and alone in unknown seas in a new adventure. Featuring intuitive touch-screen controls and innovative puzzles, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass offers new...
and alone in unknown seas in a new adventure. Featuring intuitive touch-screen controls and innovative puzzles, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass offers new...
A review by monkeykong1 on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS) February 14th, 2008
Author's product rating:
Gameplay/Playability
Excellent - great gameplay & playability
Graphics
Excellent Graphics - visually stunning
Sound
Excellent - makes full use of my speakers
Value for Money
Advantages:
Its amazing and uses all Ds functions
Disadvantages:
To short
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Intro
Since the Nes version of Zelda all games in the series have tended to improve on each other. They are essentially the same game with the same goals. You could say if you have played one then you have played them all, but what sets these games apart is they are all have excellent game play flawless controls, fantastic graphics and exceptional level design. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is no exception. It takes everything good about the previous games and re works it for the Ds. Taking full advantage of the touch screen, mic and even the auto shut off function.
Basics
As soon as you turn the game on and watch the introduction you can tell you are in for a real treat. The graphics are familiar the music is familiar, it like visiting an old friend. As soon as I Watched the introduction I had a smile on my face and couldn't wait for the game to continue.
This game takes off from where the wind-waker ended, and sees you sailing on a ship on the high seas with your friends looking for treasure, you come across a legendary ghost ship that holds great treasure, Tetra leaps aboard to search the ship and after a while we hear her scream, our hero jumps aboard the ship to save her but lands in the sea! Our hero awakes on an island with no powers and thats where we take control. Learn new skills explore dungeons, solve puzzles and save the world. This all sounds very similar but it's the Ds capabilities that set it apart, some puzzles will require you to blow on the screen, or shout and blow down the microphone, this all makes it feel like the Ds was designed for this game.
Also when entering a dungeon you have a map on screen which you can draw on to give you clues or remember specific routes. It's the same as writing clues on paper but it just gives the game another dimension.
Controls
The controls of the game are brilliant, the only comparison I have is animal Crossing, you drag the stylus for the direction you want to go, or tap the screen to hit an enemy or smash a pot. It's very simple and very effective. If you need to change weapon go into the simply navigate the touch screen menu. As the game progresses you will acquire new weapons like the boomerang, to operate this you need to draw the direction it will travel on the touch screen. You also get bombchus, these are like remote control bombs but you need to draw the path they follow. Everything you use is well thought out and implemented well in the control system.
Sailing.
Sailing takes up a major part of this game, you will have to sail to new islands and look for treasure. To Sail you simply draw a path on the sea chart and the boat takes that direction. You may think you can sit back and relax but if you will be attacked on the open sea and need to fire at enemies with a cannon. You have a certain number of hearts and if you are hit to many times you will need to go back to the beginning. You eventually receive a salvage arm that allows you to search for treasure on the sea bed, to do this you need to find a map that tells you where the treasure is navigate your ship there, and touch the salvage arm. Then you have to navigate the salvage arm to the sea bed avoiding obstacles. Finally you can find new parts for your ship and customise it, various combinations of parts make the ship faster or give it more power, I personally stuck with the basic model as it served me fine.
Dungeons
When you sail to a new island there will be a dungeon there where you will have to fight a boss, and the boss will lead you to the next part of the quest. Or there will be a sea chart in the dungeon leading you to your next destination. Every Zelda game has dungeons but these dungeons are on a time limit, run out of time and you will loose health and die. Also the dungeons involve lots of puzzle solving and utilise every aspect of the Ds capabilities. For example you may have a locked door to open the door you need to blow out a candle, this means you have to blow down the mic. Its very inventive and wonderful fun. However I think the games dungeons are quite easy to get through.
Bosses
When you get to a boss this is the best part of the game, they span both screens and look amazing, they are also quite tricky to defeat you will need all your skills and weapons and when the fight is over you can breath a sigh of relief before swiftly moving on to the next one.
Modes
Obviously single player mode is the main game and for me the only one, but there is a poor battle mode. Also theres a multiplayer wifi mode involving link trying to collect triforce shards and trying to get them to a base, the other player controls a phantom which is trying to stop link doing this. To be honest it isn't that much fun, the game is single player and if you want multiplayer then buy Mario Kart Ds.
Graphics and Sound.
The graphics and style of this game are amazing. I can't believed they crammed all of this into a Ds. They are crisp clean colourfull and detailed, again just watch the intro and it sets the very high standard which continues throughout the game. The sound is also excellent, there is one main theme and all in game music stems from that. I love hearing the same music every time your ship sales off. For me Sound and graphics are top of the class and the best on the DS,
Conclusion.
This is one of the best Ds games available with effortless style and flawless game play. every minute of the single player game is a joy. I can only critisise it on the multiplayer modes and also the fact that it's only 15 hours long. I admit its a fantastic 15 hours but I didn't want it to end. Buy it and you wont regret it!
Advantages: Stunning Graphics, Intuitive Gameplay, 8 Of The Best Zelda Bosses There Have Ever Been Disadvantages: It's just a little bit short...
...game was exciting in itself...it's the sequel to the critically acclaimed Gamecube adventure, Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker. For those of you who haven't played it (1. You should!) it's swapped the series traditional moody and dark 3D atmosphere for a bright bubbly universe, filled with larger than life caricatures of long running characters in the series. Some didn't appreciate the change, saying that the Gamecube had far more graphical potential ... ...brains however, appreicated it for the gem it was.
Four years on, in a full sequel, the style has lost none of it's appeal, and from the beautiful introductory sequence, you just can't help but thinking that the DS was the platform Wind Waker should have been on, indeed, Phantom Hourglass feels like someone grabbed the Gamecube game and stuffed it inside the two-screened system to see what would happen. And luckily, something magical must have happened ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Graphics, some nice ideas, some audio. Disadvantages: Gimmicky, bad gameplay, controls, story.
...a harsh reviewer and only the BEST games get above 90%.
A Zelda game. A DS Zelda game. The first DS Zelda game. Sounds revolutionary, doesn't it? Sounds fantastic fun, doesn't it? Shocker of the month: it's not all it's cracked up to be.
Don't get me wrong, this is a goodish game but it is, compared to other Zelda games, nowhere near as good. And it's all down to one reason really: it lacks the Zelda charm. More of that later.
So, you slot this ... ...and Wind Waker graphics. Seriously: the graphics are officially awesome and in a stark contrast to other DS games, the start of the game seems super promising and, guess what? It is.
Once you set up your file (only two this time round compared to the usual three, random move by Nintendo), you tap Go and you're instantly there on Tetra's ship! Ooh! I'm not going to ruin the narrative but umm, how shall I put this… Tetra gets captured. Again, yes, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good story, sailing, sidequests Disadvantages: Unimpressive audio, a few minor oversights/annoyances
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the newest Zelda game, released in 2007. It was released after Twilight Princess, sometimes considered one of the best Zelda games. Can this game compare?
Graphics: 9/10
This game uses cute, cartoony graphics like those used in Wind Waker, which this game is a sequel to. It was definitely a good move by Nintendo - the DS most likely could not have handled realistic graphics or even if it could it would ... ...should be used more often. The game's graphics are beautiful, particularly in the sailing section of the game. The only criticism I have with them is that the graphics can sometimes be a bit edgy. But it's not too bad, and it is a handheld game, after all.
Story: 7/10
You are Link, a hero travelling with his friend Tetra on a pirate ship. You are looking for the Ghost Ship, a mythical vessel which no one has managed to find before. Some events ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Gameplay/Playability
Graphics
Sound
Value for Money
very helpful
01.09.2008
King of DS. Review ofThe Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS)by
callmegreer
Advantages: +amazing gameplay +fantastic control systems Disadvantages: -Too short for a pro gamer
...often been said to be the game that DS was made for, while there have been plenty of amazing titles before it, none really scratch up to it on any level and there wont be for a long time.
The Legend of zelda - Phantom hourglass has covered all of its bases, it pushes the DS graphically, with beautiful cell shaded rendering and flawless character and environment models. Often developers designing for the DS push it too hard, causing flawed animations ... ...areas, But nintendo has found the line between beautiful and busted, and is standing right at the edge, looking over with great pity. the control system is also so intuitive and revolutionary that you know that this was designed with every movement and factor considered in great depth. menu screens are activated by using the digital pad or key buttons, while all of the action is carried out using the touch screen, movement and fighting combined seamlessly. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Everything Disadvantages: Back and fourth to the same temple, gets frustrating
...are, continuing from 2002's The Wind Waker. Again we find ourselves sailing the vast seas. Searching for uncharted islands and treasure. This time on the Nintendo DS.
As we all know, from the first Zelda, the story line has not changed much, nor have the characters, as we see them popping up in other Zelda games. And that is how it is intended. The same boy on a never ending quest to repair the lost and broken worlds and restore them to what they ... ...boring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In The Phantom Hourglass, Link starts his journey sailing through the seas with his pirate friends. Tetra, who has ditched her destiny (as Princess Zelda in The Wind Waker) to continue her pirating ways, gets lured in by the thought of treasure in the dreaded Ghost Ship. After a scream is heard, Link tries his hardest to help Tetra, but the fog is too dense and he fails. He is thrown and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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