The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the fourteenth instalment in Nintendo’s much-loved Legend of Zelda Series. It’s the direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and features more naval adventuring for Toon Link.
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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass started as a port of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure to the DS, but later on became its own game. Originally, the action would happen on the upper screen while map information and such appeared in the lower; however, the designers immediately felt this caused a disconnection between the players and the action so they opted to swap them around. This also allowed for the stylus to control Link and expand the gameplay.
I came to the game after playing The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, so I was pretty familiar with Toon Link. Better still, it was a direct sequel to the former – something Nintendo doesn’t do very often – so I was even more excited. My initial impression was rather mixed, mostly because I wasn’t used to the stylus controls, but the title drew me in very quickly once I grew accustomed to this new control scheme.
After the defeat of Ganon in Wind Waker, Tetra and Link decide to travel. On the way they meet a Ghost Ship and Tetra decides to explore; after hearing her scream, Link jumps after but falls through the ghostly vessel into the ocean. Waking up in a nearby island, the old man Oshu informs him that the only way to find the Ghost Ship is to gather the sacred sprits of Courage, Power and Wisdom. To find the maps to their location he needs to brave the labyrinth below the Ocean King’s Palace, a deadly place that will slowly drain his life. To extend the time he can stay there he must find and refill the sand within the Phantom Hourglass.
The plot of Phantom Hourglass is perhaps its greatest weakness. There aren’t any surprises and every part of the plot is predictable, from how the events of unfold to the different character’s motivations and ‘growth’. Linebeck, the owner of the ship you use to travel the ocean, is one of the most uninteresting characters in any Zelda I’ve ever played. He’s self-centred and motivated only by greed but later on, and I mean really late in the game, finds the courage and the heart to join the adventure. It’s been done too many times before and while it was a novel characterization at the time of Star Wars, because it’s basically the ‘Han Solo’ archetype, it doesn’t work for this game. Especially when the character is so unlikeable, lacking the roguish charm that made it work for Solo.
You’ll come back to this place over and over again.
The second flaw is the labyrinth, a central location in the game. You have to go through it a bunch of times over the course of the adventure and each time you must start from the beginning and your progress isn’t saved, meaning you have to redo every floor all over again. While later on your gear allows you to travel more quickly through the different floors and there are even portals to skip ahead, the constant trek through the labyrinth becomes repetitive and tedious. The Phantoms are the guardians of the labyrinth and your main enemies in there and, while they seem challenging, they are really extremely exploitable and lack any real difficulty. They quickly becoming pests rather than threats.
As a DS title, you control Link almost exclusively with the stylus using it to move, attack and even interact with objects. While it takes some getting used to, it is actually a pretty fun way of playing. You also use the weapons with the stylus and the boomerang and bombchu in particular are great, as you can set the path they’ll follow and even make them go in circles if you want. On a personal note, I saw a speedrunner set the boomerang to go in circles before hitting a switch, having measured the precise time to perform an action and have the boomerang hit a switch exactly when he needed it to.
You can make annotations on the maps for easy reference.
I have mixed feelings on dungeon design. On one hand they seemed to account for the freedom you had in controlling your different items with the stylus and made sure to provide you with opportunities to be creative in their use. But on the other the dungeons pose little challenge and there are no hard puzzles in the title, just a series of rooms to use the stylus in, and you’re provided with supplies for the puzzle in case you run out. It almost seems as if they had forgotten that there was more to the game than the stylus controls. Speaking of specific dungeons, I seriously dislike the Phantom Ship location as much as I praise its creepy atmosphere. It reuses The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’s Fourth Dark World dungeon design of escorting a seemingly innocent character who turns out to be the boss; just multiplied by four and with only the characters’ ‘fright’ being the only challenge. Rather disappointing really.
As a sequel to Wind Waker, most of the mechanics remain the same but that doesn’t mean that sailing isn’t just as fun as it was previously. You now have two ways of controlling the ship: directly with the gamepad and buttons or tracing a path for it using the stylus. Adding to the sailing fun is the ship’s customization. Aside from the obligatory upgrades to grant Linebeck’s vessel different abilities, you can change anything from the hull to the rails and even the cannon and wheel. These ship parts aren’t only cosmetic but provide bonuses and penalties, with a bigger bonus granted if you complete the set.
Just draw where you want the boomerang to go and it’ll follow.
Ship parts become another collectible, dropped by enemies in the high seas. Besides those and aside from the usual upgrades found in Zelda titles (heart pieces, quiver and bomb bag upgrades, bottles, etc), you can now collect Spirit Gems: Red (Power), Green (Courage) and Blue (Wisdom). Every set of ten of each color give you stronger attack, a beam attack upgrade or a stronger defense respectively. There are twenty of each in the game, giving you plenty of collectibles to hunt for and many reasons to come back. Add that the treasure charts and the ability to upgrade the Phantom Hourglass to give you more time, and you’ll be replaying this title a few times.
There isn’t much to say about the music and graphics to be honest – beyond how amazing they are. Even downscaled to DS quality, the cel-shaded visuals of Wind Waker still hold up; and you’ll be humming the open sea theme even after setting down the handheld. The best thing about Phantom Hourglass’ visuals lies in how the game presents the bosses, using both DS screens. Often you’ll need to use the upper screen to know where danger will come from, to avoid it on the lower screen or to know where the boss’ weak point is for when you bring it down to your level. The only downside to this interesting boss design is how easy they are, as the fights are over very quickly. Once you figure out how to counter the bosses, they only need a few hits and down they go.
Boss design is outstanding.
Yes, this is a sequel and it keeps plenty of Wind Waker’s design but it is the first DS Zelda and, much like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time did in its time, this game defined how the series would work on the handheld in terms of mechanics and controls. The use of both screens for boss fights and action sequences was another great innovation for this title. Before it, most DS games only used one screen, keeping the other for supplemental information such as maps or items. Its sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, builds on Phantom Hourglass’ design choices.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass isn’t a perfect game. It’s flawed in many ways but still thoroughly entertaining. The controls might take some getting used to but they are very tight and fun. It’s also the last time you’ll see Tetra and Wind Waker’s Toon Link, so you have to play it!
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