This is NOT a Legend of Zelda game. It takes recycled material and makes it bad, with no originality and O.K. game play.

User Rating: 6 | The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks DS
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is not by any means an outright bad game, but it has enough major flaws to make it unworthy of the good Zelda name. I know that this game has a lot of both good and bad press, and you'll notice that Gamespot's score is much higher than mine, but I disagree completely.
The first major problem is the train system itself, and many reviews say that the train is fantastic, but the reality is that it greatly limits your freedom and makes combat frustrating. Many will note that the graphic style, controls, and basic game play are almost the same as Phantom Hourglass (which doesn't give it many points for originality), including the train. You tap areas to shoot at them with you cannon, and rotate the camera by placing the stylus into the part of the screen you want to rotate toward. Unfortunately this does not work well at all. It worked in Phantom hourglass because there was basically only 2 small control buttons taking up extra screen space. This time around, there are more like 3, 3 bigger ones, including the whistle in the upper right corner which always manages to get in the way when you're trying to control the uncooperative camera. I died many times because I simply couldn't get it to focus on my adversary quick enough., and along with that, the train combat still feels like that of a boat, and doesn't really work with the whole "fight on the rails" idea. Plus, you have basically no freedom, considering you are stuck to the little tracks, and shortcuts aren't easy to come by.
The train is the most major problem in Spirit tracks, but there are many others too. For one, the difficulty is all screwed up, considering it is agonizingly difficult on the train sometimes, while the dungeons really don't get much harder as the game progresses. There's also the minor problem of the reward system for side quests. There is no such thing as a piece of heart, so you often get a heart container for some insubstantial quest. You might also go through a challenging side quest only to receive a force gem, which opens up extra rails that are often completely useless.
The bosses, I have to say, are mediocre. Although they are a blast to fight, basically the same thing happens every time you beat one. It dies an unimaginative death and this statue thingy pops out of the ground and opens new tracks. The bosses often go down without a good fight, and they all use ideas that have already been used like crazy. One boss is almost a complete and total copy. He rises out of a pool of lava, he's rocky and armored, and he chars up and dies in his own pool of lava at the end of the fight. Now how does that sound familiar? Oh yes. It's the first boss in Wind Waker! The two are different, but close enough that I would consider the Spirit Tracks version a copy.
The story is nothing uneventful. It has twists and turns to keep you interested, but the spacing is messed up. The story will get off to a howling beginning within the first few minutes of game play, with a long cut scene that probably should have been nearer to the middle. It leaves you going, "Who? Wha? What just happened?" It's nothing out of the ordinary, but it's a nice twist that Zelda doesn't get kidnapped, only her body does. There are also the Lokomo, and it says at the end that their job is to watch over humanity. But why didn't we hear about this earlier in the series? If they were watching over humanity, where were they all these years? And, for the first few dungeons, nothing will happen in the story at all! There is also some foreshadowing of something going on between Link and Zelda. SINCE WHEN HAS THIS EVER OCCURRED IN THE SERIES, HUH NINTENDO? YOU RUINED THE LEGEND OF ZELDA! The main error with the story is that it's not legendary. If you recite the stories of any Zelda game, it actually sounds like a legend. But does "…and then Link stole some green kiddie clothes and got onto his mystical choo-choo train…" sound legendary to you? No.
So, what's good about this game? Well, the best aspect of this game is the worst aspect of Phantom Hourglass. The Spirit Temple plays exactly the same function, and even the safe areas and phantoms have the same, unoriginal design, but while the Ocean Temple in Phantom Hourglass was difficult and stressful. The Spirit Temple is tons of fun. The difficulty is lower, and I think that it could have been a little harder, but you aren't timed and the phantoms aren't invincible. As you probably already know, you get to control Zelda herself in Spirit Tracks, and the system works pretty well. You simply draw a line with the stylus to where you want her to go, but, because she's a ghost, she can inhabit the body of any phantom as soon as link collects three tears of light on each floor. This turns a frustrating enemy into a powerful ally which makes the whole prospect of sneaking through a cursed dungeon much less daunting. Every moment that I played the Spirit Temple was a good moment, and I think that it's safe to say that it's absolutely perfect.
This is Spirit Tracks' only redeeming factor though, as the only awesome music in the whole game is the single song that plays during the Temple's tests. The title song is good, and the one that plays on the rails is catchy, but all the rest of it is just average. There are no classic Zelda tunes here, and the towns and villages all have essentially the same song, except for a few minor note variations. Another small problem that you are unlikely to notice is that the targeting idea tries to make a comeback. When you tap an object to pick up, a red targeting arrow will appear above it, but if there are two objects close to each other, Link will often pick up the wrong one. This, however, is more of a slight annoyance than anything else.
Spirit Tracks is a fine game, but not Zelda quality like you're used to. It would be outright bad if it weren't for the awesomely fun Spirit Temple. But it is safe to say that this is a complete copy of Phantom Hourglass, which is by far the better of the two DS Zelda titles. I would probably recommend buying this game, but only if it's under ten dollars.