I gave Phantom Hourglass a 7/10.
Story:
I'm not gonna say the story is bad; it's just uninvolvoed for most of the game. It starts out with aspiring engineer Link going to visit Zelda in order to become a full engineer. But, Chancellor Cole (who looks completley weird) attacks Zelda and takes her body. Meanwhile, the Spirit Tracks are dissappearing all over Hyrule, and it is up to Link and Zelda's spirit to make things right. Now, the story starts off strong, but for the whole middle of the game it's practically nonexistent. Again, it's not bad; just not there. However, I really liked the backstory. 7.5/ 10
Sound:
The music in this game is fantastic, particularly the overworld theme. I just wish there was more of it, but what is there is exceptionally well done and catchy. The actual sound is also fairly well done as well. It's very satisfying to pull on the train cord and here that whistle blow. A good effort. 8.5/ 10
Graphics:
The graphics for a handheld game of this size are outstanding. This game is at least twice as big as PH, but still manages to keep up a quality graphics engine. The environments in the overworld look particularly amazing, as do the enemies and bosses. The best part is that there is almost no slowdown, aside from pirate attacks, but that doesn't last long anyway. 10/ 10
Gameplay:
The most important part of 98% of games. I'm going to divide this section into 3 parts, considering there are 3 distinct parts of the game.
Dungeons: The dungeons are all very well designed. The enemy placements are challenging, but rareley frustrating and the puzzles in these actually require some thought. (As opposed to PH's puzzles, which were not all that challenging, give or take one or two.) The boss battles, like the prewious installment, are some of the best in the series and also are fairly challenging. A great part of the game. 9.5/ 10
Central Dungeon:
This is the part of the game where PH failed. It's a good thing that Nintendo fixed the severley flawed Central dungeon of this game, the Tower of Spirits. One of the worst parts about the Temple of the Ocean King was that you had a time limit, and you had to revisit it after each dungeon and play through parts that have been beaten before. However, in Spirit Tracks, this is fixed. Yes, you must still visit it after each dungeon, but it's no longer a chore. Nintendo scrapped the time limit, for one, so you can take as much time as you need, and you can skip completed parts. This gameplay also differs from the rest of the game due to the fact that Zelda can possess Phantoms and control them. This brings many new strategies to the table, but I won't spoil them for you. All I'll say is that it's a welcome innovation that brings many new puzzle types to the table and I'm looking forward to it in new Zelda games. 9.5/ 10
Outside; overworld and towns:
Another thing about PH that kinda stunk was the lack of sidequests and boring transportation. SP fixes that, as you may have guessed. First, I'll talk about the overworld itself. It's very big, and there are many more locations to go to than in PH. I will even go as far as to say that it's bigger than Ocarina of Time's overworld. The sidequests are fullfilling as well, not because of what you do to complete them (transport people or cargo) but because the results are new Tracks or new areas. The areas are all fun to explore, mostly because they have either a minigame or are challenging puzzle- wise. (I'm looking at you, End of the Earth Station.) And the minigames are all well done. (There's even a boss rush minigame that gets very difficult.) And now for the Train. Many people thought the Train would meant less exploration, and while that is true to a certain degree, it is a welcome innovation. The train itself is fun to customize (via peices of train gotten from Linebeck Trading) and they are all cool models, particularly the skull train. (It can blow the tune of the original Zelda Theme!) The travel can be tedious when you want to get somewhere, but even then it's not that bad. There are frustrating moments on it, like when you get trapped between 2 evil trains and you know you're toast. Even so, it's a cool way to get around Hyrule and I can't wait to see the next mode of transportation. 9.5/ 10
Final verdict: Buy this game. It's an epic adventure filled with fun.