'Spirit Tracks' adds twists to old premise
'Tracks' adds depth to previous installments in improved forms.
Published Dec. 8, 2009
Princesses are the laziest monarchs in the virtual world.
Despite having the previous knowledge of how their pursuers broke through their castle's defenses, they always get captured. Despite all their servants and guards, they just can't keep a single baddie out. Then, they have to wait to get rescued because they can't escape on their own (sounds like good grounds for a sexism lawsuit).
Whether your princess is in another castle or you have to jump through time and space and befriend a frog knight while rescuing her, there is always some poor sap charged with retrieving that damsel in distress.
"The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks" on the Nintendo DS takes a different route with this classic archetype. Instead of sitting back and letting the world go to hell, Princess Zelda gets off her ass and takes a role in Link's journey in the friendliest, ghostliest way possible: by possessing iron-clad Phantoms (like Casper, if he were useful).
Thanks to some new stereotypical baddies in Hyrule, Zelda loses her body and drifts around with only one person able to hear her (it sounds like every Carrot Top standup). If you discount the gloriously painful CD-I games "The Wand of Gamelon" and "Zelda's Adventure," this actually marks the first time in the main series Zelda is a usable character.
It's almost a give-in to say this game borrows heavily from the franchises' previous DS entry, "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass," but it actually does a great job of improving where its older brother dulled. In many ways it's just an extension of the "Phantom Hourglass" formula with better results.
It's basically the same game with a greater story, better 3-D graphics, less annoying backtracking (though this is still present) and a train instead of a boat for traveling around the world map. Link gets some awesome new weapons and enhancements to his shiny new spiritual equivalent of Thomas the Tank Engine to help keep things interesting.
Like the last time around, the controls are a stylus-only affair with one hand holding the dual-screened behemoth; it worked in "Phantom Hourglass" and it works here (unlike crappy games for the handheld like "Moon" and "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare").
There is also great use of the built-in microphone that enriches the gameplay. Unsurprisingly, in addition to the ocarina and recorder among others in the "Zelda" series, Link can apparently play another musical instrument: the Spirit Flute. It really adds another depth to the varying puzzles the series is known for throwing at players, and there sure are a lot of them.
The long-distance traveling is more streamlined but still gives some explorative qualities, the bosses are bigger and the puzzles are more satisfying. If you missed out on "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass," you should just skip it and get on the "Spirit Tracks" train because plainly, it's just a better, more polished experience.
Don't let the fact the game starts you in a conductor's uniform fool you. Although Link dons unfamiliar duds and is pimping a new locomotive ride, this is a "Zelda" game through and through. It's like George Carlin in the PBS program "Shining Time Station:" it's all for show.