Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: running out of sand

Super Mario Galaxy has a contender for game of 2007.

Everything about this game shines. The graphical style, borrowing heavily from The Wind Waker, is clean and joyous. The story's really hooked me in, with its tasks broken down nicely so they're easily achievable while travelling places. It's a great example of a traditional videogame being slightly adapted for portable play - helped of course by the DS's sleep mode, which means the usual Zelda quirk of being put to the start of a dungeon whenever you save and quit doesn't matter.

I've rescued the three spirits, and have just been to the Temple of the Ocean King for the fourth time, in order to retrieve the south-eastern map. This was the first difficulty I had with the game - descending nine floors in fifteen minutes (before the sands in the hourglass ran out) was a bit of a rush, even with the ability to stand in safe zones where the timer didn't move.

I always loved the sailing in The Wind Waker, and the steamboat in this game is nearly as good - the only issue is that it's a bit of a faff to change course on the fly, since you have to switch to the map and redraw your course. Tapping to fire the cannon is great though.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't you mean Mario has a "rival" for goty, lol.

Enjoying your blog. Keep it up