The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

By DrunknMunky
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Grand Master

The Teej

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Having completed both OoT, TP, and WW I'm definitely ready to play the next installment of the timeline :)

(It's just a shame I haven't completed MM :()

It's the first Nintendo-made handheld title since Link's awakening, which was the best handheld Zelda to date. Lets hope this is another Link's Awakening :)

Grand Master

DrunknMunky Veteran

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For hardcore Zelda fans I think most will find it a bit too easy, I know I do. At the same time though, it's still enjoyable and the puzzles so far have been fun. I love using the boomerang and drawing the path out for it to follow :D It's so cool

Grand Master

DrunknMunky Veteran

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Nothing has ever been hard about Zelda. Its always been about playing an enjoyable, fun series.

Back in the day, the water temple drove me nuts in OOT. And I meant hard, as far as Zelda games go, not compaing it to other series :p

Grand Master

Danrarbc

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Back in the day, the water temple drove me nuts in OOT. And I meant hard, as far as Zelda games go, not compaing it to other series :p

Well the OoT water temple is just plain bad design that made it confusing, much like 'Cortana' in Halo 3.

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QuantumTrickery

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Well, having finished the game, I come out a happy man. The game ended up being a little short for my liking, but it was definitely refreshing, and very much worth it. As for the difficulty of the game, I only got caught at one point, and it made me absolutely insane: You find yourself having to transfer the sea chart pretty early on. So here I am, tapping all over the screen for like 15 minutes. Nothing. Tap some more, scribble, nothing. Nothing nothing nothing! So I close my DS and walk away completely frustrated. One beer, and 15 minutes later I open my DS back up and hear the puzzle chime, the puzzle successfully imprinted by smooching the two halves together. You ######.

Genius Nintendo. Pure genius. You knew I'd close the damn thing aggravated, and knew how happy I'd be upon opening it back up.

Grand Master

Shadrack

Posted
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Picked this one up last night and have played it for about an hour. So far I think the touch screen interface is so unnecessary. Just because the DS has a touch screen doesn't mean every game needs it. Touch screen game play has the following benefits:

* Its a novelty that is not available on other systems.

* It works with the puzzles that use it.

* Drawing on the map is a nice features.

But what I don't like about it is:

* Games that exclusively use the touch screen scratch it up.

* It becomes uncomfortable after so long and I can't play the game as long as I'd like because my hand cramps up.

* Slower response when needing to switch directions to avoid obstacles or enemies.

* My stylus and hand blocks 10-30% of the screen most of the time. Limiting my enjoyment of the visuals.

I dunno. Seems pretty pointless to me. The gameplay from Zelda: Link to the Past was far superior to this...they should have just used classic Zelda gameplay. Kinda like how lame Starfox DS was...that game would have been so much better if they went with classic Starfox gameplay rather than the crappy touch screen interface.

So far I'm pretty disappointed with the game due to the touch screen.

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QuantumTrickery

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The touch screen was the best feature of this Zelda title. I don't know what you are doing to scratch your screen, but mine has long term usage, with no wear at all. Nor do I understand how you are covering up so much of the screen, never mind any of it at all.

Slow response? Not even remotely. Perhaps you just have no idea what you are doing, or your DS is broken in some fashion.

And calling the touch screen a novelty? How ignorant.

Grand Master

Shadrack

Posted
Posted
The touch screen was the best feature of this Zelda title. I don't know what you are doing to scratch your screen, but mine has long term usage, with no wear at all. Nor do I understand how you are covering up so much of the screen, never mind any of it at all.

Slow response? Not even remotely. Perhaps you just have no idea what you are doing, or your DS is broken in some fashion.

And calling the touch screen a novelty? How ignorant.

Heh...well it is all just my opinion. Maybe my hands are large compared to yours. I just find it irritating that they left behind classic perfected gameplay that the DS is capable of for an exclusively touch screen interface. No need to go into immature name calling over an opinion.

Experienced

Michael Lacey

Posted
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I just finished the game yesterday. Have to say it was an excellent adventure, and the controls were fine, except for my hand cramping every once in a while due to excessive stylus use. They were brilliantly designed though, I must say.

Lots of improvement over Wind Waker, and an interesting continuation of the story. Some say the temple of the Ocean King is tedious and reptitive; however I found it to be fine because each time you go in, you have new items that make the trip shorter.

Bosses were great as well. Anybody with a DS should pick this game up right away. Even if you haven't played Wind Waker, the game tells the story in the introduction, and it's refreshing for those who have completed the game.

  • 2 months later...
Grand Master

Piggy

Posted
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This game is really something else. I just got it and I'm an old school Zelda fan. I loved Link to the past on the SNES and this is just as enjoyable for me.

No reviews can really capture the gameplay in this title. It's really quite enjoyable.

Mentor

The Gunslinger

Posted
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Kinda like how lame Starfox DS was...that game would have been so much better if they went with classic Starfox gameplay rather than the crappy touch screen interface.

The only thing I agree with you on...

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Smashing Pumpkin

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Just got this game for xmas, bloody love it, though in one day I'd gotten into the North Western Sea, I hope that's not a qurter of the game done already or it's sooo short.

Makes brilliant use of all the DS's special features :D

Rich

xxx

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