Touch screen controls? Cute cel-shaded graphics? A child hero? Shouldn’t that be
recipe for destroying your hardcore gamer fan base?
By Matt Kelly (Robtot)
Meet The Legend of Zelda:Phantom Hourglass, one of the few Zelda games that
is a direct sequel.
Back in the heyday of the Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo demoed a new Zelda game at
SpaceWorld 2000, taking the mature visual style of Ocarina of Time and bringing
into the next-gen era of shiny jaw dropping graphics. The media was excited, the
fans were excited, and it looked like we were going to get the most mature, best
looking Zelda game to date. Then all news on the Zelda front went silent.
Fast forward a year, another SpaceWorld, fans and the media alike murmured ‘I
hear there finally showing us the new Zelda game!’
And Nintendo did, but something had changed. Gone was the mature stylings of the
demo, gone was adult Link and gamers all said hello to a graphic style called
Cel-shading, a cartoon look for the new Legend of Zelda. Nintendo’s new game
‘The Wind Waker’ followed the adventures of a young Link across the vast oceans
of the world. And like any good game set on the ocean, you had to have pirates.
The game was a critical success, with great game play, deft story telling and
beautiful cartoon like visuals, but there were some groups who weren't happy
with Zelda’s new ‘kid friendly’ look.
If you hated it’s cartoon look back then, get ready to hate it all over again.
Otherwise, get ready for a real treat as the world of Wind Waker returns, this
time, to the Nintendo DS in the form of The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
Our story opens with our hero Link and pirate/princess Tetra (aka Zelda) aboard
her ship sailing in hunt of the mysterious ghost ship. Then out of fog, the
ghost ship appears (uncanny eh), taking Tetra. Link in his cel-shaded plucky
heroics goes after her, only to fall straight into the ocean. Washing up upon
the shore of a nearby island to the voice of a snippy loud fairy called Ciela
the adventure is on, Link’s out to save his damsel in distress Tetra and uncover
the mystery of the ghost ship.
It’s right about now that you realize that
Nintendo has gone for a casual meets hardcore gamer midway with its controls.
The only thing you need to play this game is your stylus, as all the movement,
fighting and puzzle solving is all done purely with touch screen controls. While
this works beautifully most of the time some of Link’s maneuvers can be a little
tricky under pressure. The roll is a great example, which requires you to
quickly trace a little circle at the edge of the screen. When trying to fight
off several guys at once it can be a little rough. Even with these few issues
though, the touch controls are a breeze and do a lot to add pace to the fights,
much like what the Wii remote did for Twilight Princess. And I’ll mention this
right now, there is no alternative to touch. Nintendo is playing dad here and
telling us how it’s done.
Touch controls also add a new element to puzzle
solving, and the map puzzles are a great example of this. Through the game
you’ll find clues such as where it’ll give you hints based around directly
drawing on your map. Find 4 statues, run lines between them all and where they
intersect is where you need to dig. It’s very enjoyable and also adds a bit of
freedom to puzzle solving. Other mechanics involve drawing out boomerang paths,
tapping to throw bombs and so on. To add to that, Phantom Hourglass makes
further use of all the DS hardware from the microphone (blowing out fires) to
actually closing and opening the DS as part of a puzzle.
Graphically, Phantom
Hourglass is one of the most complex DS games to date. While the majority of the
game play is taken from a birds eye view, all the environments are fully
realized allowing cut scenes to take on a much more cinematic approach. It’s
toon shaded graphics are varied and detailed, a rich visual treat. You’ll also
find a great draw distance while on the ocean, aiding to the feeling you’re
traveling through a big wide world. None of this fog two inches in front of your
face rubbish for Link!
On the sound side of things, Phantom Hourglass maintains the high quality
responsive sound effects of all the recent Zelda console adventures. Where it
does fail though is in the music, what there is of it is very nicely composed
but you will be hearing the same tunes, a lot. Recent Zelda games have used
different music for towns and dungeons, a unique one reflecting each locations
theme. Phantom Hourglass on the other hand seems to use a single piece of music
for all the dungeons, and another for a large amount of the over world. While
this is cosmetic issue, you may find yourself feeling like a few of the
locations are blending together.
As I said earlier, Nintendo has gone for a casual gamer meets existing hardcore
fan base approach with this title. Phantom Hourglass sometimes does feel like
the next step up from the ‘touch generation’ brand of games. Characters will
quite often repeat your objectives many a time before letting you get into the
action and will bring them up again on a regular basis. Dungeons will feel
shallow for long time Zelda players, a lot of areas are laid out with the
problem and solution both in the same general spot, so you won’t find yourself
back tracking to solve a puzzle. Dungeons in Phantom Hourglass are quite linear,
you start at the entrance and end at the boss with no diversions in between.
Summary:
Despite it’s mentioned flaws, the flaws don’t get in the way of the
game play. And beyond the core game experience, you’ll also have the chance to
involve yourself in numerous side quests, treasure hunting, and ship upgrade
collecting. If you’re a hardcore Zelda player, you’re going to find an
enjoyable, somewhat lacking in depth, high paced Zelda game. For casual gamers,
it’s a great stepping stone into the next level of gaming. The touch controls
are addictive and are probably the closest thing you’ll find to feeling like a
bit of a ninja while playing on the DS.
Gameplay - 8.5
The game has lost some depth in concession to casual gamers but you
definitely won’t be bored at all. Puzzles will be quick to grasp for experienced
Zelda players.
Graphics - 10
Stunning detail, excellent use of cel shading, great
draw distances, a new bench mark for the DS
Sound - 8
Great use of SFX but the score is considerably low grade in terms of its
repetitiveness. What is there though is nicely composed.
Replay - 8
There’s a lot to come back for, from side quests to collections,
chances are this title will warrant a second play through for casuals and
hardcore alike.
Overall - 8.75
Great game designed to appeal to much wider audience than the last
few Zelda games. What issues there
are will pale in comparison to the enjoyment of this title.
27/10/2007
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