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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: Reviews

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Game Score: 8/10

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Game Story Synopsis: (Spoiler Alert!)

The story begins when Tetra/Zelda first meets up with Link, and they go on an adventure together. Zelda then gets sucked into this portal. Link jumps into the portal to save her. Link wakes up on a beach, alone. A bright light appears, claiming to be a “sprite” named Ciela, and you (that is, Link, or whatever name you have given your character) follow her to her grandfather’s home. Where this old man, Oshus, will tell you about The Ghost Ship, and demons running amok. Link tells him that he has to save his friend, Tetra, but Oshus tries to dissuade Link.

Link, however, is stubborn and insists that he has to save his friend, even stealing the old man’s sword in the process. Oshus gives in, and shows Link some moves with the sword. He tells Link that he has to find a captain, Linebeck, who is able to tell him more about the Ghost Ship. After which Link proceeds to the town, where he is told that Linebeck is at the Temple Of The Ocean King.

Link goes to the Temple, where he saves Linebeck. Link also discovers that unless he is stepping in a “safe zone”, his life gets slowly sucked away when he is travelling in the temple. He also finds a map of a certain part of the ocean. Oshus later gives Link an hourglass that allows Link to travel within the Temple without losing any life for a certain time period.

Linebeck then joins Link, and they travel to various islands, where Link defeats various monsters. Link also finds Tetra, but she has been turned into stone.

Oshus joins them later, and tells Link that he is actually the Ocean King. He has been sealed by a great evil, Bellum, who is able to suck life out of creatures, and is also causing all the problems, including turning Tetra into stone. Oshus tells Link that he has to forge The Phantom Sword to defeat Bellum. To forge the sword, Link has to find three ancient metals.

Link forges blade, and combines it with the Phantom Hourglass to make the Phantom Sword. He then defeats Bellum, saving the Ocean King.

Game Play:

Stylus only. Anything that is done in-game (like moving, fighting, opening chests etc) is done only with the stylus, so you’re going to get really acquainted with it.

There are a few “quests” that Link has to complete:

1. Finding the maps of the various parts of the ocean.

A map will appear at the top screen of your DS. At the beginning, you will only be able to see the bottom left quarter. As Link delves further into the Ocean King’s temple, he will find the other parts of the maps. This is the essential part of the game. To find the other sprites, and Power Gems, Link will need to unlock the different sections of the map to travel to the other island. Link will also be able to get extra “sand” for his Hourglass when he defeats the big boss of each Temple at the other islands.

2. Power Gems

Ciela, along with Leaf and Neri, are the three sprites of Courage, Power and Wisdom, who serve the Ocean King. When they were kidnapped by Bellum, their powers were sucked away. The Power Gems will “power” up the sprites, and allow Link to make use of their powers. There are sixty to collect, twenty for each sprite.

3. Ship Parts

A part of the game is the collecting of various ship parts for Linebeck’s ship. This allows you to increase the stamina of your ship (from what I know, the maximum is 7 hearts), when you put the parts from the same series to make the ship. As you’ll meet various enemies while you’re sailing, extra hearts really help. You’ll also be able to get a cannon and a salvage arm in the game. The salvage arm is needed later in the game to grab a key from the bottom of the ocean.

4. Hearts Containers

There are many ways to increase Link’s hearts (i.e. life) in the game. Some, you’ll be able to buy from the various shops, and some you’ll get from the mini games found on some of the islands around. I had about twenty hearts at the end of the game.

Graphics / Music:

I generally keep the sound off, but when I did put the music on, it wasn’t too distracting. Nothing too jarring for the ears, and it actually does a pretty good job of warning me when there are enemies around.

Graphics looked smooth on my DS. The character designs were cute, and quite intricate in some parts. Ship parts were pretty detailed, and the in-game screen actually shows you what your ship looks like with the various parts you’ve fitted in, instead of a generic ship layout.

Review:

This is my first Zelda game (and I’m really amused by the fact that the title character doesn’t even appear for most of the game play), so I’m not too familiar with the whole Zelda franchise and continuity of the story. I also unknowingly renamed Link with my name, so it was a little disconcerting during the game when the non-player characters called my name in the dialogue.

Zelda is also my first action-adventure game on the DS, and it was entertaining enough that I kept at it until I finished. It was difficult at first, with the playing with the stylus only thing, but I got used to it. When I got bored with the actual game, I actually spent quite a bit of time with the mini-games, trying to collect all the ship parts. I’m a little obsessive that way.

The other thing that I was obsessed with collecting was the Power Gems. While I gather that you didn’t really need the Power Gems to finish the game, (I didn’t find any different with my sprites after “levelling” them up) it provided a nice distraction during the game. It also took me a while to find the last Courage Gem. I was about to give up, when I finally found it.

The character interactions were pretty amusing in some parts too.

The one complaint that I really have against this game is the fact that you’re literally forced to replay levels of the Ocean King’s Temple before you can reach a new floor. There are about twelve floors to the Ocean King’s Temple, and trust me, by the time you’re done with the game, you’d want to scream with frustration as you replay the same level you’ve played five times just to get to a new floor. You have to work against the clock, and while you do get faster each time you’re in the Temple, can I just say, repetitive much?

What I really liked was how the story progressed. With each part of the map being uncovered, something new is added to the story. What can I say? I like it when there’s an actual story plot to a game.

Overall, the game was entertaining, and gave me a good enough impression that if there are other releases of Zelda on the DS, I may just be tempted to give it a try.

The Good: Good image rendering, interesting story lines, good mix of mini games in-game that allows a little time off from when you’re tired of the actual game.

The Not-So-Good: Repetitive temple levels

Rating: 8 / 10