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The The Legend Of Zelda series is one which
should need no introduction. Having been a bastion of innovation
within the videogames industry for over twenty years now,
adventures in Hyrule – or at least, their legacy – will be familiar
to most gamers. Even casual attendees may have got to grips with
one of the lead protagonist’s other starring roles; titles such as
Super Smash Bros. Melee, Link’s Crossbow Training,
WarioWare: Smooth Moves,
Soul Calibur II and … have
all seen the enigmatic Link stride into genres which may not have
been his own. The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the
first NintendoDS entrant to follow in the series main bloodline –
and more so it does than many previous handheld outings for the
series.
The traditional gameplay in the series casts the player
in the role of Link, on a mission to save the heroine, typically
Princess Zelda, and the world. The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom
Hourglass doesn’t break these ties, and much of what follows is
fairly conventional within a series that now has incredibly
high-expectations from a demanding fanbase. Top-down adventuring,
collecting items and running errands for Heart Container Pieces all
return, as does much of the traditional weaponry; including a
somewhat revamped Boomerang.
While the basic gameplay will be incredibly familiar to
anyone who has played the SNES’s The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To
The Past, the NintendoDS release aids what has now become a
standard gameplay environment with unique features capitalising on
the NintendoDS’s hardware capabilities peerlessly. The Boomerang
can now have a path plotted for it; need to flip two switches
simultaneously? Need to grab a distant object? Plotting a path
using the Touch Screen, and then following-up with a tap to throw
is simplicity itself. Further to this, the entire game can
be controlled utilising only the Touch Screen. While many games
have attempted this before –
Final Fantasy III,
Yoshi’s
Touch & Go, Warhammer 40,000: Squad Commander and
Advance Wars: Dark Conflict, to name but three titles – the
results have been to varying degrees of success, but with the
control mechanisms that have been ingrained into The Legend Of
Zelda games since their first release, The Legend Of Zelda:
Phantom Hourglass’s control system could never be accused of
anything but being flawless.
Obviously, the design of the playable areas has been
tailored to this new control scheme, and has been done so
exquisitely. Perfectly realised environments of varying local are
passed through on your quest across a reasonably sized HUB Map, and
even when sailing (considered the weaker aspect of The Legend Of
Zelda: Wind Waker when released on GameCube) players will have
few complaints about the longevity of variety of quests.
The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass follows
in the footsteps of the GameCube’s first The Legend Of Zelda
outing, The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker, graphically.
Utilising a modified version of that title’s Cel-Shaded Engine, the
title looks phenomenal on the NintendoDS’s tiny screens. While
there many have been arguments over the stylised The Legend Of
Zelda releases prior to The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker,
few that have credible taste in videogames have since complained,
and the same will certainly apply here.
The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass doesn’t
stray too far from The Legend Of Zelda template, but every
innovation the title champions it does so with confidence. Having
the guarantee of big sales when hitting the retail shelves simply
due to the series heritage resulted in the title puffing-out it’s
chest alongside big-hitters such as
Halo 3,
Mass Effect
and Super Mario Galaxy, and deserves to be considered an
equal alongside such budget-heavy releases.
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| Check out the current debate on The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
here.
Get the latest Cheats and Tips for The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
here.
Buy The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
here.
Return to the NintendoDS In-depth Reviews Archive here.
Each of these articles has been written either
independently of Electronic Theatre or by an external viewer. The opinions
discussed in these articles in no way reflects the opinions of Electronic Theatre.
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