When Phantom Hourglass was revealed at GDC this year, many people were excited to see the Wind Waker art style live on. More people were curious as to how players would control Link. Well I was able to play through all five of the demos available on the show floor and the best way to describe the game is, ‘different.’

In Phantom Hourglass you are actually controlling the fairy that you see flying around Link. You touch the screen, the fairy flies under your stylus, and Link runs after him. 95% of the time you will only use the stylus to play this game.

Link attacks in two ways. If you tap on an enemy, he will run to him and make one controlled swing. This works well for enemies that take just one hit. If the enemy survives though, Link will be left vulnerable. This technique requires a certain level of timing. Don’t send Link to his doom. You can also just slide the stylus back and forth on the screen rapidly when Link is close by. This will make him randomly slash around, which is the best way to cut all of the grass. Although this system works, I wouldn't desribe it as comfortable. I felt quite detached from the whole experience. Though it is still quite active, it has a certain RPG / Turn-based feel to it that doesn't feel right in a Zelda title.

As in other Zeldas, there are plenty of pots and barrels that Link can pick up and smash open. To do this with the stylus, you simply tap on the item you want to pick up and then tap on your target to send it flying. If you tap right next to Link, he will set it down nicely and it won’t break.

The demos available were very interesting. Four of them showed off the different parts of the main game. The fifth showed off a surprisingly fun multiplayer mode. The main game feels like a classic top-down Zelda. Puzzles are interesting. In the overworld demo you are sent on an information gathering mission. It starts by showing you five locations on a map. You are prompted to open up your own map and take note of these locations. Upon traveling to each of these locations, you will be given clues that you can also jot down on your map. Once completed, you return to the start and, using the clues, you can move on to the dungeon. It wasn’t as much a puzzle as it was a fetch quest. The clues were very obvious. In the demo itself, it was a lot of fun. The ability to write notes on your map and have them be constantly displayed on the second screen is quite cool. Hopefully this ‘fetch the clues’ type of puzzle won’t be overused in the final game.

The boss fight was very well done and took place on both screens. As the boss flies overhead, Link has to throw bombs into tornados to knock him down. This is where the stylus control makes sense. While playing I imagined myself trying to do the same task with classic Zelda controls. Aiming would have been very frustrating if that were the case.

Much to the chagrin of many, boat travel returns in this game. It is handled significantly different though. You never actively steer the boat. Instead, you plot out a course first and then man the canon while the boat makes the trip. At any point during your travels, you can alter your course. This comes in handy if you see points of interest on an island. Canon control is a breeze with the stylus. Tap a spot, and you shoot there. The demo showed off one at sea boss fight as well. It is a surprise attack. Firstly, you have to plot a new attack pattern. For me, this was a repeated ‘U’ shape around him. Once you have a good route, you let the canon balls fly. It was very effective and is definitely an improvement over sea travel in Wind Waker.

Easily the most surprising part of the Phantom Hourglass demos was the multiplayer one. It is basically a game of Capture the Flag, or in this case, Capture the Triforce. There is one significant twist though. Instead of having both players going after Triforce pieces together, players alternate between offense and defense. When on offense, you control Link just as you do in the main game. You run to a piece of Triforce, pick it up, and take it back to your base. Your opponent will try to stop you though. On his screen he sees an overview of the entire map. On this map, he has three different soldiers to control. This is done by giving them orders with the stylus. You must trace a path and they will take that path. If they see Link, they will take him down and the round will end.

Link also has a map showing the entire screen. When Link is not carrying a Triforce piece, he cannot see the soldiers on his screen, but the soldiers can see him. Once he gets hold of a Triforce piece, these roles reverse. He becomes invisible to the soldiers, and they become visible to him.

Points are scored based on the size of the Triforce piece brought back to base. The bigger the piece, the slower Link will walk, and more points will be awarded. There was only a two player setup on the show floor, but representatives said that four people will be able to play when the game ships.

Overall I am still undecided as to how I feel about the controls. I can’t help but ask, “What’s the point?" Don’t count it out yet. It may only feel weird because it is different. There are aspects of the game that fit the scheme incredibly well; combat just doesn’t seem to be one of them.