I almost bought Sonic Rush Adventure today... I wanted to... but then I saw this game... and Zelda is a harsh mistress with a cruel allure... and I can never say no to her.

Nintendo is known for some legendary franchises; Mario, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Kirby, Pokemon... but there is one that has always stood above the rest (at least in the eyes of Sama) and finally that series has made it's way to the Nintendo DS.




The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass is the direct sequel to Gamecube's Wind Waker and the next installment in the Zelda Franchise. Back to the cartoon graphics of Wind Waker, we join Link and Tetra right where Wind Waker left off...

Ganondorf, the King of Evil has been slain and laid to rest at the bottom of the sea... Hyrule is the past, and now Princess Zelda (Tetra) and her new friend Link are the future. Tetra's pirates have embarked on a quest to find new land, for the next Hyrule.

However... as they said across the seas, a rumor springs up. The rumor of a Ghost Ship that has been abducting ships on the seas. Tetra, always the skeptic, assumes it's just some new pirates breaking the pirate's code and sets out to prove the 'ghosts' a fraud.

Suddenly, Tetra and Co are attacked by the Ghost Ship! Tetra is kidnapped (again...) and when Link tries to save her, he winds up in the ocean. He awakens unconscious to meet a Fairy named Ciela, who decides to help Link save his friend from the Ghost Ship.

And so, once more, another Zelda Adventure begins...

I haven't made it far, but from what I hear the boat controls are similar to those of Sonic Rush Adventure, so if you've played that you might like this.

I heard that game isn't all that good so how the game?

This is just me If I had to pick between Zelda & Sonic Rush I would go with Sonic Rush.

Where on Earth did you hear that? :blink:

I played through a good chunk of it. It's not bad, it's just not as good as the other 3D games.

Sailing in Wind Waker might have gotten a lot of crap said about it, but I actually kind of liked it. Here... sailing is a chore, and one where you don't actually do a whole lot. Meh.

The controls are really nice though, they pulled off the touch-based controls great. And the boomerang was so much fun to play with when I got it.

My biggest complaint would have to be the Temple of the Ocean King and the Phantom Hourglass. Usually the items in the title are kind of useful. The Ocarina of time let the Hero of Time go do fun stuff with time, and the masks let him have new abilities and powers. The Hero of Winds could use the Wind Waker to control various things out on the ocean... but the Phantom Hourglass is the most useless idea for an item in existence. All it does is give you a time limit. Whoopdedoo. The entire temple itself makes me annoyed, too, since it's... just aweful. The entire thing is stealth-based, and you have to come back to it several times during your adventure. Not only that, but every time you come back you have to go deeper. And you have to redo all the floors you've already done. Stealth for the first level isn't unheard of. Stealth later is pushing it, but okay. Repeating the stealth you've already done and then doing more of it is just silly.

Another thing, not so much a complaint as something I don't understand... Link, The Hero of Winds, lives in this world covered in water. Completely covered in water. He's been a pirate since the end of Wind Waker. He somehow lost the ability to swim. How exactly does that work?

I KNOW! What was up with that!? XD

It makes no sense to me either. In Wind Waker, I swam all the time. Link was never bothered by water. Now, he gets hurt if he jumps into the water.

o.O Makes no sense.

As for the stealth... it gets a bit annoying, but I enjoyed the challenge. Of course, once you have the upgraded sword, you don't need stealth. Just get behind the phantoms and give 'em a good stab!