The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

It took me nearly half a decade to finish this one. Not that it’s terribly difficult, I just put it down at some point and forgot to finish it. I suppose that’s not really a ringing endorsement. Oh well.

This installment in the series feels much like its predecessor, The Phantom Hourglass. The hook here is that over world travel takes place on trains rather than boats. Also, this time around Zelda is with you as a spirit who can possess the bodies of various armored “phantoms”. This leads to some decent puzzles in which you need to control both characters in order to achieve your goals.

I apparently left off at the last dungeon and had to relearn all the various moves and monster types. The learning curve is really steep if you jump in at the end like I did and that’s probably why it took such an effort to get back in to the game. Oh and, dear gawd, the final battle is frustrating. Stylus movement is good for puzzles but sucks when you need to have quick reflexes to win. Had I played it all the way through without the hiatus I would probably rank this higher, but my procrastination soured the experience a little.