Thoughts on the new Zelda game.
So I've had a ton of times on my hand since school wrapped up for me, so I've been using the time to sneak in some quality gaming. I'm still slogging away at Final Fantasy III, and I still have to clear the last few levels on New Super Mario Bros Wii, but I'm at my parents house and I left the Wii back in Milwaukee. I've been spending the time playing copious amounts new Zelda game, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Although I have a few issues with the game (which relate heavily with the last Nintendo game I played...), I'm overall, I'm enjoying it. Note that I'm only half way through the game (just before the fourth temple), so my opinions may change once I complete the game.
For the most part, the game plays a lot like its predecessor, Phantom Hourglass (a game I liked a lot), with two big changes: the central hub temple doesn't require you to play the portions you've already played, and instead of tooling around the kingdom in a boat, now your on a train. The first change I'm apathetical about. I didn't mind doing the Ocean Temple over and over again, though the time-limit was kind of annoying. But I'm not so sure about the trains part. I have lots of fun driving the train around the kingdom, blowing the whistle all the time. But, it kind of betrays the spirit of exploration that has been a key part of every Zelda game since the first one (with the exception of the Four Swords Adventure but that was meant to be a multiplayer experience). Basically, in every other Zelda game, you could pretty much go anywhere, do anything. Like in Ocarina, you can see Mt. Doom in the distance, and then later venture to there. Even in the previous games with the boat, you can still pretty much go anywhere in the ocean (though Phantom Hourglass loved to impeded your progress.) But with the train, you're pretty much stuck on the track. New parts of the track open up as you progress, but it still feels painfully linear. Overall, the parts of the game that you play off the train feel like vignettes. Of course, it's pretty much exactly as it was before with the previous game, but at least that had the conceit that it took place on the high seas, and that you couldn't swim to island to island. Also, the train is kind of slow, so it can feel like it takes forever to get from one point to another. It kind of artificially extends the length of the game, in some regards.
There is a lot I like about the game. I really appreciated the many callbacks to Phantom Hourglass. I also liked how Zelda in this game has a much more active role in this game than in perhaps any other previous games. She's more or less Link's partner, and kind of fills in the role previously played your fairy friends/ Midna. The game still uses the stylus controls of Phantom Hourglass, so if you didn't like that game, you won't like them in this game. The only real difference is that rolling is a little easier now. It also makes heavy use of the microphone which is something a lot of other DS games seem to forget about. Other than that the game plays a lot like the previous game.
And yet...I don't know. The game is good, but it feels like it could be better. It's feels like an A level student only getting a B. It's still getting by with good grades, but it feels like they could be doing better. And that is really similar to my problems with NSMBW. It seems like with Nintendo's recent resurgence, they've been getting by with the least possible effort. It just feels like they are too secure in their position right now that they can justify putting out good, but not great games. Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, but it seemed like they used to make better games in the past. Games that went that extra mile. This new Nintendo is getting lazy. I'm not sure it bodes well for them...
For the most part, the game plays a lot like its predecessor, Phantom Hourglass (a game I liked a lot), with two big changes: the central hub temple doesn't require you to play the portions you've already played, and instead of tooling around the kingdom in a boat, now your on a train. The first change I'm apathetical about. I didn't mind doing the Ocean Temple over and over again, though the time-limit was kind of annoying. But I'm not so sure about the trains part. I have lots of fun driving the train around the kingdom, blowing the whistle all the time. But, it kind of betrays the spirit of exploration that has been a key part of every Zelda game since the first one (with the exception of the Four Swords Adventure but that was meant to be a multiplayer experience). Basically, in every other Zelda game, you could pretty much go anywhere, do anything. Like in Ocarina, you can see Mt. Doom in the distance, and then later venture to there. Even in the previous games with the boat, you can still pretty much go anywhere in the ocean (though Phantom Hourglass loved to impeded your progress.) But with the train, you're pretty much stuck on the track. New parts of the track open up as you progress, but it still feels painfully linear. Overall, the parts of the game that you play off the train feel like vignettes. Of course, it's pretty much exactly as it was before with the previous game, but at least that had the conceit that it took place on the high seas, and that you couldn't swim to island to island. Also, the train is kind of slow, so it can feel like it takes forever to get from one point to another. It kind of artificially extends the length of the game, in some regards.
There is a lot I like about the game. I really appreciated the many callbacks to Phantom Hourglass. I also liked how Zelda in this game has a much more active role in this game than in perhaps any other previous games. She's more or less Link's partner, and kind of fills in the role previously played your fairy friends/ Midna. The game still uses the stylus controls of Phantom Hourglass, so if you didn't like that game, you won't like them in this game. The only real difference is that rolling is a little easier now. It also makes heavy use of the microphone which is something a lot of other DS games seem to forget about. Other than that the game plays a lot like the previous game.
And yet...I don't know. The game is good, but it feels like it could be better. It's feels like an A level student only getting a B. It's still getting by with good grades, but it feels like they could be doing better. And that is really similar to my problems with NSMBW. It seems like with Nintendo's recent resurgence, they've been getting by with the least possible effort. It just feels like they are too secure in their position right now that they can justify putting out good, but not great games. Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, but it seemed like they used to make better games in the past. Games that went that extra mile. This new Nintendo is getting lazy. I'm not sure it bodes well for them...