but pretty well done. Great music of course. Sound effects are almost exactly the same as previous Zelda games.
I’d say this game takes roughly 20 hours to complete, sidequests included. I’m not into playing these types of games over and over again, but I’m sure many people out there will. The wifi could keep you playing this over and over for a while. Online/local battle mode is pretty fun. Players play a little game of hide and seek. One player plays as Link while the other 3 play as characters called Phantom Guardians, who have to catch Link and prevent him from collecting his Force Gem before time runs out. Very fun, and a good break from the single player mode.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, is the greatest DS game you can buy right now. The gameplay is perfect while the graphics are stunning. I can’t say much wrong about this game at all. This title is seriously a must buy.
-Stunning graphics
-Astonishing gameplay
-Amazing presentation
-Fun, fun, fun!
-Can’t last forever
-AT TIMES, the touch screen can be bothersome
5/5
Categories: DS, I creamed myself, Nintendo, Reviews7 Comments so far
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5/5 OMG WTF, no gamez get 5z out of 5!?!11
Fantastic game
I was going to pass, but you may have talked me back into it Cortez.
I’ve got this guy sitting right on my bedside table (which is actually the Halo 3 Legendary Edition box…), just waiting to be played. I just finished Picross DS this evening (and I would estimate it took me 60+ hours to do that), so I’m on it. It doesn’t help, though, that I just bought the new Phoenix Wright and Zack & Wiki…
Don’t forget that you can get the free feather stylus if you register this game at MyNintendo. Its a cheap little gimmick, but hey, free crap is free.
How do i get pass the red doors
how do i get the bomb bag?