I finally gave into my inner urges. No, you don’t have to hide your daughters. Those urges can be fixed with a rubberband, a microwave and a handful of sliced ham. I have urges that dig much deeper than that. I hated littering my own personal Tumblr with fanboy rants and ravings instead of littering it with thoughts that I, and only I, deemed necessary to share with the world.
This blog is dedicated to my thoughts and opinions on the very forms of media sucking the life out of me. I figured I’m opinionated enough to be obnoxious, and I also have the free time and will to carelessly throw my life away to video games.
My first “review” is fitting enough. One thing I’ll go ahead and make clear. I don’t joke around with the Legend of Zelda. It may seem like I’m biased towards Nintendo - but that’s with good reason. Save for the past two years, Nintendo usually makes consistently good games. So it’s only natural that I’d choose The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks as my first punching bag. Enjoy!
- Ryan
When the winds carry a tale of a new outing for Link, my body goes through a series of changes. Usually (but not restricted to) my delicates. This wasn’t the case upon the announcement of Spirit Tracks. Looking back, I probably took the best approach. I viewed it as a recycled rehash of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass thrown at Nintendo’s rabid fanbase in order to keep them from going completely feral in the sea of Wii Fit, Wii Fit +, Wii Fit Advanced, Wii Fit the Next Generation, Wii Sports Alaskan Survival, etcetera etcetera. Of course I wasn’t going to say “no” to a new Zelda, but my pants certainly didn’t get any tighter.
Spirit Tracks is set roughly a hundred years after the events of Phantom Hourglass. It’s heavily implied in the game that the generation of characters in this era are the grandchildren of the cast and crew from The Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass. One character, Niko, even returns as an old man. That’s right kids. Eat your veggies and you too can live 100+ years and used by Nintendo to see how much they can screw with people and get away with it. Link and Tetra discovered a new land to call their beloved Hyrule. Unfortunately the land was inhabited by a demon king beforehand and sealed away by a group of spirits under a tower which served as a lock. Train tracks were then placed to serve as the chains. Thus, the name “Spirit Tracks”. Eh? Get it? Spirit Tracks?
Interestingly enough, Zelda joins Link for the adventure this time - a first in the Zelda series; although for the most part, she works as a guide mechanism in the same vein as Navi/Tatl/King of Red Lions/obvious Game Device. While through the bulk of the game she directs you on your objectives and makes you want to strangle her for stating the obvious about everything for the first half of the game, during the recurring Spirit Temple sections Zelda possesses a suit of armor, or a Phantom (ala Full Metal Alchemist) in order to mix things up for a little cooperative dungeon play. The phantom is controlled by drawing a path with the stylus. Zelda will help Link (that’s you) travel across lava, distract enemies, cross spikes, block bolders.. just about anything that the dungeon conveniently wants to throw at you. Which made me wonder, what if the temple architects made the temple around the idea of 3 people? How SOL would they be then? Anyway. Besides the point.
Like Phantom Hourglass, the game is controlled completely with the stylus. The D-pad, which isn’t even necessary is only used to bring up the map which you can scribble notes or dirty pictures on (you can identify exactly which dungeons I got frustrated with by the awkwardly shaped and aggressively drawn penis stretching across the map). While it certainly doesn’t add to the level of control we’ve had in more traditional games, I can’t say that it takes away from it either. It’s certainly not gimmicky, which is what you’re used to seeing on the DS. But that’s a point I’ll touch on later. It’s more of a different interpretation of the way you can play Zelda. There’s a missed action here and there. I would accidentally drop in a pit instead of tossing a vase once in awhile, but nothing excessive. The controls are also a little fine-tuned from Phantom Hourglass. Rolling is just a matter of double-tapping rather than trying to recreate the roof of the Sistine Chapel on your DS screen. Plus, there’s a guilty sense of satisfaction while cramming your face full of stale potato chips and playing your video games seamlessly without putting so much as a hiccup in the flow of gaming.
The game’s guilty of starting ridiculously easy. So much that I was a bit skeptical at first, but by the time I reached my last dungeon I was ready to rip my own balls out because I’m the selfless kind of guy who wouldn’t want to bring children into a world so calloused and cold to have a 23 floor Spirit Tower. For each typical “stand on the switch, get the key, unlock door, fight boss” dungeon there’s an equally challenging dungeon. The same is said for boss fights. Some are the same old “been there, done that” fight seen throughout the Zelda franchise. Others are a breath of fresh air that can only be pulled off on a system like the DS. I would even go as far as to say two of the bosses might have one of my favorites so far in the series. New items (including one of my favorite Zelda items of all time now.. the Snake Whip) make their debut appearance and aren’t just discarded after the end of the temple. My only gripe is that they recycled a lot of items from Phantom Hourglass.. and once you fill your item list, it still feels a bit lacking compared to the other 2D handheld Zeldas.
In terms of sidequests, there are plenty to do. Transporting people from Town A to Town B. Delivering goods using your freight train. Collecting stamps in a stamp book. Collecting rabbits (Yes. It’s Zelda.). My only complaint is that they can seem pretty redundant, and I wouldn’t really call them challenging. Or rewarding, for that matter. While collecting treasure allows you to opt-in for some customizable parts for your train, delivering townsfolk only make.. more tracks. Which don’t really serve a purpose rather than.. overworld shortcuts? It’s satisfying to complete - but it doesn’t really go beyond that.
One thing I’d praise Spirit Tracks on is the use of the DS hardware. Where other companies will take the DS and feel like they’re forced to do the generics with the touch screen and microphone, Spirit Tracks utilizes both in unique and innovative ways WITHOUT feeling like it was forced in, simply because it’s a DS. For instance, Link uses a panflute to play melodies. In order to use it, you slide the pan flute from left to right on the touch screen while blowing into the microphone. While it can be off from time to time, I have to admit that it’s surprisingly engrossing. Sometimes I felt like I was really playing a panflute. Another item that Link uses blows gusts from a plant-like fan which is also activated by blowing on the DS. While you’ll look like an absolute schizophrenic blowing into your DS in public, it’s still a neat idea that doesn’t feel obligated to the hardware.
In terms of a DS game, I don’t think you can get much more quality than this. It’s an expansive game, easily breaking the 10-15 hour mark. More if you want to dedicate your time to the sidequests. While characters like like pixelated pear-headed babychildren, it’s one of the better looking DS games I’ve played. I do think Nintendo was a bit lazy using the same models from previous incarnations.. especially considering that these are NOT the Wind Waker characters. Usually different Links have a slightly altered model. So I’d have to dock points on Nintendo for not at least mixing it up a little bit. The environments (the train areas specifically) are large and impressive, even beyond the DS’s standards (although you ARE restricted to a train track). Production is high and there’s PLENTY to do to eat up your time. It’s not a game that you’ll pick up and be done with after a three hour road trip. It fixes most of, if not all of the shortcomings of Phantom Hourglass and definitely makes it one of the more deserving Zelda outings.. while still feeling like it lacked the depth of Link’s Awakening and the Oracle games.
If you have a DS, it’d be a shame not to pick this up. More worthy of an adventure than Phantom Hourglass and one of the best portable adventure games money can buy.
9/10
