Hey, it’s the second Zelda game on the DS! The first, Phantom Hourglass, was pretty fun. Not without its faults, of course, but it definitely wasn’t bad.

Now this one goes for a new gimmick: Driving a train. Is it a good idea? Is it a bad idea? Does this game correct the problems of the previous title?

Read on and see!

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Date of Release: December 7 2009
Platforms: Nintendo DS

Genre: Action-Adventure
Players: 1 (there’s a 4 player multiplayer mode)

Looks and sounds
The graphics… are the exact same as Phantom Hourglass, they haven’t enhanced them at all. Playing them side-by-side it would be near impossible to tell them appart. I would have expected at least SOME modification in the graphics. Other than the fact that you’re driving a train instead of a boat, everything looks the same as before. There’s a few new enemies and traps in dungeons, but overall there’s really not much change here. Even the dungeon themselves are pretty similar looking. They have a very minimalist look, with just short walls and rectangular rooms. They’re barely be any different if it wasn’t for different wall and floor colors. Not that that’s bad, of course(I mean, look at the first Zelda on NES, it’s extremely minimalist, yet it’s still a really awesome game), but a bit more depth would be nice in the visual design. The boss rooms are also all nice circular rooms, which doesn’t offer much variety. I think they could have done a lot better with the game’s look. Not that it looks bad, of course, the graphics are still very good for the DS, though not the best, but a bit better visual design would be very welcome.

The sound is okay. The music sounds pretty Zelda-ish, which is good. Though I sometimes wish for more than one “Travelling in the train” tracks, since it gets quite annoying and repetitive. The music you play with the spirit flute is not bad, but not anywhere near memorable, and all the tracks are very short. The sound effects are mostly recycled from Phantom Hourglass. They sound good.

Story
This is basic Zelda story. Zelda gets kidnapped by an evil guy, you must save her. But WAIT! This time it’s actually a bit different. Here, Zelda’s soul gets removed from her body, and she actually follows Link around during the game(in spirit form), offering advice and sometimes even physically helping you in your quest. In the beginning, the tower of spirits gets kinda destroyed and the spirit tracks, where trains travel on, disappear (yeah, the spirits made the tracks instead of workers), so you must travel through the destroyed tower to restore the tracks, and get to the end of every dungeon to find artifacts which will restore more of the tracks. In the end you have to save Zelda’s body from a powerful demon lord that even the spirits can’t fight. The story isn’t great, but the addition of Zelda being an active character is really nice.

As for the timeline… This doesn’t help in making it any simpler. It’s supposed to take place 100 years after Phantom Hourglass, but that makes no sense, since Hyrule isn’t flooded anymore, and I can’t really imagine a whole land get unflooded in only 100 years. Though there are some signs of the game taking place in that time, like this having the third generation of Linebeck’s family… There’s also a sword similar to the master sword, though it’s probably not it… The land does have a similar geography to the Hyrule in Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past… Also, no real mention of the Triforce. Let’s just say it takes place after Phantom Hourglass, though the whole unflooding thing makes no sense >_>

Gameplay
The game is fully touch-screen controlled. The controls are pretty much like the first. Point where you want to move. Touch enemies to attack. Horizontal lines make you slash horizontally. Straight lines in front of Link makes him stab. A quick circle around Link makes you do a spin attack. You can access the menu to choose items or go in other status windows with a button on the bottom of the touch screen. Using items you can just press a shoulder button and then use the touch screen to use them. There’s an option with the touch screen but it’s slow, useless and overall hard to use. There is one modification in the controls, and it’s how you roll on the ground. In Phantom hourglass, you had to draw a loop or something, it was pretty random and idn’t work well. Here you just have to double tap in the direction you want to roll.

The combat is really simple. Just find when to hit enemies and that’s about it. Some require a certain timing, or using a certain item on them before being able to hit them. Boss battles are a bit more exciting than the normal battles though. Each usually requires using just the weapon/item you found in the dungeon in particular, but in usually interesting ways. The first boss is a disappointment, but afterwards they get a bit more interesting, with patterns to memorize and different strategies to hit them. Not the best Zelda bosses, but they can be quite fun to fight.

The items you get aren’t too great, really just basic Zelda equipment with nothing really original. Bow, which gets a charge attack as an upgrade. The Whirlwind which sends a whirlwind where you’re pointing. The boomerang which follows the path you draw for it. A whip that you can use to pick up things from far away, remove enemy armor, and swing across gaps. Bombs which blow things up (you find those outside of the dungeons). And finally a wand that makes walls of sand appear wherever there’s sand.  There’s not much compared to other Zelda games, but they do offer quire a bit of variety. Each dungeons have puzzles based on using those items and most require some good thinking, which is pretty cool. There’s one problem though. Most puzzles give you the solution before you get to do them, which removes almost any thinking you might have to do to progress through the game.

Outside of dungeons, you’ll pretty much just go to your next destination using the train. The train controls are no bad, though the fact that you’re stuck on tracks removes any sense of liberty the game might have offered if you got a better method of transportation. Just like the boat in Phantom Hourglass, you just draw your path to your destination, except here you have to make sure you actually stop the train at its destination. And you can get attacked by enemies during your travels, which is when you’ll have to use your cannon. You can also destroy rocks and barrels for extra cash and health for the train. On the tracks, there are sometimes evil trains which will instantly kill you, so you must plan your path accordingly to where they’re going so you can avoid them (they move faster than you).

Other than the train, you’ll pass some time in villages and towns. Usually you’ll need to talk to various NPCs to advance through the game, or do various puzzles to be able to advance, or get hints as to what to do while on the train tracks on your way to dungeons. In addition to story elements here, each town has a bunch of side-quests. Some require you to lug marchandise on your train and deliver it to other places, or taking passengers and bring them to other places(in this case you have to follow what the signs next to the tracks say, otherwise they’ll get mad and you’ll have to start over). There’s a very repetitive nature to all of this. And traveling with the train is insanely slow even at the faster speeds, so it can get quite monotonous.

The Tower of Spirits is this game’s equivalent to the Temple of the Ocean King in Phantom Hourglass, and it’s a LOT better. Here you have different floors you have to visit every time, and when you come back you don’t have to replay them all, which was really annoying in the temple of the ocean king. The Tower is where you’ll directly interact with Zelda. Once you find 3 items(Tears of Light) in the particular section you’re in, you can hit a phantom in the back and Zelda will possess it. And the controls for her couldn’t be any more awkward. You can ask her to follow you, but when you need to detach from her and make her do her own things in the dungeon, the only way to control her is to draw paths for her, and that can be pretty bad. There’s some very cool puzzles using her, especially when you get access to special Phantom types. But the only way to control her directly really sucks and makes some of those puzzles a bit of a chore. And when you call her back to you, if the path isn’t clear as to how to get back to you, she won’t ever get to you unless you draw the path back to you. And having to wait for her to go up or down stairs with you is annoying, since she always walks a lot slower than you.

Overall
The is a pretty good Zelda game. Obviously not at the level as the NES, SNES, N64 Zeldas, but it’s definitely fun. Maybe a bit better than Phantom Hourglass. There’s some fun boss battles and quite a few really good puzzles.

The train is an annoyance though, I’d much rather have another ground-based vehicle, or no vehicle at all. It makes sense with the story, but it’s still quite annoying.

The fact that it’s a touch screen only game is pretty annoying too, I constantly wish that I could move with the D-pad. I think it should be an option.

But if you’re a Zelda fan, this is a quite fun game.

Pros and cons
Pros
- Looks good
- Fun to play
- Some pretty interesting puzzles
- Zelda following you around is interesting

Cons
- Lots of recycling
- Lack of a normal control option (Touch-screen only)
- Train is meh

The Save Factor
The game has a starting price of $35. I think $25 should be the Save Factor for this one, unless you’re a big Zelda fan.

jobocan Games, Handheld, Review, ds