Phantom Hourglass review

[ZuZu 10]

One of the members of Zeldalegends.net was lucky enough to get his hands on a copy of PH, a little prior to the release date. Below is the users review from the site. It will give you little hints of what happens in the first few hours of gameplay as well as some nice info on what we can expect in the game.

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[quote]It's like Christmas in September! Only Phantom Hourglass was supposed to come out in October... thus making it like Oktoberfest in September. Except without the beer. Or something.

I had the opportunity to play the game back at PAX at the end of August in the exhibition room for 10 or 15 minutes... or however long the demo allowed me to play, and at first, I'll be honest, I was very sceptical about the title. I've been doing this Zelda thing for well over a decade now, and changing the controls such that (nearly) everything was controlled by stylus input... well, has disconcerted me. Let me be fair: Fifteen minutes wasn't enough to convince me that it was the Golden Realm's gift to all Hylians. I was initially disappointed that the "precision" that I had accrued over the years with a D-pad and a few buttons wasn't there. The stylus felt awkward, and that pretty much threw off the whole experience for me.

Three hours later... I'm growing on it, but still very slowly. While I love that you can pinpoint targets just by clicking them, performing general combat manoeuvres is still an unmastered skill with me. While spin attacks are "easy" to do, my right hand just isn't trained to just automatically draw a circle around Link. Even worse, I think my many hours with Osu! Tatake! Ouendan! cause me to, when I finally remember to draw a circle, draw three or four circles around Link back to back, which unleashes (naturally) multiple spin attacks... with the unexpected side effects of getting dizzy at the end. I reckon I'll grow to love it in the end, just as I ended up being completely head over heels with Twilight Princess'. It's growing on me as it is; these things just take time to love.

Outside of the control schema, though, the game feels very much like Wind Waker. There's sailing, of course, and as I hear that's sort of a... hmm... controversial feature. Some people loved sailing over the seven seas; others despised it. (I happened to be in the former category.) Be that as it may, my hunch so far is that it's going to be a little more of the same this time around. There are certainly things to do while sailing. The game sees these intra-island journeys to be a convenient time to throw an enemy at you every 15 seconds (which then forces you to tap on it rather quickly before you get hit), and this causes you to pay attention to what's in front of you. At the outset of the game, your ship only gets four hearts, and each hit takes one away, so you can't snore on the job. It's standard seafaring with the added twist that you draw your route out on paper... meaning that you don't actually steer the ship. So, per your prerogative, take that or leave it.

Beedle (and his masked cousin) make a return appearance, sailing around the map, looking for adventurers to scam... I mean... sell things to. (Seriously, I've already seen about half a dozen items selling for 100 rupees all the way up to 1500. I have two words for you: Con artists. Although thankfully the rupees are plentiful; I think I'm currently in the 800s at the present moment.) The postal service that you remember from Wind Waker is still there, although with a different (and stranger) postman. The random item collection from Wind Waker is back too (although with different items). And of course, there's treasure out on the high seas to find! At least... once you're able to obtain it.

So how's the story? The opening is rather cut and dry with standard Zelda beginning. Zelda--I mean, Tetra--is taken away, a casualty of her na

[A Hylian Human 0]

Yays! This is some interesting info on the newest Zelda game. I can't wait!!! Fall is here, and so is the [url="http://www.hyrule.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3631"]mad rush[/url] of games!!!!!

[Goron Merchant 1]

Lmao. Great review. That was fun to read.

This game seems so fresh. I can't wait.

[Markus 0]

YAY DUDE

[Vivid Dreamer 0]

Yay! I feel much more excited about this game. I was going to buy it regardless, but it definately sounds interesting...also sounds like I may want to throw my DS a few times across the room...>.>

[Ganny 285]

I AM liking the fact that it is a lot like Wind Waker (personal favorite ). And it's coming out in two days. TWO DAYS. This has really snuck up on me. It is making quite a quiet release, so I assume the stores won't be sold out on Monday. So I guess I'll get to figure out whoever that pink-heart belt buckle wearer is who's not Tingle. Yes, it's strange, but that's probably the thing in this review that has interested me most.

[Dementedioser 0]

YAY ^^
I can't wait!

[FLIP 0]

Sounds decent, but I'm really going off Nintendo at the moment =/

[True Gamer 19]

Looks awesome. I'll have to get it for Christmas, though....right now, I'm saving up for a Wii.
$80 down, $170 to go....

[Bitmapfox112 1]

oh! i must buy a ds and phantom hourglass so i can stare blankley at a plank

[Otis McNutt 395]

I'm buying it tomorrow.