I realized I don’t post a lot about video games here. It’s not that I don’t play them, but often there’s not a lot to say that other people haven’t already said. I played Halo 3, and it’s pretty much what you’d expect it to be: More Halo with prettier graphics. I’ve been playing Guitar Hero 3, and it’s the same deal: more songs but still Guitar Hero. Most games I play are like that: Enjoyable, but nothing surprising.
But recently I’ve been playing Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass on my Nintendo DS, and I’ve been surprised at how much I enjoy this game. Like the previous examples, it is essentially a Zelda game. You wander around an overhead map, slash at monsters with your sword, solve puzzles, and help villagers with their problems. A big difference is that, instead of controlling Link with the D-pad and buttons, you are forced to use the stylus for everything. To slash with your sword, you tap the enemy with the stylus or move it toward the enemy in a quick swipe. You move around by holding the stylus wherever on the screen you want to go. You can also write on the map to record hints that people give you or mark interesting places on the map.
I should also admit that I haven’t kept up with the Zelda series over the years. I played the original and Zelda 2 on the NES probably 20 years ago, and then I played A Link to the Past (Zelda 3) about 6 months ago via Game Boy Advance cartridge. I disliked A Link to the Past, despite its reputation as one of the best games of all time, so I wasn’t sure what I would think of Phantom Hourglass. But Phantom Hourglass fixes a lot of the problems I had with Link to the Past by bringing in modern features like a map you can write on, more frequent save points, and less frustrating battles.
Anyhow, I was very surprised by how much I’m enjoying this game. I would rate it as one of the most enjoyable I’ve played this year on any system.
