Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - A good foundation

Sometimes the freshest ideas may not always equal the best games. Recently I've seen that certain individuals believe that if you're "fresh" and "innovative", this is an inherently positive thing. I've noted that while I always encourage developers to try something new if they believe it will work out, I don't want them to force that because it's a new system that allows new control dynamics. For example, don't feel forced to use the DS microphone just because it's there... if you can't find a decent use for it, by all means skip over it.

Which brings me to Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The talented team headed by Aonuma was apparently given a task to make a Zelda game that simple enough to be accessible to casuals. For whatever reason, they felt that Twilight Princess was too difficult and dense for the masses to get into. Even if you actually believed TP was challenging - and this is such a subjective thing - I cannot imagine you actually wanted no challenge at all. Zelda: Phantom Hourglass represents this shift in all its glory: there is simply no barriers to progression whatsoever, and while the puzzles still manage to be clever and the dungeons are still well designed they're simultaneously so simple and linear that the very rarely require any lateral thinking at all.

Let it be known this IS the freshest Zelda game in basically ever. It changes so much, from touchscreen only controls to map and note taking to the way you get around the world by tracing your route to the destination. But I'm not sure this change was always for the best: the traditional controls for a 2D Zelda game always felt precise and exacting, but here the game is distant and you always feel slightly disconnected from Link. You are, after all, controlling a fairy which Link follows around like a loyal puppy. But there are sacrifices: rolling is a complete disaster, and sword fighting is relegated to simple pointing and clicking (and the occasionally stylus slash) removing any remote resemblance to skill requirement. Some of the bosses are quite literally taken down within 30 seconds or less.

The result is something that reminds me of a "My First Zelda" game. Yes, it's accessible - it has the difficulty level of a toddler - and yes it's fresh... but the net result is something that improves in some areas (tossing and boomerang throwing is better with a stylus) but fails in many others. The net gain is slim to none. For someone like me who loves the Zelda franchise, and has played every incarnation on day one, it's a bit disconcerting to see this direction. Ultimately there's a foundation for a brilliant game, but it doesn't go far enough.

Early on the game presents you with a incredible puzzle that I thought might be setting the tone for the rest of the game, but unfortunately it is the high point of the title. I won't ruin the surprise, but to see it involves cartography to the extreme. It is very clever, takes more than ten seconds to see the full picture, and rewards your effort fantastically. It is a shame the rest of the game didn't follow suit, and didn't feel its audience would be intelligent and skilled enough to actually consistently complete such high quality "brain" puzzles.

Now if I'm sound overly negative, I don't want to be... this is still a great game. The dungeons, while linear, still display that trademark Zelda team talent and are briskly paced and brilliantly laid out. And the Wind Waker style is and always has been a perfect fit for the franchise, so it's a joy to see it return - even considering the DS limitations with 3D. It's just that at the end, it feels like a foundation for something greater to come. And hopefully it will be.

~ Chris Goldberg

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