Review: Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
by Patrick Barnett | Friday 23rd April 2010
The Review
The sequel to Phantom Hourglass lives up to its predecessor, improving on the handheld Zelda formula, without introducing a broad range of
new ideas. I found myself enjoying the experience, but it felt repetitive after playing its predecessor. If it were not for the inclusion of
a train in lieu of a boat, this could have been called Phantom Hourglass 2.0.
The greatest change in this game; are the railways that connect the various towns and dungeons. This gave the game a feel of connection and not just randomness, created by sailing around from island to island which were all radically different from each other. The train controlled in a simple fashion making these sections not very overwhelming, but also made them a bore. Few enemies and obstacles that were simple to avoid made the train a nice inclusion but only a hindrance in the way of getting to the next dungeon. The dungeons as always are the best part of these games. Nintendo always outdoes itself with the creative puzzles and inclusion of equipment to solve the puzzles. I thought the whip, which is vaguely familiar to the grappling hook was very clever and worked well. I still however get the feeling that all of this is something I have done before. Puzzles in the dungeons were once again challenging and were well thought out by developers, whether it be sliding blocks or pulling switches I never found these to get old Towns were set up exactly like they were in Phantom Hourglass; you go here, get this, go to dungeon. I did really enjoy this section of the game because again the dungeons are the only things you really can look forward to.
But what was entertaining in these out of dungeon segments was the flute you play various tunes on. These tunes do very different things, whether it be expanding the railways, or assisting you in finding hidden items. They weren't necessarily fun to play, but they added a level of mysteriousness.
Lastly I have to talk about the multiplayer in Spirit Tracks. Phantom Hourglass created a system which was thoroughly enjoyable; especially with the inclusion of an online component. For some reason in Spirit Tracks, Nintendo decided to completely throw out this fun experience, including the online and build a severely inferior multiplayer mode. In this multiplayer mode you simple compete to collect Tri-Force Gems as quickly as possible, against another opponent, you collect power-ups and so on to aid you in this task. The only issue is that it just isn't fun, I played it twice and got bored with it, I didn't think it was entertaining at all, especially since there were no challengers except for my close friends. The only benefit was the ability to 4 players at the same time, which made the experience slightly better.
Overall I think Spirit Tracks is a great game, but is hindered by the reputation of its superior predecessor. It did not bring anything new to the table and lagged in some of Phantom Hourglasses better segments. If you enjoyed the previous game and are looking for a similar 1-player experience, by all means grab this title, however if you are looking for both a multiplayer and single player experience, I don't suggest this. If you don't own either of the titles, I highly recommend getting the first one, as its quality is much better.
The greatest change in this game; are the railways that connect the various towns and dungeons. This gave the game a feel of connection and not just randomness, created by sailing around from island to island which were all radically different from each other. The train controlled in a simple fashion making these sections not very overwhelming, but also made them a bore. Few enemies and obstacles that were simple to avoid made the train a nice inclusion but only a hindrance in the way of getting to the next dungeon. The dungeons as always are the best part of these games. Nintendo always outdoes itself with the creative puzzles and inclusion of equipment to solve the puzzles. I thought the whip, which is vaguely familiar to the grappling hook was very clever and worked well. I still however get the feeling that all of this is something I have done before. Puzzles in the dungeons were once again challenging and were well thought out by developers, whether it be sliding blocks or pulling switches I never found these to get old Towns were set up exactly like they were in Phantom Hourglass; you go here, get this, go to dungeon. I did really enjoy this section of the game because again the dungeons are the only things you really can look forward to.
Game Images
But what was entertaining in these out of dungeon segments was the flute you play various tunes on. These tunes do very different things, whether it be expanding the railways, or assisting you in finding hidden items. They weren't necessarily fun to play, but they added a level of mysteriousness.
Lastly I have to talk about the multiplayer in Spirit Tracks. Phantom Hourglass created a system which was thoroughly enjoyable; especially with the inclusion of an online component. For some reason in Spirit Tracks, Nintendo decided to completely throw out this fun experience, including the online and build a severely inferior multiplayer mode. In this multiplayer mode you simple compete to collect Tri-Force Gems as quickly as possible, against another opponent, you collect power-ups and so on to aid you in this task. The only issue is that it just isn't fun, I played it twice and got bored with it, I didn't think it was entertaining at all, especially since there were no challengers except for my close friends. The only benefit was the ability to 4 players at the same time, which made the experience slightly better.
Overall I think Spirit Tracks is a great game, but is hindered by the reputation of its superior predecessor. It did not bring anything new to the table and lagged in some of Phantom Hourglasses better segments. If you enjoyed the previous game and are looking for a similar 1-player experience, by all means grab this title, however if you are looking for both a multiplayer and single player experience, I don't suggest this. If you don't own either of the titles, I highly recommend getting the first one, as its quality is much better.
Overall Score:
7.1