The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
I'm looking forward to playing the latest Zelda game which was released in the US yesterday. This time around, it's exclusive to Nintendo's portable DS system. Stylistically, I'm super happy to see the Zelda team return to the cel-shaded style introduced in Gamecube's "Wind Waker" Zelda game.
The protagonist, Link, always had this weird androgynous thing going for him that works best in this super cartoony style. I just hope that the time-wasting ship treasure hunting (in Wind Waker) is kept to a minimum and the dungeons are given their well deserved focus.
The protagonist, Link, always had this weird androgynous thing going for him that works best in this super cartoony style. I just hope that the time-wasting ship treasure hunting (in Wind Waker) is kept to a minimum and the dungeons are given their well deserved focus.
Labels: Games
posted by Muttpop Bob at 4:14 PM
4 Comments:
I'm really curious to play this as well. That's a interesting point you make about the treasure hunting in Wind Waker. I could see that having all those treasure maps were a device to let players collect a lot of rupees to cover the cost of having triforce maps translated, but I still wasn't very down with it.
On the other hand, I thought in Twilight Princess the same need to gather large sums of rupees was fulfilled nicely by having those golden bugs you could collect & cash in to raise enough scratch to have the bridge rebuilt and stuff.
Anwyas, hopefully Phantom Hourglass has a way to fill that need without getting in the way of playability.
Woo!
luvyatoo:
I've never been a big fan of collecting things in games. Roaming around and finding randomly hidden treasures is not what I consider a good time.
Zelda games Dungeons are always a pleasure to explore. Every room and item feel perfectly placed. Even the bosses battles (although usually too easy) are satisfying. Unfortunately, the adventures between dungeons can be inconsistent. The Wind Waker Ship Treasure hunting is an example of one of the bad ones (remember that crane?)! It wouldn't be so obvious if the dungeons weren't such a blast to play through...
-MPB
Any impressions about the new Zelda yet you could share with us?
aki:
I've only played it for an hour or two (I just beat the first dungeon) and so far so good.
It's more akin to the NES "The Legend of Zelda" and the SNES "Link to the Past". The cartoony art style works very nicely on the smaller DS screen...and they did a great job to make the menu interface clean, simple, and intuitive (almost like an Apple Ipod).
The controls take a bit getting used to and make navigating small areas a bit cumbersome...but the game design and level layouts are all designed with that in consideration. There's some nice touches that play off the DS features that does clever things with both the stylus and microphone.
It's far more linear than previous Zelda's thus far. They really build up the ship travel by making smaller islands with just 1 dungeon/temple and 1 town each (the number may change later). It's very difficult to wander around unless you don't mind doing so at sea with you boat.
I recommend it. Some casual fun for fans of Zelda style games...and a great introduction to new game players.
-MPB
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