The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Phantom Hourglass isn't without its faults, but it's still a fun entry in the long-running series. Maybe if I had played it when it came out I would have had the same complaints about reusing the same items and general progression that Zelda games have had for such a long time, but since I haven't played a full game in the series since late in 2006, it was just the helping of adventuring I wanted.

It features what I believe is the fifth instance in the series of the same Link from a previous adventure being revisited, and does the plot that's typical of that sort of thing, transporting him to some other location that may or may not have existed while being vague about the specifics. This is the first time he's brought Zelda with him, though she still spends most of the game captured or in peril, and it's Link's job to explore the world and visit a series of dungeons to collect doodads that will allow him to blah blah blah save the world. I actually enjoyed the story for the most part, as the complete absence of Ganon was refreshing (though I saw some possible family resemblance with another character), and the backstory was somewhat interesting and presented well with pages from a storybook. The game also features possibly my favorite NPC of the series, the ship captain Linebeck who helps Link travel the seas.

The main change this game makes to the series is obviously the controls, as the whole thing can be played entirely with the stylus, though a few button shortcuts make things a bit easier. A fair bit of the puzzles while running around above ground focus on playing with the DS' features, like asking you to take notes and draw stuff on your map to figure out a pattern or using the microphone to get someone's attention. It's a bit gimmicky, but didn't seem obnoxious. There's a fair bit of dungeon exploring to do, with about seven you have to finish in addition to the Temple of the Ocean King, which proves to be the game's worst element. The regular temples are pretty fun to complete if altogether a bit easy, though I felt rewarded and interested in continuing the whole time I was in them. The boss fights tended to be easy, though they were generally at least fun to beat up.

That Ocean King temple though... it's rough. Basically, it's a timed stealth section that you have to return to repeatedly, and there's only one place in the whole thing where you can save your progress without having to repeat places you've been to. Return trips are always faster thanks to the new equipment you've gotten since last time, but it's still more of a chore than an interesting challenge. It really just doesn't seem like a well thought out idea. The game's successor revisits the same concept, so we'll see if they got it right. The game also didn't quite have the sense of reward to it I hope from in Zelda games, as there just isn't enough land mass to hide the right amount of secrets. All of the optional heart containers I knew about are hidden behind frustrating minigames, and the ship parts and extra time in the Ocean King temple felt like poor rewards for all the treasure maps I sought out. Also, locking out the fairy rewards until you collect enough doodads seemed lame. While not quite a classic, it was still a solid Zelda game, which makes it a pretty darn good one overall.