From the franchise that just won't die, here comes latest installment in the Zelda series: Spirit Tracks, or Stracks. If you've played video games before, chances are you've played a zelda game at least once in your life time. There are a dozen or so with the same basic premise. Now i'm not going to be the one to say "having the same basic premise" is a bad thing; what's so different in any other game franchise? Yet many escape that same criticism mostly because video game critiquing is dominated by fan-boys who are, by definition, morons. Yup, all of you.
I, however, am not a fanboy (one of the few, proud and elite!). But i am a fan. I like the zelda games and it's not because i've got strong emotional attachments to Nintendo, or whatever, but because the games are very consistently good. But this isn't a rant about why i like what. This is a review, so let's get to that.
Gameplay and Control
Ah, control. The controls are largely similar to Phantom Hourglass, but that's not a bad thing. It's still one of the best all-stylus controlled games i've played on the DS.
There's been some improvements over Phantom Hourglass, aswell. The roll attack used to be done by "drawing small circles" (which was difficult for the game to discern, especially in a pinch), but is now done by simply double-tapping the location where you want to roll. This makes it easier to perform the move, but oddly, there's less reason for you to ever need to use the move. This has the paradoxical problem of actually making this improvement of control a negative for control since not only will you never need to roll, but you'll find yourself rolling all over the place in the heat of battle as you tap vigourously all around your screen at the numerous enemies.
Gameplay in general is top notch. Puzzles are fun, killing stuff's fun - the great stuff about the Zelda franchise is all there. Gone, too, are the gimmicky tactics of Phantom Hourglass, like the temple you continuously return to over and over again and needless screaming into the mic at every other turn (and there was much rejoicing). The only downside is sometimes the 3D can screw up puzzle solving.
One example is an item that would raise sand. You use the sand to "roll" giant cubes into their appropriate spots. Thing is, in a small space, it's more likely you'll accidentally roll the wrong cube or the cube you want in the wrong direction since the place you have to point on the screen is actually hidden behind an object in the foreground. The immediate inclination of a player is to point at the visible spaces on the map, so it can become quite frustrating when doing so actually sets you back 2 or three steps in your solution. It's hard to explain, but it's certainly an issue.
The overall challenge level of the game has been increased from Phantom Hourglass. This was done by making the puzzles harder and combat a little more rigourous. I was pleased Nintendo didn't lean too heavily on lazy-programming tactics and fake difficulty, like limiting saves or cluttered gameplay requiring hours of practice to "master" for their challenge. This probably means the "hardcore" crowd will still not be pleased, but getting 2/3rds of the way through the word "fun" (by their definition) is exactly the sentiment they deserve.
The money equation has been fixed, but not to the point of being rebroken. No longer are you swimming in cash as in every Zelda game since Link to the Past, but neither are you starved for basic supplies as in the very first Zelda games.
There's still a number of frustratingly unfun minigames. The rabbit catching mini-game, particularly, is hare-pullingly frustrating! (ed: boo!)
My biggest qualm about Spirit Tracks, however, is the lack of mobility one has in the game. While "train" is certainly an improvement from "boat", i don't feel it's enough of one. It gets remarkably frustrating to ride the rails around the land when all you want to do is check which rare pieces of treasure each shop happens to be stocking today.
The warping is awful. Unlocking all the warp spots is of little value since they act like portals that always lead to the same places. Why can't i enter one portal and then select the portal i want to emerge from? Why do they always lead to the same bloody places?
The short answer might seem to be: "i dunno", but the actual answer is as a point of fake difficulty to increase the "challenge" as the game essentially rail-roads you along the routes the game wants you to take.
Graphics and Music
The music is disappointing. The selection of music is basically: opening screen, file select screen, town theme, temple theme, train theme. They're not even particularly imaginative songs and they quickly drift into the background to a degree so great you might as well mute your DS.
Graphics push the DS to the limits. I know this because there were times when the game would slow down in response to enemies spawning. With the exception of graphics whores everywhere, i can't imagine anyone complaining too much about this aspect. Prove me wrong, graphics whores. Prove me wrong.
Story
The story is slow to pick up, but once it's there it's just as solid as previous recent zelda titles. This is both a blessing and a curse. In one regard, that means it's essentially an excuse to go from temple to temple, but the plus side is for long-term fans of the franchise, the story does in fact seem to be making an effort to fill in some of the timeline holes that currently litter the Zelda universe.
Ultimately, though, if you're expecting Shakespear, look elsewhere. Of course, if you're expecting Shakespear, what the hell are you doing playing video games at all?
Characters
Zelda is fleshed out considerably well. Lots of people quote that she's no longer "just a damsel in distress"... which is sort of erroneous, since she's not been "just a damsel in distress" from about Ocarina of Time onward, having played important rolls in that game, Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass.
However, it is true that Zelda is much more involved in this game with the player gaining explicit control of her at times. The game frames this as "Link" being able to get Zelda to do whatever he wants with only a series of vocal commands. Yup, anything at all. Anything. The only real exception is when rats are involved, at which point Zelda becomes paralyzed with fear.
Most of the other characters get zero character development. The bad guy's not even mentioned by the main characters for most of the game. It's also, er, "surprising" (?) that the last boss is not Ganon, but another demon named Malladus. Not much is known about him, though, since the game goes out of its way to never mention what he's doing for most of the game. Fortunately, whatever he's doing, there's no degree of urgency to head off and stop him and you can spend as much time as you want between temples wandering around completing minigames, finding treasure and using your train to ferry the ungrateful masses between towns.
Final Comments
Spirit Tracks is definitely an improvement over Phantom Hourglass despite what Metacritic's composite rating system seems to think.
With three endings, train cars to collect (which are less annoying than boat components to collect) and 6 temples (including the Temple of Spirits) to go through, the quest is a good length. Increased challenge, better use of characters and a fixed money equation also add to the games list of admirable qualities.
Biggest qualm overall? Less random enemies. There's many more interesting and challenging puzzles in return, but i do miss killing the random enemies that used to litter temples and the over world. Part of this is because much of your travel is via train. But firing at things with a canon is just not as much fun as slashing it with the sword (which is what all the zelda fans want to do, anyway).
2.5 out of 3 triforces. Let's just say that's an A-.
