Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Solid"

Welcome back to Hyrule, again, or rather another re-imagining of it that is. Zelda, and the world (which as usual appears oblivious to the grand scale of your good deeds) needs you. I've played and completed many of the Legend of Zelda (LoZ) games and they rarely disappoint. This game continues the trend of great Zelda titles, though I must say I found myself more impressed overall with the former entry known as Phantom Hourglass.

If you've played Phantom Hourglass you'll feel right at home as the game is very much a copy in function and controls. There are some different items this time around, and you'll be driving a train as opposed to a boat, but overall the look and feel will be very familiar. That's not necessarily a bad thing as for the most part the controls work well. Note this game uses only the touch screen to control Link's movements. This means pointing at the screen to where you want link to go to get him to move in the corresponding direction. Likewise, to attack a short slash on the touch screen will cause Link to react with a swift sword slash. Spinning around link will cause him to do his signature hurricane spin attack. Link can have one additional item, of your choosing, equipped. This item can be selected in the top right of the touch screen by selecting with the stylus or by holding down one of the trigger buttons. Personally, the trigger buttons allow for swifter movement in and out of using a given item. Why might this be an issue? Because when you've selected the item for use Link is no longer mobile leaving him vulnerable to attack, which incidentally interrupts whatever action/puzzle you were attempting to resolve. Rarely an issue however. It would have been nice to have had some alternate options on the controls, such as the option to use the d-pad for Link's movement instead.

In Phantom Hourglass I believe I remember you could control the Knights in the multiplayer mini-game. In Spirit Tracks you can now have Zelda, who's a ghost, possess those Knights and help you complete puzzles. The game mechanic works well and adds something new to the mix. Though Zelda's fear of mice (even as a ghost!) can really be a bother at times. Of all the Zelda titles this is the most intimate interaction I believe we've seen of Link and Zelda - for once they're really working as a team throughout the title, not just in the final battle.

Speaking of which the dungeons are classic Zelda. Though most can be completed in a given play session the final dungeon of the Spirit Tower was, in my opinion, a little excessive and drawn-out, so much so that I resorted to an online guide just to get through it as I was woefully bored with all the back-and-forth. Otherwise the dungeons were very fun and the bosses, as usual, were a real blast. The two things in the game that kept me motivated was the story sequences (of which there were few) and the boss battles.

That said, the game has a very straight-forward pattern of: cruize through a town, strike up a toon with a Sage nearby, unlock a dungeon, complete the dungeon, lock swords with an over-sized boss, unlock another level of the Spirit Tower (which works as a central dungeon similar to the one in Phantom Hourglass but with fewer constraints), unlock another town, and so on. If I have one complaint it would be that it's all too predictable.

The same is true for the plot. Once you watch the first few minutes of the game you can guess what the later outcome will be, though getting there was still a lot of fun. The LoZ series needs a new antagonist. The whole "he's just evil" doesn't really cut it, the series needs to blur the line between good/evil and explore that nuance a little more. I thought Vaati from Minish Cap (GBA) was heading the right direction but Nintendo never developed the character as much as they should have.

Two major complaints. The train seemed like a great idea but in my opinion it falls flat here. It is rather boring traveling between towns. Further, you can only take one passenger at a time yet in the cutscenes there's gotta be at least ten seats in there!? Let's load everyone on board! Finally, the Spirit Flute has to be the most frustrating of all. It starts off fun but it gets really annoying when you have to jump notes. Maybe it was just my 3DS, but for some reason it was inconsistent in registering the notes as I blew into the mic, sometimes playing two or three notes instead of one sustained note. Unfortunately, you have to complete music jam sessions with Sages in each area of the game. It's too bad, because the end result really sounds cool.

Those criticisms aside this is still the LoZ game fans have come to expect and love.