Zeruda no Densetsu Mugen no Sunadokei

My DS game collection consists of RPGs and puzzle games, so when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass landed on my doorstep from LOVEFiLM, I thought I had made a mistake in ordering it. But I thought at least I would give it a try. And I was not disappointed!

The only Zelda games I played were on the Nintendo Gamecube: Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. I enjoyed both and glad I finally managed to find the collector’s edition of Ocarina of Time in a charity shop for £2! However, I’m not a die-hard Zelda fan. I liked the games that I had played, but I wouldn’t go out and buy a Nintendo Wii purely for the new Zelda releases. The series has always been in the background for me, like Mario. I don’t rush out and buy the latest ones and I would choose Sonic over the plumber any day. For some reason Nintendo have never made me feel motivated to buy their games. I think Ocarina of Time is the ONLY Nintendo game I own.

I love cel-shaded graphics, so I like the cartoon Link then the more adult version. So the other games available on the DS have been added to my LOVEFiLM list. I could go out and buy them, but they would end up gathering dust on a shelf because I rarely use my handheld consoles anymore.

The Legend of Zelda and the Phantom Hourglass follows after The Wind Waker and is the fourteenth game in the series. Link has to rescue his pirate friend Tetra when she is kidnapped by Bellum. Of course Link can’t do this alone, so he enlists the help of Jack Sparrow wannabe Captain Linebeck and Ciela, a fairy.

Nintendo have done well using the touch screen so players can interact with the game. You can scribble important info onto the map, like the location of buried treasure, with the stylus. Also the microphone is used, so sometimes you have to shout to get someone’s attention or blow out fire. It’s nice the microphone is used because the only other games I’ve used it for are the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series and Lost in Blue.

You also find a boomerang early in the game and it is so much fun to use. You simply draw the path you want the boomerang to take and let it go! It’s ideal for flipping those out of reach switches and dealing with some of the peskier enemies! The only thing I dislike is restarting dungeons when you die. But that is the Zelda way. I think it’s to make you more determined to achieve your goal and to take your time. But it can become very frustrating, especially when you make silly little mistakes.

So far the game has grown on me and I do like it. I honestly thought a Zelda game on a DS would not be a good idea. Even though the series was on Gameboy and Ocarina of Time has been re-released onto the Nintendo 3DS. But something made me believe it to be a bad idea. And I’m glad I have been proved wrong.

The Legend of Zelda series celebrated 25 years in the gaming industry this year and I feel annoyed with myself that I never gave the series a good chance. I brushed it aside because I was more interested in RPGs and never thought I would like sitting down to play an adventure game. But thanks to Phantom Hourglass, that has now changed!