When the Gamecube received its first Legend of Zelda title, The Wind Waker, gamers were quite polarized over its art style. While many wanted a more realistic rendition of Hyrule like the Nintendo 64’s games, some felt that the cel-shaded characterization propelled the Zelda title to a completely new level of fantasy and gave Nintendo more options for creativity. I was one of those people. The Wind Waker was one of the most charming and visually appealing games ever released, so you can imagine my excitement when its sequel Phantom Hourglass was announced at last year’s GDC. Picking up right where The Wind Waker left off, this pint-sized sequel brings the epic scale of the Zelda franchise to the DS’ dual screens. And Nintendo didn’t stop there; you’ll have to use the touch screen and Wi-Fi capabilities to get the most out of Link’s latest adventure.

Tapping was never so fun

Let’s get one thing straight first: Link is controlled by the touch screen, and there’s no way around it. Complain all you want, but after some initial clumsiness you’ll soon get the hang of it, and probably even learn to like it. You drag the stylus around the touch screen to tell Link where to move, and tap to make him attack. Later in the game you’ll learn special moves that require more advanced movements with the stylus, but they’re never too difficult to pull off. There are rare occasions when the game won’t interpret what you want Link to do correctly, but they’re so infrequent that they never become frustrating.

Besides making good use of the Nintendo DS’ touch screen, Phantom Hourglass also uses both displays well to render the beautiful 3D graphics. That’s right, a 3D Zelda on a handheld - sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? To say that Phantom Hourglass’ visuals are impressive is an understatement. When combined with the cel-shaded style from its prequel The Wind Waker, it allows Phantom Hourglass to be one of the most captivating handheld experiences ever made. The Wind Waker raised the bar for characterization and emoting in a Zelda game, and Phantom Hourglass continues that tradition. While series veterans might get a little turned off by the heavy dialogue sequences, they go a long way to sell the characters to the player.

Enter dungeon. Get item. Kill boss. Repeat.

Anyone who has played a Zelda game before knows what to expect, and Phantom Hourglass stays true to the formula almost to a fault. The game starts out with Link needing to rescue his damsel in distress, and from there he embarks on a fantastic voyage over the seas and through dungeons to destroy evil. The dungeons are typical Zelda fare - you solve a puzzle to get a key to open a door to get to the next puzzle. Rinse and repeat a few times until you get an awesome new item to kill the boss with then rarely use again. It’s not as boring as I make it out to be as the puzzles are quite cleverly designed, the items are great, and the boss fights are fantastic, but the formula is starting to taste stale. Considering how accessible Phantom Hourglass is, that probably won’t be a problem to all the newcomers to the series, but aficionados might be frustrated by the lack of experimentation and lack of difficulty in Phantom Hourglass.

The one area where Phantom Hourglass’ gameplay does stray from the beaten path is its multiplayer, which is a slight variation on the Four Swords formula. Players are once again competing against each other, but this time only one player is Link. The other player takes control of a phantom knight that must stop his opponent from collecting Triforce shards. As Link collects more shards he’ll have to choose when to drop them off at his base, as his movement becomes slowed down the more laden with shards he becomes. It really just feels like a glorified Pac-Man with one player controlling the ghost, but it’s fun and supports online play. The multiplayer mode definitely won’t be the main selling point of Phantom Hourglass, but it’s a noteworthy feature nonetheless.

Come sail away

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a phenomenal Zelda game, pure and simple. The creative minds at Nintendo have managed to take classic gameplay and infuse it with all of the Nintendo DS’ unique capabilities to create an adventure for Link unlike any before. Thanks to the simple touch screen controls and appealing visual design, this is also one of the most accessible Zelda games ever made. Zelda fan, adventure fan, puzzle fan, or simply a DS owner - it doesn’t matter. You owe it to yourself to play Phantom Hourglass. This is an adventure you won’t want to miss.