Planet Sillicon

But ghosts don’t leave tracks…

By blog on Dec. 20, 2009.

It occurred to me that the name of the new Zelda game, Spirit Tracks, was a little odd… I mean, ghosts don’t leave tracks… they can’t? In terms of the game it does make sense, but it’s also still a little humorous in my opinion.

I know, I know, I’ve got at least one rant around here somewhere about being annoyed with the upcoming Zelda game, that a train felt very limited compared to the boat seen in previous games, and yeah, I’d still prefer something else, but I’m actually enjoying the game nonetheless.

Okay so lets see, where to start… I know that some are frustrated that the controls remained the same and that you still have to control Link via the stylus, and I can see why, but apart from the occasional time where you only want to move a very small amount, I don’t mind the stylus controls. I like being able to tap items rather than have to run up to them and press ‘A’ and also like the sword control, so it doesn’t bother me really.

The story line is good old Zelda style; it’s nice to see that even though their ideas might not be my favourite, they still have the ‘Zelda’ knack of making the game enjoyable. Running around with Princess Zelda makes for a nice change from seeing her for a total of five minutes in the entire game, though she is a ghost the company is still refreshing. It’s a little reminiscent of Twilight Princess in that regard, I suppose. The dungeons are good but they are a little easy. I’d not needed to use either a potion or the ‘Song of Healing’ until the boss fight in the Snow Temple, so I do feel like the difficulty could stand to go up a bit.

The train rides are… well… irritating at times. They can be very tedious, unless you decide you’re going to treat it like the journey is as worthy as getting to the destination. Perhaps that’s an English thing, I’m not sure, but I do find that I have to have a certain mental approach to getting from place to place, lest I find myself becoming frustrated very quickly.

I like that Beedle is running around in a hot air balloon in this iteration, I’d thought he’d be on a train as well, though I can see that being a problem. I can’t stand the stupid ‘bad’ trains that run around in certain areas, purely because you never get the chance to fully blow them up with your cannon. All you can do is slow them down, and if they hit you, you go back to where you began your journey, and VERY irritating occurrence!

All in all it’s still a fun Zelda game, however I think the IGN rating on the game is a tad fanboyish, it’s a really fun game, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not sure if it deserves a 9.3 rating, perhaps a 9.0 would be more fitting? It’s hard to decide because the game really is extremely fun! I mean sure, it’s not that challenging, but it’s no slouch, either. It’s a super fun game and I’m going to stop blabbing about it here and go play the damn thing!

Oh, and I’m going to just say it here and now, I’m hoping there will be a third instalment in this DS series of Zelda games in which we get to travel around in a hot air balloon like Beedle, or perhaps an air ship.