Topic: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks First Impressions

Anyone else get the game yet? I grabbed it last night and I must say, I'm somewhat disappointed. To my dismay, the game is actually EASIER than Phantom Hourglass. I didn't even have to think about the puzzles and I'm actually terrible at Zelda in general. I'm blasting through the game, as it is rather linear. Speaking of linear, the train is basically a boat but you lose the jumping function, customization comes later (haven't got there yet, on my way to dungeon 3) and you're stuck on tracks. You basically sit there and watch, the occasional animal will come onto the track or enemy will pop up, but they'll be dispatched in half a second by the cannon.

Zelda games have gotten slower and slower. I wouldn't give up hope so early unless there is nothing interesting about the game whatsoever, which as a Phantom Hourglass sequel, may well be the case.

By the way, could you confirm if there is wi-fi for the game or not?

IGN said the game holds your hand the first few hours in, and then starts getting challenging.

I haven't tried battle yet, but I looked in the menus. No option for Wi-Fi under battle mode (just the 4 player download battles) and no Wi-Fi setup option anywhere.

Danggummit. Well, thanks anyway.

I just ordered this from BestBuy.com today, as it doesn't come out here until Tuesday. I haven't beaten Phantom Hourglass yet, but I really like it so far, so I am not worried about this being good, it will be great.

I really hope the whole the game isn't easy, I thought IGN said it was a lot harder and longer.

I'm not sure how much longer the game has for the difficulty to amp up. I'm on the third dungeon and it's still ridiculously easy. There are only four dungeons in the whole games, plus the spirit temple. I've been playing for a day and it seems like I'm nearly done the whole thing.

Four dungeons? There must be some mistake.

Huh, they also said it should last well over the 20 hour mark. Maybe IGN's editors have the brains of 5 year olds or something? lol.

No, one of the reviews says only four dungeons, but it also notes the world is "bigger" than before, so there must be more to it than this. Maybe having to redo the dungeons, or maybe there are a lot of other challenges outside? Your guess is as good as mine.

The ratings I've seen thus far suggest that anyone who enjoyed Phantom Hourglass will likely enjoy this one even more, so that's endorsement enough as far as I'm concerned.

I completely forgot it was already out; I guess I'll have to go pick it up. I need to stop buying myself so many Christmas presents this month.

EDIT - I see now that it actually releases tomorrow (the 7th); how did you get it on the 5th?

I'm starting to get disappointed.

This just keeps getting better and better.

Not sure, I guess the stores just had it early. Usually Sunday is the day of new games (today).

@Adam-The world is certainly doesn't seem much larger alright. It still spans four maps like in PH. Each of the four maps has about two main things in it, plus several small places like the rabbit area (you now catch rabbits instead of fish). Unless the fourth map is absolutely bursting with content, I'd say ST is the same size as PH or smaller (smaller because PH gave you room to boat around, in ST you are confined to the tracks).

Everything you're saying is exactly the opposite of all the reviews I've read. So either every critical review I've read is a farse, or you're just really, really wrong. I don't know what to think--I haven't gotten a call from Gamestop confirming that my preorder is coming in...so that concerns me. Is it coming in tomorrow or Tuesday?

If ST is easy, that's fine. I'm not the best when it comes to puzzles anyway. Either way, I'll find out when I get my hands on ST tomorrow. As for no online multiplayer modes, it doesn't matter to me because I currently do not have Wi-fi for any of my handhelds. But if that changes in the future, then I might buy PH later on.

As of yet, I haven't seen anything overly challenging. I've just finished the fourth floor of the Tower after beating the Ocean Temple.

But boy, this game is awesome! Although it will probably be much more fun if you haven't played Phantom Hourglass. That game was highly original with many cool ways to use the touch screen. Many puzzles are simply variations of the ones in Phantom Hourlgass. Still, there are some very clever puzzles in the game and the Phantom Zelda mechanic is brilliant. The boss battles in the game are some of the most creative and fun I've seen in the series.

In a word: Fantastic. The puzzles are much more creative than PH, and the dungeon design is some of the best in Zelda history. The Ice Temple just may be my favorite Zelda dungeon ever (and it had me scratching my head more than a few times). The use of the mic is wonderful; Spirit Pipes are loads of fun to play (I've wasted quite a bit of time just trying to play classic Zelda tunes on it). I'm also having a love affair with this train: it's a joy just to ride around the countryside, listen to the epic music, hunt for rabbits, and blast enemies. The tag-team elements are brilliant, and it's an all around much more challenging game than Phantom Hourglass.

I always considered Phantom Hourglass to be the best DS game, and Spirit Tracks surpasses it in every imaginable way.

im gonna get it with my christmas money