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When
The Phantom Hourglass was released, it exceeded fan expectations, particularly following, as it did, the much-criticised
The Wind Waker (for its cartoony style and sailing elements, both of which were repeated and adjusted for the DS game).
Spirit Tracks takes core elements of The Phantom Hourglass and tweaks them back to an older style of Legend of Zelda gameplay. Where the latter made gameplay easier and more accessible, the former returns to a more lateral way of puzzle solving.
Where Spirit Tracks deviates is, of course, the titular train tracks and the train that runs on them. The game starts with our young hero, a newly fledged train engineer, heading off to his graduation ceremony at the Hyrule palace on his train. You want to get used to that train—you'll be spending a lot of time using it to get from a to b. To be perfectly honest, it seems a little like too much time; unlike The Phantom Hourglass, where you could draw a direct path on your screen, Spirit Tracks forces you to use the exact paths as they are laid out.
Nevertheless, rattling along the tracks and blowing the train's whistle is fun, and the controls are simple enough that you can engage in combat without slowing down. The fishing mini-game has been replaced with rabbit-catching, meaning you need to peer closely at the landscape while it rumbles past to find the bunnies hidden behind rocks or barrels—all of which combines to make the traveling less arduous. And, as you restore the tracks, you will be able to make use of a teleport system to cut down on rail-time.
