The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Review
Wide-eyed Link returns in another classic adventure.
By Ben Salter
The Zelda universe is a confusing and confused world. Each game begins with a new Link that somehow gets caught up in a diabolical mess involving a rather unlucky princess named Zelda. WindWaker made it worse by being set 100 years after its predecessor, and then Phantom Hourglass gave off the vibe that it's meant to be kept separate to the events of the console’s Twilight Prince and its upcoming sequel. Once you’ve gotten past, or rather ignored all that, we can move on to The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. It’s rare that two Zelda games are released on one platform within two years, so we were over the moon when the game was announced at E3 this year; then were shocked by the revelation that it would arrive in Australia this year, in the very year that it was announced! Now, forwards as we check out The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.
Like most Zelda games the story isn’t exactly its strength, but at the same time it’s far from terrible. Like the previous cel-shaded games the comic side of things is far more important than the actual plot. You beginning as a young boy as he graduates to become a fully capable train engineer. Unfortunately his day is ruined by train tracks mysteriously disappearing and an untimely plot to release a demon. Princess Zelda’s body has been kidnapped and our young hero, Link, is the just the boy for the job, and herein lies the major differences to past Zelda games. The good princess’s body may have been stolen, but her spirit remains. However, it doesn’t just linger around; for the first time Zelda travels with you for the entire adventure!
It’s not all that different really, as the ghostly Princess acts in the same way Navi did in previous games. Basically, she nags at you in a high pitch whine and then giggles at nothing until your pay attention to her rather pointless observations. However, there’s more to it this time, as she does prove useful in some gameplay situations. Zelda’s spirit can take control of phantoms during certain dungeons, which becomes critical to solving some of the game’s ingenious puzzles.
If you played Phantom Hourglass two years ago you’ll feel right at home in Spirit Tracks. The same tutorials for the obscure control scheme must be powered through again, but it is necessary for new players, as they are nothing short of unique. Everything is controlled on the DS’s touch screen. Link will move in the direction of the stylus and touching enemies will trigger an attack. Like its predecessor, there’s no option to use the face buttons, so if you don’t like it to you Nintendo say, “tough luck!” There are still some issues with rolling and it gets a little hectic when the screen is full of enemies, but on the whole it works very well. Nintendo have stuck to their guns with the casual meets hardcore approach, and for the handheld incarnation of the Zelda series we couldn’t think of a better way to do it.
The train replaces Link’s trusty boat, but aside from the cosmetic facelift it’s essentially the same thing. You’re still armed with a badass cannon, once acquired, and the touch screen can be used to map out your path. You’re a little more restricted, due to the nature of train tracks, and are now equipped with a whistle to scare cow-like animals off the track; just a heads up, they get mighty pissed if you ram them.
Beyond the introduction of being able to control Link and a Zelda controlled Phantom simultaneously, Spirit Tracks follows the standard Zelda formula. There’s a bunch of fairly generic dungeons to complete, most of which we feel like we’ve played them before. The Tower of Spirits replaces Phantom Hourglass's Temple of the Ocean King, but it does remove the annoying need to start from the beginning. The bosses are amazing, and like some of the puzzles are actually a little difficult at times, even for a Zelda veteran. The one problem we had with Phantom Hourglass was that it wasn’t hard enough for non-casual gamers. The Tower of Spirits eradicates this mindset, as it’s far from easy. While it’s still not the most challenging Zelda game out there, Nintendo have crafted an adventure that’s sure to please the diehard fans.
Link has a range of new toys to try out, along with a host of old favourites. I won’t spoil all of them for you, as finding new items is all part of the magic that is the Zelda Universe. I will tell you, however, that the Spirit Pipes keep Link musical as always. It does require some rather annoying, and awkward, blowing into the DS’s microphone, so it mightn’t be the best game to play on a bus if you don’t want to look like a damn fool! As well as few new items some classics have been revamped. Both the boomerang and bow have a couple of cool new features, which really helps to keep Zelda feeling fresh. After 23 years one would expect the formula to become a little stale, but that’s part of what makes it so great. It’s hard to explain (in 2 sentences) but there’s something about the Zelda series that goes beyond most other game franchises. It’s got soul; we’ll keep coming back and playing again and again no matter how little they change it. As a result, a minor change to existing gameplay is almost what we want from a new Zelda game, at least in one generation.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is a rather lengthy action/adventure game for the DS, weighing in at approximately 25 hours. For the genre that’s quite long, and made even more impressive by everything Nintendo have managed to fit onto a tiny DS cart. To be honest, if the game was any longer it would have started to become repetitive, and the controls tiring. While I love the gameplay, and what Ninty have to with the controls, I feel that there’s only so much one can handle when playing on the DS. Don’t get me wrong, Spirit Tracks is never dull, but for whatever reason we are constantly sent to a new location to do very little and then are sent off somewhere else. It’s often an excuse to show off a new area, where a future item will be required, but it just didn’t flow as well as it does in most other Zelda games. And before you ask, yes we are really nit picking now. It’s a very minor issue, and one that most gamers probably won’t even notice.
The cartoon-like cel-shaded graphics are perfect for the top down 3D view presented on the DS. So many developers have issues with the third dimension on Nintendo’s handheld, but they seem to know something other developers don’t. If you hated the look of WindWaker and Phantom Hourglass get ready to hate it all over again, and in the future, as it looks like it’s here to stay. While I loved WindWaker I couldn’t decide if I wanted Nintendo to persist with the cartoon style or move back to the realistic Zelda that (at the time) we knew and loved. Their decision to continue cel-shading on the DS and move the console version back to the land of the real gives us the opportunity to experience the best of both worlds. At times the backgrounds are basic, but it can be passed off as part of the style. More importantly the characters and key objects are extremely detailed to the point that we consider The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks the best looking game on the DS.
Link’s iconic wide-eyes are perfect for conveying emotion, especially when the boy himself never says a word. For the first time he has a human companion throughout the entire game (well technically she’s a spirit) and the playful puppy love between the two reminds us that they are meant to be children. It also gives us a hint that there might be a little somethin' somethin' between the two of them – when they’re older. The game's youthful exuberance is fantastic, and makes
Spirit Tracks one of the more light-hearted Zelda games of late.
The battle mode has also returned, this time supporting 4 player action online via Nintendo’s Wi-Fi connection. Unfortunately it’s rubbish. You’re confined to collecting gems in a tiny arena whilst trying to knock off your opponents with bombs and phantoms. We suggest Nintendo stick to what Zelda is good at; single player perfection.
The Final Verdict
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is Nintendo at their finest. Phantom Hourglass did more than we thought possible on DS two years ago. Its fantastic gameplay, awesome visual, and unique controls were the best we’d experienced on the DS. After spending a great deal of time with the sequel I can safely say that they’ve gone one better. It retains everything that made the first game so great and injected more challenging puzzles and bosses into the mix. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is the first, and only, game to genuinely rival GTA as the best game on DS this year.
Gameplay
8.0
The puzzles, dungeons and bosses are all fantastic. Even though it may have had some pointless tasks, kudos to you, Nintendo.
Graphics
10
The best graphics we’ve seen on the DS. Cel-shading the handheld Zelda games was a stroke of genius.
Sound
9.0
All the classic Zelda music and sound effects are here. There’s a little too much blowing into the microphone for our liking, however, and that sounds bad.
Value
9.0
A great 25 hour single player campaign and rubbish multiplayer. No matter though, as we just pretend the latter isn’t there.
Overall
9.5
A score between 7.3 and 7.9 means the overall experience is good but may suffer from some medium-to-major problems on the gameplay, value and/or graphical front.
Submitted by ICC_06
21/12/2009
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