The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Review by: juuldude - 7.9/10
The Legend of Linebeck: Ocean King TempleOverall, The Legend of Zelda is a great game series. But if you are going to look at the games individually, you will notice that there’s often a lot of controversy about them. For example, some think Twilight Princess is just another great game, while others think it is garbage. There are people who like the new things that Skyward Sword did while others could not get into the game. The Nintendo DS Zelda games, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks were also controversial games. You have to use the touchscreen constantly, you play Toon Link and the main gimmicks are traveling by boat or train. I have yet to play Spirit Tracks, but I played Phantom Hourglass and I felt like this would be the next game that I will write a review about, so let me talk you through the game!
Story: 7
You wot mate? A seven? *Gets punched*
Sorry guys, but I can’t give it a higher score. Phantom Hourglass is a sequel to The Wind Waker, but while I think the story of Wind Waker is awesome, I felt like Phantom Hourglass has a story with some good and odd parts.
The prologue of Phantom Hourglass tells the story of Wind Waker in a nutshell including some major spoilers, so if you haven’t played Wind Waker and don’t want the story spoiled, don’t play this game. What I can tell you without major spoilers, is that Link sails the seven seas with a pirate girl of his age called Tetra and that after a big adventure in Wind Waker, Link still is sailing with Tetra and her crew.
It turns out that our prologue existed of paper cut-outs, made by one of the crew members. He is showing them to Link, who actually was
sleeping. Tetra then sees what they are doing and tells them to pay attention, as a mysterious ghost ship is said to sail nearby and it’s rumoured to have something amazing on board. But it is not called the ghost ship for no reason, because many people and other ships have disappeared when they got close to it, that’s why the crew members rather wouldn’t go near, but Tetra is convinced.
All of a sudden, the ship gets covered in mist and the ghost ship comes near. Tetra climbs aboard and disappears into the mist surrounding the ship and then it gets eerily quiet. But then she screams! While everybody else is shocked, Link tries to climb aboard the ship, but falls into the sea. Is this the end for our hero?
This is actually where the story really begins, as Link is awakened by a fairy named Ciela, it turns out he washed up on an island. Ciela’s grandfather, Oshus, wants to help Link with looking for Tetra, but he needs to go to a strange temple on the island to look for something inside. Once inside, Link not only finds the mysterious phantom hourglass but also rescues a man called Linebeck, a man who sails the seven seas and could help Link on his quest, who got stuck in the temple when he wanted to look for treasure but got stuck. Initially Linebeck doesn’t want to help Link, but he eventually helps him.
WARNING:
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
[spoiler] So far so good right? Yes, but from then things get strange from then on. It turns out it isn’t as easy to enter the ghost ship as Link and Linebeck thought, since they constantly end up in a thick fog and get sent back to another area. Later on, Link also learns that the evil force behind the ghost ship is not some kind of person with an awesome backstory like Ganondorf or Vaati for example, but just some kind of evil being that suddenly was there and started doing evil stuff.
Ciela turns out to be more useful and important for the story than she seems at first, which isn’t too odd considering that besides her there are only to other fairies in the game that also play an important role. And Linebeck is a greedy adventurer for most of the game, but in the end he totally changes whatsoever.[/spoiler]
END OF MINOR SPOILERS
In case you didn’t want to look at the minor spoilers above, here’s a short version: A few things turn out to be very strange in terms of story, and there’s a vague antagonist.
While it’s really cool that Nintendo made a direct sequel to the Wind Waker, they also made it a lot harder for themselves, making the story weird at certain points. Luckily though, a big part of the story is still really good and it didn’t bother me most of the time when I was playing this game. But if you liked the story in other Zelda games and expect something as good, then I wouldn’t recommend this game maybe.
Graphics: 9
When I started this game up, I honestly was surprised how well it looks. The Nintendo DS had a lot of diverse games, with some being really beautiful, and others being plain ugly. Of course, it’s a Zelda game, and except for the strange CD-I games all Zelda games simply looked beautiful. But since they went for a 3D-world on a very small screen with an average resolution I have to say they really did their best. But also normal images, like the ones seen in the intro of the game look really good.
While the game doesn’t look like it’s made with cel shading, there are small cutscenes where characters get unique expressions and movements, making them feel alive. Link is humorous to watch, since he often pulls confused faces or almost falls over. Every boss gets a small introduction as well, where they look awesome. Not only that, but things like menus have sweet designs as well, and sometimes
things like walls or floors have complicated designs. One could think ‘Why go through so much trouble?’ and it’s because it makes the game more interesting. It’s also a nice distraction to stop and look what’s around you.
The game does have some ugly moments though. During cutscenes, water looks blocky and strange. And some of the designs for characters and monsters are so complicated, that they start to look a bit blurry when you focus on them. But in the end, this game still looks gorgeous, and these things are just minor complications I was bothered by.
Sound: 6
The prologue of the game had great music, so when I began this game I was hopeful that most of the music would be great as well. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as I hoped.
Have you played multiple Zelda games? Think about some of the iconic themes. Does any of the songs in Phantom Hourglass come to mind very quick? Probably not, because of the music isn’t really memorable. Wind Waker had a great and new style that really stood out, but Phantom Hourglass didn’t try to sound new or interesting so we got generic music. That doesn’t mean all music is bad though, for
instance, characters like Oshus and Linebeck have cool themes. A lot of people also like the boss theme, although I’m not a big fan of it. And the best themes are probably the ghost ship theme and the first theme of the final boss. The later one is my favourite because it’s one of the more original and catchy themes.
So why is most of the music not memorable? Looking up the soundtrack will make it clear. A lot of the music is just very short. The minigame music, the dungeon music and the unknown island music are three themes you’ll hear often but they loop after just a few seconds. Sure, the few seconds don’t sound too bad, but short music means it can get very repetitive. If you look up the soundtrack of Spirit
Tracks, then you’ll hear the music is a great improvement over Phantom Hourglass.
Luckily though, the sounds are spot on. Link has its own simple and cute sounds that fit with his appearance, monsters have growls so that you can hear them when they’re behind you and most items have their own sounds as well when you use them. Really, I can’t say anything bad about the sounds, since there are so many of them and they are spot on all the time.
Difficulty: 4
I know, I know, a four is really low. But this game was too easy, obvious hints were thrown around everywhere, dungeons felt like a breeze, there weren’t many difficult monsters and bosses, and the only boss I died at once was the final boss!
Most of the Zelda games get more difficult as the game progresses, or already are very brutal from the beginning till the end. But when playing this game I kept hoping there would be more difficult parts, but things I had hoped to be difficult were most of the time just tedious. I never felt really challenged throughout the entire game and that really bothered me.
What were some difficult things then? Well, some of the bosses had attack patterns that weren’t easy to figure out, or I was not sure which item I should use to weaken or damage the boss. And because the game is a sequel to Wind Waker, you of course have a lot of sailing moments and you are vulnerable to attacks from pirate ships, and on sea you’re a lot weaker than on land. When you get close to pirate ships they will chase you and fire cannonballs at you, so you need to defeat them quick or you can be dead in a few seconds, which happened to me one or two times.
I think that this game was easy because Nintendo wanted it to be a casual game, so they did it on purpose. It might also be because this was the first time they implemented the touchscreen in Zelda games, so they kept things safe and easy.
Depth: 8
Zelda games often have lots of small side quests and hidden items, waiting to be discovered. This one is no exception. There are lots of heart pieces, ship parts and rupees to collect for those who follow every hint and doubt anything suspicious. I think spent as much time on the main quest as on searching for treasure and playing minigames.
There are five minigames in the game, four are mostly there for fun and great rewards, but the fifth one will reward you with a heart container if you are great as this. The first one is a minigame that you can get once you get a crane on your ship. The
first time you have to use this it’s to progress in the story, but after that you’ll find places that mark treasure in the sea which you can reel up with your crane. In the second minigame you can fish. This is the minigame that does reward you with a heart container, but that depends on the fish you’ll find in the sea. The third one is a minigame where you have to use the cannon on you ship to hit targets while your ship is on automatic captain sailing a set route.
The other two minigames take place on two different islands. The first is a simple ‘dig 20 holes and keep what you find’ while the second minigame is rolling through a parkour with a Goron and collecting diamonds, this one is my favourite as it’s not too long and I found it the most addictive.
But of course I can’t say nothing about the Ocean Temple when talking about the depth. It doesn’t matter who you will ask, this is the thing that’s more mentioned than anything else about the game. If you don’t know what it is, it’s the main dungeon in the game that you have to visit about five times to get several items and directions to progress in the story. Doesn’t sound too bad right? But the thing is, there’s a time limit and there are so called ‘phantoms’, basically haunted sets of armour that will attack once they see or hear you. When you’re hit, you’ll lose some time and you get sent back to the entrance or stairs of the floor you entered. Not only that, but the first few times you go in there you have to go through several floors all over again, after your third time you get a shortcut.
Does that mean it’s bad? No, it is in fact a great part of the game. At first it might seem like a long and tedious cave, but there are lots of shortcuts and hidden treasures you can get when you get new items, making the dungeon interesting every time you visit it. Some people think it’s too hard, but as long as you pay attention to what you’re doing, and take a good look at the map it shouldn’t be difficult.
Addictiveness: 6
I found the main adventure pretty addictive, especially looking for treasures and completing dungeons. But that’s it. I really have no desire to play this game a second time, I felt like playing it once was great but I didn’t find it addictive enough to play a second time.
With lots to collect, sailing through all the islands, many dungeons and bosses this game might take a lot longer than you would expect, and some of these things aren’t rewarding or interesting enough to do over again.
But the main adventure was really fun, the first time I started I stopped playing it because I was more interested in Professor Layton, but when my brother completed the game and I completed Professor Layton I started to play this game non-stop, and played it every day. It was really as addictive and good as I hoped it would be.
When I finished it though and had collected everything, I was happy but didn’t want to do it all over again, even though I had a grand time playing it. This is a game that really needs to be enjoyed in one run and then it’s done.
For those of you who don’t like to read long parts:
Pros Cons
+ Great graphics, very charming - Much of the music is way too short
+ Lots of minigames and treasure - Awfully simple
+ Good story for a sequel - Sailing can take a really long time, even with warp points
+ Touchscreen works good
+ Ocean King Temple is a great addition
That brought me to the end of this review, it’s been a while since I wrote my last review so I hope that you liked it and have some words of advice or opinion for me, they are a great help to me, don’t be afraid to tell me what you didn’t like about my review, and I hope to see you back on more of my reviews!
Graphics
9 Sound
6 Addictive
6 Depth
8 Story
7 Difficulty
4
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