The story is simple. Link, now a close chum of Tetra and her pirate crew, are galavanting over the ocean when they come across a Ghost Ship. In the tumult, Tetra is captured and now it's up to our favorite green-clad hero to save her. You start out washed up on some strange island and meet up with a fairy named Ciela and an old guy named Oshus who help you out on your quest. All in all, a typical Zelda story, and although it does get a bit more complicated later on, that's really all there is to it.

Some aspects of the game are lackluster in retrospect. There's nothing particularly exciting about the music, which features several reprisals of familiar themes in games past. The sound effects are what you expect from a Zelda game: Link's grunts, fairy twinkles, sword clanks and bomb explosions. In addition, the graphics, while clean, are not spectacular. Although it uses the top-down perspective for most sequences when you control Link, everything is rendered in the DS-style 3D. Therefore, the perspective may get altered a bit for specific boss battles, and the few cutscenes are rendered in a decent-looking full 3D perspective. On that note, all of the sea-navigating is done from a full 3D perspective as well, à la Wind Waker, however movement is accomplished by drawing the boat's path on the map (similar to Star Fox: Command). While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it sometimes makes sea-based battles a bit awkward. The camera and cannon is controlled on the lower screen while the boat is in motion by dragging the stylus around and tapping it to fire, but the map has to be brought up in order to draw or re-draw the route. While the sea navigation and combat isn't terrible, it's definitely less refined than the normal landlubber gameplay.

Despite its minor flaws, the gameplay is really what makes this game superb. Controls in the normal game are virtually perfect, and entirely innovative. Ciela, your fairy, acts as the cursor when you use the stylus to make Link run around screen. Items can be switched into the one available slot via a slide-out menu on the bottom screen, and can be activated by either tapping the icon or holding down L (a much friendlier control in quick combat situations). Each item has a unique control method and purpose. For example, the boomerang can follow whatever path you draw on the screen, while arrows travel in a straight line wherever you tap. Although the range of view is fairly small around Link (again, similar to the old top-down perspective), while using certain ranged items the field of view can be slid around Link offering a better grasp of the surroundings.

The map is also an extremely crucial aspect of the gameplay, moreso than any Zelda game to date. The map is always avialable on the upper screen (no more dungeon maps!), and you are constantly required to write notes on it in order to solve puzzles or as reminders of traps to avoid or tasks you must do. You will find yourself very rarely using the DS's buttons (aside from L or R) as almost everything is done on the touch screen. Somehow, Nintendo manages to integrate so many gameplay functions into one tiny touch screen, and it works magnificently. Phantom Hourglass even makes use of things like the microphone and folding screen (you'll understand if you play the game). On that note, even the Wi-Fi/multiplayer is solid. The game mode for Wi-Fi is a strategy game based on the control of Triforce pieces between two players on a field that switches back and forth between controlling Link and the enemy "phantoms." Despite the lack of penalty for quitting the game mid-match (no automatic "loss" for disconnecting), it's surprisingly addictive. It's sad that it took this long for a DS game to come so close to reaching the DS's full potential as a gaming console. However, while it may lack in other developmental areas, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass does just that.

Playing Phantom Hourglass is both a nostalgic and refreshing experience. It does justice to the Zelda franchise and makes great use of the hardware. Any Zelda fan should own this game, and if for some reason you were like me and put this game down after the first few minutes, don't make my mistake in waiting a year to pick it up again. Phantom Hourglass remains one of the best Nintendo DS experiences to date and should be a staple in any gamer's library.

Sound: 8/10 Graphics: 9/10 Replay: 6/10 Gameplay: 10/10 Overall: 9/10