It is a lot of fun. The controls are very easy to you. I like navaigating with the ship to the places. The dunegons are a lot of fun and very difficult. I'm in the temple of the ocean king dungeon now.

dont have it... no time right now...
Dark Samus and AU 313 must go down first!!!

*copies and pastes GeekyDad's post*

Ok not really, but I agree with him

I'm actually at about the same point in the game as well. The puzzles aren't spelled out for you so much.. *grumbles @ one of them* Talk about frustrating! But good.


For the first time in a long time I actually am feeling kinda about getting back to play it.

I've played part of OoT (as a bonus wiht preordering WW) I've also played WW. I believe I'm nearly done with Twilight Princess as well. Those are the only games up until this point that I've played in the Zelda franchise. PH could be my favorite out of the bunch. I need to finish TP and PH and then make a decision on that.

Perhaps it's about time I ring in my opinions. I'll get to that right after I say how shocked I am to see that some you (*looks at Hen*) have only played a couple Zelda games.

Well, I've been playing Zelda my whole life and I've completed all of them except Zelda 2 (that game is hard). As a result (perhaps a bad one), I'm comparing Phantom Hourglass to a lot more things.

The controls work great. I was skeptical, but Nintendo has quickly silenced me. This is the first game that has truly made me believe that touch controls can work for a more traditional game.

I'm not entirely finished with the game, but I believe I am closing in on the end. Just a couple more levels to go (unless Nintendo pulls a fast one on me and I end up having to do something else). So far, I've enjoyed the game. I'm not quite ready to say it's my favorite Zelda game or the best Zelda game (A Link to the Past is still my favorite, and the best), but it is certainly a great game.

I'm happy to see more focus on puzzles and less on combat. While all Zelda games have the puzzles, lately the games seem to have had fewer of them and easier ones. Phantom Hourglass doesn't do a whole lot to fix the easy part (although there have been a couple that really had me stuck for a few minutes), but there is no doubt that the game is truly about puzzles instead of combat. The reintroduction of stealth areas is great as well. The added time and health features make them even more of a challenge.

I'm also happy to say that I have actually died on this game. May seem like a weird to thing to say, but Zelda games have been getting easier and easier and I seem to be dying less and less. My last playthrough of The Wind Waker (my 3rd time - last week; decided I should play it again to refresh my memory before PH) I didn't even need a fairy. Dying has become so rare in these games that I tend to look at the game in shock when I do happen to die (and I've done that a few times in Phantom Hourglass). It feels good to know that I'm not already a master at the game.

I'm planning to write up a review once I finish it. I'll be sure to include more details then.

What! It's not my fault!

As a kid we had an atari and then an NES. Once my mom noticed me and my brother always wanting to play the NES (and do nothing else) she got rid of it. I didn't have a gaming console available till I got married, moved out and bought my own shiny new gamecube (with SSBM!).

Well, to go against the general opinion, this is not my favourite Zelda game. When I first read about how this game would work I had my doubts and for me those doubts are realized. I absolutely hate the stylus, and my grandson is not all that pleased either. I find the stylus gets in the way of viewing the game, I find it unresponsive when trying to exit a building or cave, and if that was not enough when trying to do something simple like light a torch the stylus and screen movement just do not go smoothly together. Now on a good note, the puzzles are challenging so far, but perhaps too challenging.  I am only in the Sea Temple for the third time, and this will be my fourth attempt at getting past the fourth floor. I find it annoying that I have to keep going back and redoing the same floors over and over again.  I like the sailing in the game, it is quite a bit more fun than the sailing was in TWW. Using maps and drawing information on them is unique and fun, I cannot imagine trying to play the game without that ability, though I am a great one for making tons of notes (sometimes I have written whole books) and drawings of my own for certain games.  The story line I cannot comment on yet, as like all Zelda games (and most games in general) the story is not done until the game is over and you only get bits of information as you progress. The music, I have not paid much attention to, but what I have heard is very enjoyable. The graphics are growing on me, they are great in the temples and outside. I was not sure about the way the characters looked at first, but I have been studying them and they are a bit better than I first thought. When I am done the game, I may write a review, but until then I just hope to make it through the game and not throw the stylus out the window.

I just beat the first dungeon, and I love the game. I really do. The graphics are top notch, the music is (once again) remixed well for nostalgia, and the new control scheme is a breath of fresh air for the series. But there's a few issues I have. For one thing, it's too easy! It takes little time for me to know what I'm supposed to do to solve a puzzle, and the hints are so easy to understand it's infantile. I miss the days when you had to actually solve stuff by yourself, but there are hints abound and it's getting on my nerves.

I recently read an article from an EGM writer, and he said one thing that really got me. Nintendo only knows how to make two types of bosses: you use a newly acquired piece of equipment to either damage them/exploit their weak point, or you deflect their attacks back at them to exploit the weak point. It's true, at least for Zelda. I never noticed this, but there never have been any really creative bosses from a first party Nintendo game in, well, forever. I've been playing Resident Evil 4 to death, and I also read about Metal Gear Solid bosses. They both have amazing bosses that you know took a lot of creative juice to make, and I really wish Nintendo could think outside the box like they do.

It all feels recycled. I said the music is good, and it is. The only problem is that I've heard it before in the past 329823432 Zelda titles. They are masterful tracks, but what's stopping Koji Kondo to make some new compositions? The first dungeon I go to is, surprise surprise, fire-themed. And once again I get the boomerang, the classic early weapon of the Zelda series. I've done this all before! I hate to say it, but Zelda is getting stale to me. And I was disappointed very early on because I learned that I have to gather three spirits and then I can find the Ghost Ship. Oh God, here it is again - gather three items then a plot twist, then a few more dungeons before fighting final boss. I can see it already, and that sucks. The controls are often praised as the best part of the game, but it seems that I can no longer run and slash at the same time, which I enjoyed doing in previous titles. Rolling and executing a spin attack have a good concept in mind, but unfortunately actually trying to do one is a lot harder than I want it to be. Also, the game can't seem to tell the difference between doing an action and slashing the sword at times, a cumbersome problem.

But sailing... sailing! Ah, I loved Wind Waker because I could go wherever I wanted as soon as I got the WW, and sailing was a blast. Sure, it took a while, but with the right songs and a good knowledge of the sea allowed for an amazing time on the ocean. And this time in PH, I get a huge boat I can customize, shoot a cannon while moving, and apparently I can also use a grappling arm like in Wind Waker with a lot more depth to it. Sailing is just as fun as it was before, and for that I am grateful.

Despite all the negatives, I do enjoy the game. It's Zelda, after all, what's not to love? It feels like I've played this game before quite a few times already, but that's fine because the control scheme and the sailing make up for that completely. It's definitely not the best Zelda, but it's definitely one of the best DS games ever. I appreciate the attempt Nintendo made to create an original game, but sticking to old music, old concepts, and old items isn't the way to do it. Not to mention the extremely forgiving difficulty.

For those of you who can't understand my opinions, I'll just jump on the bandwagon and say if I were to review this game, I'd probably give it a 9.0.