A great addition to a great series
the good:
great controls
good story/characters
quirky dialogue
great boss fights
good collectibles
OUTSTANDING puzzles
the bad:
easy
dungeon that you have to go back to again and again and again
small variety of weapons
Phantom Hourglass is like a rare stone. You don't find them often, but when you do, you are really happy about it.
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
The game plays fairly like the other Zelda games, but most like the wind waker. You find yourself again as Link traveling the seas with Tetra in search of the mysterious Ghost Ship. When they find it, Tetra jumps aboard and becomes prisoner of the ship. Link is then knocked off the boat and washed up on an island. There he meets Ciela, a fairy that has lost her memory, and you set off to save Tetra. The gameplay is the same, you travel around and sail around to islands and various temples to unlock powers to help you in your ultimate quest. It is a bit on the easy side though. One mechanic I did not like was the Phantom Hourglass itself and the Temple of the Ocean King. The temple drained the life out of you and you could only stay alive if you had the phantom hourglass, which drained your life if it ran out of sand at the top. To make matters worse, there are knights called "phantoms" that are in the temple that cannot be killed until the very end of the game. If they touch you you die and you lose 30 sec. on your hourglass. To make it EVEN worse, you have to go back multiple times and go through floors you have already gone through. This brings the game down. I wonder who thought of the idea of a life-sucking temple you have to back to over and over again!! Also for you collectible people, PH has a boat collectible thing where you can collect different parts for sets of a boat. It is really fun and keeps you wanting to get new parts
CONTROLS 10/10
All of the controls are mapped to the touch screen, which easily could have turned into a disaster, but they pulled it off very well. You touch in the direction to walk (and run) and make lines along your enemy to slash, With a few button controls for pulling up maps. For the boomerang, you draw the path it will take and it will go unless disturbed. For the bow, you point in the direction you want to shoot. It is a great use of the touch screen and works out very well.
GRAPHICS 9/10
The graphics are great coming from the DS. It is top notch except for certain areas where the screen looks extra pixelated and less sharp. But there are few of those times so all is well.
ATMOSPHERE 9/10
The atmosphere and characters are great. There is a good amount of characters to talk to in the game and much of that text is funny and quirky, adding to the enjoyablility level. The expressions are also great, in one scene, Linebeck (your captain) shakes link silly and then gives him something, so the classic lifting of the item in your palm occurs but his eyes are swirling and he's hobbling about. In another, when you get a negative rupee, the music tones down and his face turns to a sad suprised look. It really adds to the game.
PUZZLES 9/10
THE PUZZLES ARE AMAZING!!!!! They make total use of all of your items and controls. In one, you make a rope going through two pipes and then walk into it and use it as a boomerang. In another, you throw a bomb in between two rows of bomb plants and they detonate the plants hitting two switches at the same time. They are very creative and don't lack at all.
Overall this game is Great. A must buy for DS owners and even more for DS owning Zelda fans.