::A Geek in Korea::

Way back in the day, I found myself with a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, which was a cel shaded version of the classic Zelda series. Unlike a lot of people the style didn’t leave me in the cold, but the fact that I was trying to play a game in Japanese certainly did. I learned my lesson that no adventure game is worth struggling through an import guide, even if it was very unique and beautiful.

I learned my lesson from that experience, so I decided to wait for the English version of Phantom Hourglass to hit the Nintendo DS before I would purchase it. The Japanese box would sit in the store, tempting me, but after my vacation to Europe I was finally able to get a copy and play it for myself.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass takes place on the same water soaked world that Wind Waker had, and uses the same wonderful “cel shaded” style characters. Unique to the DS is that the entire game is played with the stylus. All the attacks, puzzles, and menus are navigated by touching the screen. It’s very, very easy to control the action, and I find myself getting lost in the game very easily. Everything happens in a much more tactile manner, as you pull the switches, or mark the path your boomerang will travel.

This game is heavy on puzzle elements, and there are several that will leave you scratching your head. One, the “Unmarked Island” puzzle was baffling due to a poor translation. When you use a “riddle” to build up an island, please, PLEASE translate it more accurately!

The game has a central “hub” style dungeon you must complete with your current set of tools. That will unlock information as to how to get to the next side dungeon. In these side dungeons is where you unlock the various gadgets and tools Link carries with him. You have to then return to the central dungeon to repeat the process.

You’d think that the backtracking would get tedious, but due to FANTASTIC level design, the tools you earn actually make each of the previous puzzles in the levels you’ve already visited much easier. Instead of taking a few minutes to solve, you can breeze through them in a few seconds.

The thing that does get tedious is the other unique thing in the “hub” dungeon. There is stealth game play, as well as a timer. Not only do you need to solve the puzzles to get to the next stage, but you have to worry about these semi-impervious Phantom creatures. One swipe with their sword will send you to the ground, and you’ll lose precious time. If you run out of time, the stage will drain your energy and you’ll end up like one of the corpses scattered around the floors.

Each time you dig deeper into the central dungeon, the levels get more difficult and require you to manage all your tools well. Half way through the game you can get a mid-point warp which will allow you to skip the more annoying easy dungeons. I’ve just gotten that, so I’m working on some of the more challenging (annoying) dungeons in the game.

The sailing and other “exploration” aspects of the game are very fun. There are pirate attacks, golden frogs to shoot, and random enemy encounters in the sea to keep you interested in sailing. You can hunt for sunken treasure, look for mermaids, and do all sorts of other things. Very often, your quests require you to go all the way across the sea. You can eventually figure out a way to travel on the winds that saves a lot of time.

I can’t believe that the Nintendo DS is capable of this sort of game. It looks gorgeous, the sound is classic Zelda series music, and the game play with the stylus is revolutionary. If you are a fan of the Zelda series, I’d highly recommend picking it up.