The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 3

Publisher: Nintendo

Format: Nintendo DS

Oh boy oh boy! It's time to talk about a game that I dearly love, that game being The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. This is the first game that I went back to and played all the way through before I reviewed. I dearly love this game, and for good reasons. I'd bet that this is at least top 3 of the most innovative Zelda games ever. I didn't quite realize just how good of a game this truly is, and it took me having to go back and playing it to feel that charm the game has.

You're Link, as usual, in the Wind Waker storyline. Right off the bat, Tetra has been kidnapped, and you gotta save her. You get washed up on an island, and a fairy named Celia helps you on your quest. To sail around, you befriend a man named Linebeck. You go to the Ocean Temple to find him. Well stuff happens and you basically have to go to the bottom of the Ocean Temple to defeat Bellum, who is the one who captured Tetra. To do this, you first have to collect the three spirits: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. You go through each of their temples and find them, using their powers to open doors to further go into the Ocean Temple. After that, you have to collect the three sacred metals to forge a Phantom Sword, the only sword capable of killing Bellum. Oh, and the Phantom Hourglass… I'll be getting to that… All in due time.

I gotta admit, the characters are well portrayed and interesting. Most characters has a specific personality, yet almost never seem to try at being that type of character. A few of them have secret pasts, even if they don't know it. Characters have lots of tie-ins with other characters, and some are either references to Wind Waker or even from Wind Waker itself. Each character is charmingly fun and interesting. Who doesn't remember Linebeck, the Treasure Teller, all the Traveling Ships, Jolene, or Gongoron? Theres a plethora of new character this time around, and each are done well. Each island is fun too, with something new to do or try on each one. Do I even need to mention that your fairy sidekicks are awesome?

Of course, this is Zelda, it's got it's dungeons. The dungeons are awesome, filled with riddles, puzzles, and all sorts of baddies. Each temple is different than the next, making for a whole load of new fun when reaching a new one. It provides lots of good challenges, be it in the dungeon itself or getting into it. Some riddles are a bit ridiculous, I'll admit. Some require you thinking hard about what they mean, and might be a tad bit on the impossible-without-a-guide side. Other than that, the puzzles are dang good fun and challenge, being a bit more fair than the riddles. The enemies, for the most part, are fun to fight, and often work in new ways or adds something new to an old character.

The first specific thing I wanna talk about with this game is the Ocean Temple. This also is where I'll be talking about the Phantom Hourglass itself. You see, Bellum has taken over the Ocean Temple, and he himself sucks the life-force from all living things in the temple, and actually takes health from you. This is where the Phantom Hourglass comes into play. You see, the Phantom Hourglass, found within the entrance of the Ocean Temple, has a crystalized form of life-force, called the sands of hours. This is a timer preventing the Ocean Temple from sucking at your health. The sand's powers can be replenished via the sun. When you kill a boss, you permanently get more sand for the hourglass. The only areas that don't suck out sand or health are safe zones. These areas also make you invisible to Phantoms. Phantoms are the invincible(until you have the Phantom Sword) guards of the Ocean Temple, and come in three forms: Normal, Swift, and Golden. The Normal are normal, the Swift are swift, and the Golden warp to your location when you are spotted by anything in the temple. The rest of the temple is just like the other ones, with puzzles and riddles and traps. The only main problem with this temple is the backtracking. You go to this temple a lot, between almost every other temple in fact, and theres only one half-way checkpoint available, so the backtracking gets real repetitive. This isn't entirely bad, as you can use new weapons or tools in old rooms to either complete it faster or find hidden items.

Now lets just talk about the rest of the bosses, or should I say the most innovative bosses I have ever fought against. Most have something cool to do with either the dual screen ability, the map, the drawing ability of the DS, or something of that nature. Each boss is fun and unique, not to mention cool. Most of it keeps you on your toes, and has multiple phases. Each boss's weakness also involves the weapon found in the temple, making you think of how it can be used against the being at hand. There are even bosses when you're sailing the open seas, which are fun, despite adding any new mechanics.

The sailing is fun, allowing you to draw the path you wanna sail. There are plenty of enemies, plenty of islands or boats(and boat upgrades), and plenty of quests. You can even get a slate that allows you to draw a symbol, that symbol taking you to whatever point you drew on the slate. It's overall a bit slow, but sailing isn't too bad, especially when you have so much to do and explore!

The controls feel natural, using the stylus to move around, attack, and everything else. All the weapons work nice and unique. This is the first game where your fairy holds the hammer instead of you! The ability to draw on your maps for reminders or fun is a great thing in the game. The drawing mechanic is also used for the boomerang, which is really fun in this game. Everything is easy to get accustomed to, making for really compatible controls.

Another thing I'd like to go into detail about is the Spirit Upgrades. You get the three spirits: The one of Power, the one of Wisdom, and the one of Courage. You also come across gems of each kind. Every ten gems (with there being twenty in the game) and you can upgrade your spirit to give you a cool power up. Power provides you with a fiery sword for more damage, Wisdom grants you a boosted defense allowing you to not only stun some enemies with your shield, but also take half the damage from al enemy attacks, while Courage gives you ability to shoot a beam out of your sword, like in classic Zelda games(although you don't need full health to do it).

One of the last things I wanna talk about right quick is the villain in this game. Bellum(which is also Latin for 'war') is my favorite villain in the Zelda franchise, second only to maybe Majora's Mask. He is a brutal things, and does things I can't mention because of spoilers. He does have three, epic, and somewhat separate boss fights, all of them awesome. He's a crafty little being as well, creating the Ghost Ship to lure in treasure hunters to steal their life-force.

So there you have it. A grand game, one that I hold dear. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass got a fantastic charm, even in it's obviously hindered DS graphics. It's easily one of the most innovative DS games I've seen to date (in february of 2014). It's got so much to it, so many things to explore and do and enjoy and indulge in. It's astounding, it truly is. It is still from the Wind Waker story line, yet takes nothing from it, instead creating entirely new things. It creates a whole new world that people can enjoy and love, one that I do truly enjoy and love.

#gamereview #zelda