Zelda has finally come to the Nintendo DS, but has it been worth the wait? We get swashbuckling to find out.
Our quick take
Complaints? Well the puzzles are fairly easy to solve, and certainly not as challenging as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. On the plus side it means you aren't likely to get frustrated by it all, but it will mean that at times you are merely doing things in order to get through the door to the next level.
But that doesn't mean that the game isn't fun, far from it, in fact over the last week it's already sucked too much time out of mine and Mrs. Pocket-lint's life as we race against each other to see who can get the furthest.
If you own a Nintendo DS this is a must have game.
The Legend of Zelda - 4.5 / 5
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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the direct sequel to the Nintendo GameCube hit, The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker, and picks up with our legendary hero Link, along with Tetra (also known as Princess Zelda from the fallen kingdom of Hyrule) and her crew of Pirates setting sail in search of new lands.
To cut a long story short, on the search for a ghost ship, Tetra gets kidnapped and you've got to find the girl and save the hour by filling the hourglass.
Get through the incredibly long opening sequence explaining all this and it's down to business as usual with you picking up skills and moves as you go about your quest.
Everything is controlled via the stylus rather than the control pad and it's just a case of pointing where you want to go on the screen. When you do eventually pick up a sword you can slash, dash and circle your way out of trouble with quick hand movements and plenty of tapping.
As with all Zelda games there are plenty of roaming around to do, mini quests to complete and puzzles to solve, albeit very simple ones, and rather than expect you to have a pen and paper on you as you might at home, you can draw all over the map (which is always displayed on the top screen) at any time to take notes. It's a great addition and one that is incredibly handy when it comes to remembering locations of certain things, or sequences of levers that have to be pulled.
Where The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass really succeeds in embracing the Nintendo DS is its attention to detail. Certain tasks require you to blow out candles by blowing into the console's Mic or having to draw out a path for your boomerang weapon so it will follow it.
It's not just about the single player element either, those keen to play with or against friends can opt to play the game together, or challenge others via the game's battle mode, although you will both need a copy of the game.
To recap
If you own a Nintendo DS this is a must have game