Overall 8.9 Graphics 7.5 Sound 7.5 Addictive 7 Story 9 Depth 7.5 Difficulty 7.5
8.5
"One legend tossed and thrown so far off the reviewing tracks" sonicthehedgeho..
Many centuries have passed in this world of Power, Courage, and Wisdom; yet, throughout all of its hard struggles the land and its presiding heroes managed to survive all realms of chaos! From learning about the downfall of the once peaceful kingdom only to restore faith in a "new" Hyrule, to the hunt for kidnapped civilians taken by a dark force sailing across the sea. Our lands hero's never gave up one their hard quests no matter whom or what they had to deal with, following the passage of fate as the tales of journey wreak in the land of Hyrule once more this time the deceiver is right in the princess's mists acting as her right-hand guard. However, with the arrival of Link this lands newly appointed Royal Engineer. Like any highly appointed officer this worlds Link hearing the plans from the Princess Zelda of this world takes swift actions to escape from the castle ground before this mysterious person's intentions could be put into action.
But only too soon, that idea flew away into the air like the steam coming from the train burner as the couple had been ambushed by this traitor leaving Link alone for what we felt was the beginning of this journey. But what can really go on now that Zelda appears to be lying down with no life? Can our new engineering trump in green possibly save this land again? Well we've got to head out and experience that wonder for ourselves so *puts on engineering cap and gloves* Time to ride the rails and forget about the sails, it's time for our adventure....our viewing adventure!
/*~~~ Same discovery filled lands, thought not quite as appealing ~~~*
Following in the same "Rail" way of its predecessor the graphics have the same tone as Wind Waker's cel-shading to which I actually found quite appealing and still do; however, with the hardware that Nintendo decided to make this game on...not as many environments are as appealing as before. BUT hold your Octorocks for a second, as this game still does influence some beauty in areas as well as great innovation in how you travel around the environments so it's not a total loss but it's just not great when you're going to compare to previous additions to Zelda titles. I'll move onto some areas I think define my points nicely and show that not everything is seen from the right side of the tracks!
~-_~-__-~- Lost Woods _~_----_~-_~
Lost woods has always been a staple in the series from the very first game to almost every other game in some way or format but mostly know by Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess due to their beaten path that you must take in order to progress through the area properly or even at all. This game take that turn and makes it creepier by having the area completely covered in fog (similarly to A Link to the Past) which may not seem so "ooooohhh" worthy when you first start but keep in mind that if you choose the wrong track you have to start this all over again and while you're doing so your health on the train stays the same so if you screw around with the monsters that fall or chase your train throughout this area you're going to be in trouble. So managing the enemies with your whistle, keeping a close eye on which track you must go on, making sure your health stays fine throughout your trip, and just the whole misty and dark atmosphere of this area is creepy and will definitely catch your eye more so than most places in this game. *claps hands at Hyrule*
_ ----------------- _
_/ Ocean Temple /_
*plays overused in all reviews and movies, 60's horror theme* HUUUUUUUUUUUH!! An OCEAN zone in Zelda?! ..... *sighs* well we all know how people have reacted to water type levels in this series (I think I'm one of the only exceptions to this idea). *walks in and see's dark and gloomy area with....no water?* ...huh?! HUH?! You mean to tell me this is an ocean level without hardly ANY water? Yes so far all of those hot headed folks whom can't take water levels then you can relieve your high temps here as this idea and format is similar to Misery Mire from Link to the Past where the name fools you into thinking it will be drenched only to be left mostly barren (although these 2 locations are completely different from one another in play style and level design).
The level revolves more so around a lot of death traps and areas that are inaccessible without a way to hover over pits or possibly swing across them somehow, so it's actually more so like Forest temple ideas from before. The scenery from when you begin to enter the temple is just at least in my opinion very beautiful and peaceful as you ride along with your train, and from the moment you enter you begin pulling switches coming from statues that are shaped in fish-like heads to have resemblance to the name. Pretty and dangerous just like a lot of things in this land!
...:*| Sand Temple|*:...
Probably one of my favorite temples in the entire game since I loved and still love the idea of a sand temple which I've only managed to get in small tidbits from other Zelda games (IE: Wind Temple Boss Wind Waker, Stone Tower Boss MM) but I never got the full buffet of what I'd imagined a level like this to be, this was the game that delivered that idea and hope to me and made me feel stuffed with happiness after beating the level. As one would come to expect from the title it's a sand based area (unlike the previous title) and though it may seem plain at first oh ho ho it's going to surprise you once you reach deeper inside this area, mostly for an item that you'll receive half-way through the temple: "the Sand Wand" thought not very appealing for a name it more than makes up for in its abilities.
Pfft what can a "sand wand" even do? sounds pointless...and you deserve some sand in the face for immediately thinking that without any thought. Let's say you're wanting to get a chest that has no surrounding spaces next to it, what can one do? *uses sand wand and has sand move up to make a bridge* This would be a good example and now get your prize! If that's not enough of and idea for you...ok try blocking a rotating spike trap from coming near you...your dinky shield or other item is going to stand up for long against it, *pulls out sand wand once more* yep you can block this annoyance with the wand and solve another problem with such a useful item. IF anyplace in this game is going to yell creativity or magical filled then it's this area.
With that all finished off *hops into train cart and switches tracks* time to head off for the following segment! *voices gets softer and fades as moving away* The graphics
get an
8 out of 10 for creativiiiitty!
_~____~___~_~~_____~~~_____~_~_~_~_______~_~__
__-| Music and sounds that still live up...but mostly fall in the spirit of fans|-__
Just like the graphics the sound doesn't impress me as much as Wind Waker, Twilight Princess or how past games were able to have as much of an effect on me. Are the songs horrible during this gameplay? No they're NOWHERE close to being ear splitting type music but it's more so in the range of obscurity and blandness which makes you just want to put the volume down to put on other music you enjoy. There are really only 4 or 5 songs at most that I enjoy from this game so I'll bring up at least 3 of the 5 songs that I enjoy in order to give you an idea of what I feel is still good inside this game when put into comparison lastly before I do that I want to say that I believe for the most part that the sound effects haven't changed much from Phantom Hourglass so if you've heard that game then you've probably heard the sound effects in this game...basically it's really just a toned down version of Wind Waker's sound effects so there you go.
/_ Overworld Adventure? _
Overworld Adventure is basically the same format as any other Zelda game: (IE: Hyrule Field = Ocarina of Time, Great Sea = Wind Waker, Twilight Realm/Hyrule Field = Twilight Princess) so this games theme is what you'll hear about 70% of the time during your quest and to be quite honest I actually really enjoy it especially when you hear a lot of games that switch from consoles to handhelds and how sometimes the music can never feel the same again, this is one of the songs in the game that survives that onslaught. It gives you that same mystical feeling of adventure you come to know and love whenever you set your sails, hope on your horseback, or prepare that whistle upon the train! The upbeat beginning and strong tone throughout the entire path to your desired location it helps lighten your mood and have you enjoy yourself while paying attention to the driving and other demon trains on the tracks. It also has more of that typical country sounding-ish tune in the background to fit with the idea of train assistance when compared to horseback in the series.
<---**** Song of Light ****---->
Due to this being a flute song that is used mainly for temple puzzles or accesses in certain towns, it's only around 7 seconds long and 14 seconds when you first learn it so though it is incredibly short when compared to the as forth mentioned song above I still find it lovely to listen to over and over like it is its own version of Majora's Masks Song of Healing to my soul. It's a very peaceful and high pitched tune similar to Prelude to Light or Serenade of Water wherein it's not the ear piercing kind of high pitched but just a more uplifting song with mostly all high notes. If you're ever angry at something in this game *looks towards Sand Sanctuary* then just relax, think about the good journey's throughout this time, and play the song of light because it truly will be a light in your darkest of hours.
{{>-__ Final Boss Battle__-<}}
You've had your expectations lowered and saddened while also having it raised at unexpected points; but, does this ending battle fit the need for the bolt that closes the railroad on this story. Does this fill that hole you'd think the ending would be disappointing for? YES YES YEEEESSS probably one of the best final battle themes from Zelda! Throughout all you had to face, having your best friend lose their body to this demented soul of a man, as the bells start to toll and the drums get you going on your train faster than any coal could burn the metal off the beaten path ahead. It definitely leaves this battle as a nice memory in your heart with your friend now accompanied at your side once more ready to take down the evil that you've pursued throughout this long and perilous path. Only leaving the melody of the sanctuary gods that degenerate the beast in front of you till his bitter end. With that uplifting tone half way through the song you just know as the new Hero you're destined to win this fight!
So as you might be able to tell from above there might be a couple songs in this bunch that can help influence the game in a good way but most of the songs are nothing to write to Hyrule about. For a general terms of sound that are disappointing at most with few good spots here and there I'd have to say the sound only deserves a
6 out of 10 from me.
_________________________________________________________________
///// New ideas and new transportation leading to an abundance of fun and adventure
-------- ---------
From what you've read so far on this journey you can tell I've kept mentioning a different means of transportation instead of just a horse, boat, or normal on-foot travel and knowing me I love innovation and new idea in a game series so this was again just like Wind Waker a breath of fresh air to have something new instead of the page by page normally leg-to-feet style walking or horseback; but, I'm sure you're wondering what the games mean of adventure and route taking deals with? If so and you haven't seen the game or taken a hint from the title, it's a train. Sure it may sound boring and dull just like how people thought with the boat from the above mentioned game; however, I honestly find it to be just as enjoyable or actually even better at times.
My reasoning you say? Well it's quite simple, you see the boat you just had to sail around briefly featuring a few enemies while having beautiful sights around you to look at, it's nice but it can be a little boring when you're just sailing normally without any goals or places you must go during your adventure since you'll mostly only be sailing in one or two directions....as such you can just set the controller down and watch more often than not. This game you have to have one hands control the entire time you're on the tracks, (well besides a few brief seconds when you come to a possible turn up ahead) which honestly I enjoy since you actually feel more involved and focused on your task. Many people complain about the controls being bad when switching gears; the problem I have with this complaint is that no one slowly changes gears (going from medium to slow to fast) and they book it from fastest to brakes which obviously isn't a good idea and takes enjoyment out of not only the game but your ride as well.
So if that first paragraph or so didn't catch onto you for addictiveness *puts on brakes slowly* you can feel free to drop off here as it probably won't get any better for you which means I'll just be wasting my trains power/fuel source keeping you on board. Moving on though, another part that I think makes this game addictive besides the train with the driving and switching of tracks is Spirit Flute which as you would guess is this games instrument. So now we've had an Ocarina, Wolf's howl, and now a Spirit Flute? The thing I love about this instrument is unlike all the predecessor's to Spirit Tracks where you just had to press a button and like would play it himself or you follow a rhythm with the D-Pad, in this game you actually blow onto the DS's microphone on top each tube and move the instrument with the stylus and surprisingly it actually gives you a feeling like you're playing the actual instrument yourself.
Coming upon the conclusion and next train stop of this segment, the final point that was a big seller in this games eye's was the fact that in this game you actually got to control Zelda alongside Link! You know just the girl that the entire series was I don't know NAMED after! But what are you talking about Sonic? There was another game where you got to play as Zelda! .....Y-Yes I'm aware but that game...game *see's CD-I Images* nnngh....nnnn....AHH *wakes up from nightmare* hoo... s-sorry got caught up in a horrible nightmare I wish didn't exist. Anyway in this game Zelda is able to control a Phantom just like the ones we saw in our previous DS adventure, and with this you're able to attack other Phantoms allowing Link to pass certain areas of the game, however there is no way that you can kill them as whether you sink them, crush them, or stun them they'll either be unable to move or just go back to their resting point so don't get too comfy players! Adding all of this combined, though it isn't the best Zelda game by terms it definitely took a lot of strikes most games wouldn't make and turned it into a new and enjoyable journey so my score for addictiveness is an
8 out of 10.
_ _
/_ ===[ A story of betrayal on a royal family, and rebirth of a legend's hero]===/_
Iteration after Iteration, many stories have unfold about legends and hero's from across our peaceful land of Hyrule, even to the point where it far extends beyond our own plains and threatening a smaller ranked area. *looks up in sky for evil moon* Whether it was a story about threatening dangers with the hero shining in brilliant armor and bringing the long awaited peace back to the land...hoping that this danger will never return, or a wise and courageous hero...not very determined in his abilities that even though they overcame several struggles....fell to the hands of defeat at the end of the dark thunderstorm filled night. We've seen both of these turns come and go for best and for worst, having to see the after effects and how it warped peoples minds on faith and fiction in others and reality.
Coming upon the newest point in this windy road of a legend is a story of the latest ancestor to the royal knight known strictly as the "Hero of Winds" with great tidings heading for this blond hair and high intellect donning child. Having graduated his training and courses at "Hyrulian Engineer Facility 90211" he is soon granted by the Princess Zelda of this wonderful land the official seal labeling himself as an authentic train engineer for Hyrule's deeds; although she looks at Link with a sign of distress...hoping to give him a signal of meeting after the ceremony.
As dark clouds and horror's start to form in the cloak of night as our hero in green and princess devise a plan to escape the monster lurking in the cold darkness of nightfall, a danger lurks unknowing to them from one of their own higher-ups of the castle. A plan well formed turns out fine seeing that the princess is being held around by the boy's hand, before being shocked by the traitor in the mist of the castle; although, Link determined tried to defeat the monster before being defeated and lost while this worlds "Spirit Tracks" being to fade away into the same darkness that covers this vile man in front of them.
I don't know about you but that sounds like a journey interesting and full of hardships that one must travel through, and I for one will NOT let this world be covered in such a depressing nature! *grabs cap and train suit* Time to begin our journey! This all sets the story up in a very nice tone, delivering a brand new take on the series and....*see's spirit in front of self* w-W-WHAT?!?! T-That can't be....Z-Zelda I-is that you?! L-Let's J-J-Just move on with the game and I'll just leave my score as a
9 out of 10 ;_;
..::=~ Small Cartridge, Innovative story and gameplay, huge amount of features? ~=::..
I'm sure that it's clear to many of us that moving a mainstream series to a portable system doesn't create the right..."steam" ...for fans of this game series. You'd typically think along the lines of: "well...it's portable which means the game will probably be shorter than games made for the consoles, there won't be much to do, the graphics would have to be bad". Now...while that last one may be true for this game, it definitely shows in other ways that being on a handheld doesn't degrade its amount of fun and enjoyment from the gameplay being in your hands at all times; but, of course it may seem silly me saying this since they already tried this method with Phantom Hourglass so it's been proved that it's not always as bad or low quality as you might assume. Basing on the title of my section and this past sentence you probably know that the depth is actually quite long in this game and definitely at the VERY least manages to level up to both "A Link to the Past" and "Majora's Mask", which to be honest isn't an easy feat. Blabbering on I know you want to hear details about the game with how long it is so let's get started in this mini description of length! *takes out Spirit Flute and sings Song of Explanation*
/---| Dungeons |---
Stating like above that it's similar to Majora's Mask + A Link to the Past since the style of the game itself plays like the old overhead games in terms of movement and puzzles; however, in terms of dungeon depth and quantity it follows Majora's Mask more so in a sense that it had the lowest amount of dungeons in the series during the N64's run and in turn giving this game only 6 dungeons normally (with an optional 7th dungeon). That definitely may not be a lot when compared to Twilight Princess or prior platform games; but, it's definitely not as short once you venture inside with the somewhat difficult stops and puzzles that must be completed ranging from shooting the eye statues with arrows till they match up or until a platform releases somewhere to move forward.
______ ____________ ___
[////// Villages/Stations ]
If you're familiar with this games prequel of sorts then you're already familiar with how the Village/Island system works out in which you have a map at the top of the screen telling you where you are and where the areas around you are located. Personally when I think about these islands it reminds me a lot of the scaling between Link's Awakening and the original Legend of Zelda. Since when you move to a new screen it just flicks the camera in the desired angle you wish to go in, while on the other "gear" it is similar to Link's awakening in terms of how you enter caves and other areas (the screen flashing or darkening as you enter and leave). The areas themselves are what you would come to expect from any Zelda game, a lot of people surrounding the area with few actually being meaningful to the story and game progression.
But, the real shocker here is how many places there are in such a tiny game, as normally in each big realm there are at least 7 difference places that you can visit alongside your journey and keeping in mind that this place has 5 realms and other smaller points that are important to the game (Tower of Spirits) adding that all up would add to around 45+ town's or just nice stops that you can take around if you're explorer side decides to take a toll on you! (this of course isn't including shops)
*+(_ Items and features_)+*
Probably one of the greatest aspects to what makes a Zelda game memorable are the tools and equipment your young hero in green is allowed to carry around during his journey, and since we know he must have a portable vault inside his tunic somewhere *looks at Ocarina of Time's and Link to the Past's inventory screen* it's very exciting and creative to see what new items you'll be using throughout this quest. I'll be on of those fans to admit that I wasn't really all that happy or impressed with the previous games
selection of weapons since they were all from games we'd seen before in the past several years, so nothing new or creative happened which was kind of a let down in my opinion and should that have left a bad taste in your mouth, leaving you to skip this games item screen, then stumble back a few "stations" for just one minute please.
Since believe it or not this game actually does change its items around and adds new ones in many creative ways similarly to how Twilight Princess's Equipment was so differed from games in this series. For example 2 favorites of mine have to easily be: 1st. = Sand Wand ~ which as you would guess can control any area that has sand which may not sound so great; although if you use it where there's a hole in a straight walking path it can be used to make a bridge and can even block enemies from hurting you. The second item which I loved in this game as to be the "Whirlwind" which similar to only one item that has been featured in the series (the Deku Leaf in Wind Waker) why do I say similar when they both use wind? I state that because unlike the "leaf" it doesn't use magic, (as the game doesn't have any) it isn't used to fly, and lastly unlike any other games to use the item you have to blow into the microphone just like with the flute. Just feels so innovative and nice!
Coming to the conclusion of this long "depthful" section, we can see their is much to explore and gain during this adventure! Besides everything above the only small features that are included is a stamp station & Rabbit net where you can gain stamps from areas in order to gain new abilities from good ol' Niko...and catching bunnies to earn prizes from a strange traveler. Leaving me to only feel perfectly justified giving this game a high
9 out of 10 for depth.
(/) Giving new challenges while you ride the rails, of this new world (/)
Probably the section that fluctuates the most between each
selective game that comes out every couple of years for reference from what I've seen it could go as follows: "Ocarina of Time = Medium, Wind Waker = Easy, Twilight Princess = Hard, Minish Cap = Medium". It's not always a direct easy to easy or hard to hard type format so instead it goes up and down almost everytime, basing your opinions on the title of this section you can probably guess that this falls into the OOT and MC Zelda games. To be perfectly honest this game is usually always fair (say around 90% of the time) since the enemies are fair and don't cause any cheap deaths like one may expect *looks at Skulltulas -_- * Besides what you already know the Zelda series being know for in terms of difficulty there are only 2 huge parts that I want to bring up with the difficulty so before I let you passengers off at this upcoming station stop let's discuss these 2 parts shall we *sets speed to slow*
/____ Train Travel _____
The most important and vital part in this game as seen on its box cover alongside the title, the transportation of Link and Zelda during their quest something a lot of people would complain about alongside the boat in another game. You passengers will probably have heard many people say that this is so difficult or that its control is horrid in many ways; however, I've been in this quest many times and yet I had no trouble with driving the vehicle the only problem may be speed at times. The big issue I've noticed with players is that there are 4 gears you can choose from in this train: (Fast, Slow, Stop, and Reverse) and the fact is everyone goes from Fast to Stop or Fast to Reverse and hopefully if they learn from real life you can't go from Fast to slow (60mph to 20mph) in a few seconds otherwise you'll be in pain.
So I have no problems with the control of the train the only issue one can have that I'd agree is the speed of the train can be a little slow on the fastest setting. The only thing I find that can hurt you in terms of difficulty; but, I honestly find fair is the fact that there are demon trains alongside your path which will try to hunt you down and crash into you killing you in one hit. The thing is you can easily dodge them by watching the map and even shooting at them stopping them for a few seconds, you might get nicked once or twice yet it's still not as difficult as it's made out to be.
^~-_ - ~^ Sand Flute Scene ^~- _-~^
Ok this part could kind of be conflicted and called pointless now; but, when I was 13 years old I bought this adventure and once I reached this peak area within the Sand Realm I had such an amazingly difficult time finishing this version's duet since you had to be absolutely perfect on par with the song. Being my age and beginning that maturing cycle didn't make breathing out wind that easy so I could never last the 4 or 5 lines of music that were being played, since you had to switch bay and forth between some pipes quickly. Granted I'm sure if you're older this won't be as hefty of an issue and I could probably do it now but it still is a point one might want to bring up for younger travelers along this journey since they may not be able to get past this point either. So I guess this is difficult based on age rather than skill? Either way mute or not it can be a hard task.
Branching off our final twisted turn I'd say the difficulty for Spirit tracks would normally get a 7 out of 10 difficulty rating in terms of fairness; yet, due to the above fact I'm sadly going to bring it up to an
8 out of 10 since it can limit some players from moving forward.
*Pulls into station and stops, letting passengers get off* I know you all probably are tired from this quest so you can get off and rest here, but I hope that hearing all of this gives you a better idea of how it feels to be in the engineers shoes and that it isn't quite as bad as one may think. Some of you may not live around this stop and that you can't get back to your profiles this way thanks to that darkness lurking and creating evil around the corners. Don't worry as long as you all have faith in this blue-green covered hedgehog, I won't let you down and I'll bring those Vizzed Tracks back before you even know it! Grab my quills and knock him out of his reviewing rocker! Time to save the Vizzed Tracks!! >: ) *heads for Dark Realm tracks* I'm coming Cole!! To stop you and your destruction *rams into dark realm full speed* FOR VIZRULE!!
*Blows train whistle as camera zooms out of DS*
Sonic57+Pokefreak219tm
Graphics 8 Sound 6 Addictive 8 Story 9 Depth 9 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 01-23-15
Review Replies: 24
8
Legend of Trains: Zelda helps this time Uzar
It's been awhile since I reviewed last. But, in the spirit of this game, I was able to track my ability to type a coherent review again! Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks is a pretty fun game. It's a distant sequel to Phantom Hourglass, and at times it shows. There is a lot of re-used models, and controls. But it's not essentially a bad thing. But without further adieu, the review must go on!
Overall: 8/10
So, this is a sequel to a sequel to a game that split the Zelda fanbase WITH TRAINS!!. That sparked my curiosity, so I got it. It was actually pretty good! As I mentioned before, there is a bit of re-used stuff from Phantom Hourglass. Like the design for Gorons, Cuccos, some of the people, [spoiler]Linebeck Jr[/spoiler], signs, sound effects, and the like. But it's not a bad thing. They really did make a lot of things on their own, and it's as creative, and surprisingly good as you would come to expect from Nintendo. :D I really liked the boss fights, arena mode, and the fact Zelda helps you at some points and most of all...I DON'T NEED TO CONSTANTLY GO BACK TO THE STUPID TEMPLE OF THE STUPID OCEAN STUPID KING! Playable Phantoms are a nice addition too.
Graphics: 7/10
The graphics are alright, but they could be better. There are lots of obvious 2D Sprites, and with the DS's 3D graphics...It doesn't look too great at times. But it does manage to pull off some cool visuals. Like the cutout story at the beginning, or the giant Tektite that chases your train, the boss fight against Byrne, and the overworlds. Well, at times traveling through them is boring. The Forest Realm in particular is mostly filled with nothing. But the other ones have a bit more to look at.
Sound: 9/10
The sound is pretty good actually! There are a few tunes I always hum to myself even now. Mainly the chipper little tune that plays when you ride the train from place to place. The only time it changes is when you're being chased by a Phantom Train, and trust me, that one is terrifying!! Anywho, the background music for villages in each region really don't change. Well, each region has it's own song. And then the temples have their own as well. Really, what the game lacks graphically it makes up about ten times more with music! It has some really great pieces; like the Tower of Spirits, Boss Fights, and, well, all of it! Oh, and there's a little cord dangling on top of the touch screen while riding the train, when you pull it down it blows the whistle. That is...a lot more fun than it should be. :LOL:
Addictiveness: 6/10
This game really keeps you coming back during the first playthrough! But, there are a few sidequests I realized I didn't do. And, really, that's the only thing to replay for. Well, that and for old time's sake really.
Story: 9/10
So, in an effort to keep things spoiler free. Here's the story. Link, alongside Tetra's Crew discovered an entire continent shortly after Phantom Hourglass. They called it New Hyrule, and settled there. Fast forward one hundred years to Niko, now an old man, telling this to our new hero in a pretty nice callback to Phantom Hourglass. But today is no ordinary day, its Link's graduation ceremony! He moves from an apprentice, to a full fledged train conductor. And none other than Zelda is going to make it official. But upon arriving at (New) Hyrule Castle, Zelda gives him his certificate, and a note that tells him to meet her in her quarters. When Link arrives, Zelda tells him that the Spirit Tracks are starting to disappear, and she suspects Chancellor Cole has something to do with it. She asks him to take her to the Tower of Spirits to talk with Ajeen, a Locomo. Locomo's are guardians of New Hyrule, and also the Spirit Tracks. On their way there, the tracks Link is riding on disappear from right under them! And what's worse, Chancellor Cole really IS evil! And him and his henchman Byrne quickly incapacitate Alfanso, Link's former teacher and former knight, along with Link. Then he goes one step farther, he casts a spell on Zelda, separating her soul from her body, he then flees with Zelda's body to the top of the Tower of Spirits. Zelda decides to help Link get her body back and stop Cole!
Depth: 6/10
This game has a pretty big scale, and lots of towns, fields, and other locations to stop by. There are a few sidequests that pretty much scale the entire game also. Like catching rabbits, collecting stamps, and taking passengers from place to place. To be honest I actually didn't do all of them, and I had no idea until I basically finished the game, and found a strategy guide for it. So I may replay it sometime soon.
Difficulty: 7/10
It isn't TOO hard, but, it has that Zelda style of progressive difficulty, mazes, puzzles, an items needed to solve them. There are some tricky parts, even for seasoned moblin slayers. It won't leave you feeling like that temple, or boss, was a bit TOO easy. ;) ...Except for probably the first ones. Although probably the most trouble I had was playing the Spirit Flute, a set of panpipes who's function is similar to the Ocarina of Time's. To play it you blow into the microphone, and use the stylus to move it around. I think it may have been having a weird microphone or something, but I always had a little more trouble with that then I should have had.
Things not covered:
Pro: Return of Bulbins.
Con: There is a very featureless area you will always be coming back to, and you may get bored.
Pro: Creative use of the microphone.
Pro: Even though, similar to Phantom Hourglass, you will return to a dungeon after beating a temple, it's MUCH more easily navigated, and you don't need to endlessly repeat areas you already completed.
Pro: Zelda also helps you through previously mentioned dungeon. It's crawling with Phantoms, just like in Phantom Hourglass. And for those who haven't played it, they are fast, invincible, and kill you in one hit. But, if you can hit one in the back, Zelda will possess it, giving you a very strong ally. She can carry you, walk through lava and spikes, and distract other Phantoms. And it's a lot of fun doing that area because of it! :)
Graphics 7 Sound 9 Addictive 6 Story 9 Depth 6 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 05-26-14
Updated: 05-26-14
Review Replies: 5
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