Nintendo has three main franchises that are guaranteed to give you excellent story and gameplay: Super Mario, Metroid and Zelda. Nintendo only gambles when it comes to graphics or controls with these three series. In Phantom Hourglass, Nintendo bet that the stylus would be good to control Link with. Nintendo lost the bet.
Most recent Zelda games follow the same outline: go through three dungeons to complete a side plot point, go through the three more dungeons to gain the tools needed to rescue Zelda, go through the final dungeon and rescue Zelda. This game is no different, tweaking the Wind Waker plot on a different map. As a game, there is a good deal of exploration and side quests to keep things interesting. As a portable game, it is short and somewhat on the easy side.
As a Zelda game, it pales in comparison to Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker. While it will be hard to top Ocarina, Phantom Hourglass had a chance at being even with Wind Waker; the difference lies in the control. Wind Waker allows you to control the boat completely, Hourglass has you plot a course and man the cannon--much more of a chore. The on land controls are sluggish; there is no lock-on targeting, special sword attacks are tricky and attempting to use some corners of the screen to move lead you to stop moving and open the menu. The stylus system lacks the polish the console Zeldas have with multiple buttons and Z-targeting.
If the stylus has any saving features, it is when using Link's boomerang. The path can be fully controlled and does lead to some fun trick shots. Otherwise, secondary weapons can be controlled with equal ease as with a control pad. The salvage arm game I would deride as a Stylus based tack-on, but it could easily be used with a D-pad.
As a game, Phantom Hourglass is decent, but as a Zelda, it misses the mark. The Stylus gamble did not work here like it did with Metroid Prime Hunters. This game best fits Zelda completists and gamers looking for a weekend boredom killer.
Expected: **** A part of the Nintendo triad demonstrating cool looking stylus gameplay
Actual: *** Still a nice game, but should have used a standard control scheme.
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