Superficially, Phantom Hourglass doesn't diverge much from the past 20 years of Zelda games. You still play elf-boy Link on a quest to save the perennially imperiled Princess Zelda, who has been turned to stone this time.
But now, the entire adventure is controlled with the touch screen. Hold the stylus anywhere on the screen, and Link will run in that direction. Tap an enemy and Link will rush forward and attack it. Slash back and forth and he'll swing his sword in a wide arc.
And that's just for starters. You can also draw on the game's map, perfect for plotting your ship's course at sea or making notes about places of interest you might want to return to later. And simple actions like throwing a boomerang become novel again when you're drawing the path that it will take, directly on the screen.
This isn't just a gimmick. By the end of the game you'll wonder how you ever used such archaic devices as buttons. Having complete freedom to instantly, directly interact with anything on the screen makes for a significantly more immersive experience.
If not an especially difficult one. There are some challenging timed sequences in a dungeon that slowly poisons Link (only the draining sand held in the titular Hourglass keeps him alive), which add a satisfying sort of tension. But even these are tuned more for beginning players than hardcore gamers.
What saves Hourglass in that respect is the fact that it's so charming. The DS isn't a powerful 3D machine, but Hourglass pushes it to the limits with beautiful cel-shaded characters with big, expressive faces. And the dialogue can be hilarious – if Twilight Princess for Wii was the grim, serious Zelda, this is the stand-up comedy version.
Hourglass is worth buying a DS for.
WIRED A thorough reinventing of how adventure games are played.
TIRED Like many innovative games, a bit short and easy.
Price/maker: $35, Nintendo
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