GC 2006: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Preview

August 26th, 2006, 11:59 Posted By: wraggster

Via IGN

The Phantom Hourglass Demo at Games Convention was the same as the Demo at E3 this May, but the game is so important that we want to give you our newest impressions on Link's next adventure.



The Games Convention demo offers four different areas to explore: Field, Sea, Dungeon and a boss fight. In "Field" you have to guide Link across a huge area and search for four marks to open the door to a cave. In "Sea" you'll draw a route on the touch screen and send Link on his way through the waterways. While shipping you will come across enemies and have to attack them with the board cannon by tapping on them. The Dungeon level gives you a first glimpse of the puzzles the game will feature. You have to find your way through hazards, all the while wiping out enemies and search for new items - essentially doing all of the things that Zelda fans expect in any of Link's adventures.

The boss fight shows off the dual-screen pairing as a single display on the Nintendo DS - this fight takes place on both screens of the DS. The bad guy flies on the top screen and Link has to throw bombs into small hurricanes on the touch screen to get him down and beat him with his sword. After a few hits he is history.

While the graphics really looks a lot like "Wind Waker" on GameCube it's clear that the DS isn't so powerful Still "Phantom Hourglass" is a really beautiful game because the comic style fits to the style of Zelda games. The brand new control scheme offers a unique experience in the series. It is really intuitive to guide Link around with the stylus and kill enemies by tapping on them. Even people who have never played any Zelda game ever will know what to do after a few minutes with the game.

Sadly the game hasn't got a launch date yet. Even though players expected it this holiday season it is extremely likely that we will have to wait until 2007 before exploring the dungeons with Link on the Nintendo DS.

But that's not all that bad a wait considering the Wii and GameCube versions of Twilight Princess will be hitting this holiday. That should hold you over just fine.

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