The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass AU Top 5

With The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass due to hit retail in Japan in the next few days, it's time to take another look at the reasons why (other than 'it's Zelda!') each and every DS owner out there should be either pre-ordering this game or learning Japanese so they can import it. Here are IGN AU's Top 5 reasons why we're going to be cryogenically freezing ourselves until this game comes out so we don't have to wait a minute longer.

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1) Full Stylus Control

This isn't just a Zelda game on DS - this is Zelda made from the ground up for DS. As such, this game utilises the touch screen for just about everything. This is a stylus driven adventure (wow, that'll make for an exciting bullet point on the back of the box: 'Marvel at the World's First Entirely Stylus-Driven Adventure!') and thankfully the gameplay is as intuitive as you'd expect.

Moving Link around is as simple as tapping where you want him to go on screen (tap somewhere close and he'll walk, tap further away and he'll run), or alternatively you can hold the stylus in front of him to guide him more accurately (and as expected he'll automatically jump across gaps when required). Talk to NPCs by tapping them, hold the stylus over an object to pick it up, then throw it by double tapping on screen, or tap a stone block to be given a choice of direction to push it.

Attacking enemies is straightforward as well - tap them with the stylus to slash them, or draw a circle around Link to bust out his trademark spinning attack. Other situations are similarly intuitive - if you've locked swords with another character, for instance, or are in the tentacled grip of a boss, you may have to rub the stylus across the screen to gain the upper hand or escape, respectively.

Touch-screen combat: the future has arrived!

Many of Link's trademark tools and weapons return in Phantom Hourglass, but the stylus gives them a whole new spin. To use the boomerang, for instance (as demonstrated in the video below), you simply draw in the path you'd like it to follow on-screen. This means you can curl it around corners and hit switches and objects you could never reach otherwise, not to mention using it in amongst swordplay. Expect to see the other usual suspects return, such as the bow and arrow, hookshot and bombs, except with a DS-licious twist.

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us!

Being a Zelda game set in the Wind Waker world, the player also spends a lot of time travelling from place to place, which brings its own host of stylus-based upgrades into the fold. Instead of setting the wind and manually sailing to your next destination, Phantom Hourglass puts you behind the wheel of a steamboat (no word yet on whether it's named 'Tugga'), allowing the player to use a top-down map to plot a course, which then frees you up to aim and fire cannons with the touch screen while sea-faring. Cool. Wind Waker fans will also be pleased to hear that you can always weigh anchor and send a winch down to the bottom of the sea in search of treasure.

Oddly enough though, one of the touch screen innovations we're most looking forward to is the ability to annotate the map. Say you need to connect the dots on a door in a particular order, or interact with objects in the correct sequence. As you discover the order, you're able to pull down the map from the top screen to the bottom, write in notes and then send it back up. This should be mandatory for every DS game with even a sniff of puzzle-solving or backtracking!

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2) A New Breed of Zelda

Each Zelda game builds on the titles that have come before, so while there are always new features and mechanics, the gameplay is still very much grounded in the traditions of the series. The same will certainly be true of Phantom Hourglass, but the very fact that the way we interact with its world has changed, letting us guide, draw, fight and solve with the stylus, in environments that - in terms of presentation at least - are somewhere between the 2D handheld games of old and the classic 3D console titles, means that this is still its own breed. Sure, you may still be wielding a boomerang, but drawing its path in fundamentally changes the experience, which, combined with the top-down presentation (for most of the game at least) and the dual screens should give rise to new styles of puzzles, challenges and exploration. Ultimately Nintendo is able to chop and change as required - letting you annotate a map on the top screen while exploring a dungeon, then pitting you against a boss across both screens. Miyamoto has also said the game will feature significant microphone input too.

Another interesting new aspect of Phantom Hourglass is the structure, with one master dungeon that you can get progressively further into as you complete other challenges throughout the world. Also interesting is the concept of the Phantom that patrols the dungeon - if he spots you he'll give chase and can kill Link in a single blow. No doubt the Phantom has been included to bring urgency and a greater sense of risk to certain sections.