This game is criminally underrated. It executes everything that a core Zelda experience should. First of all, the dungeons are really good. The Snow and Sand temples especially stuck out as having great puzzles that used the touch screen in cool ways and stretched my brain. The Tower of Spirits was a bit hit or miss, but it had some cool moments. I did not like the last section in the tower because of all the phantom backtracking you do though. The dungeons are also enriched by some of the best bosses in the entire series. I would name the ones I liked the most but they were all good and had more phases than most Zelda bosses do, giving them major sticking power in my memory. I do have to give props to Fraz though for being such a cool boss. MAN the snow temple rules.
Anyway, the gameplay in between the dungeons was also pretty neat outside of a few of those mainline backtrackers. There were neat little puzzles, cool Lokomo pan flute duets, and fun stations to explore. I actually think riding the train around is a pretty neat gimmick, and it was pretty cool for the first 10-15 hours of the playthrough. However, it definitely starts to get boring later on and the charm starts to wear off, especially for me because I was going for all heart pieces and force gems. This is probably one of the worst Zelda's for side quests. They are all backtracking fetch quests which just make you a trucker across the map. The game does have some sick mini-games though i.e. Goron Target Range, Pirate Hideout, and Sword Training.
The Story is just okay until you get to the very end and then it becomes kinda amazing. That ending is definitely among the best in the series for both cool moments and gameplay. There are like 5 different boss fights that pretty much all hit, and there's like 10 new songs that drop during that ending that are all bangers. The soundtrack in general is pretty good. The train, underwater, field, chancellor cole, Lokomo duet, and Byrne themes are standouts for sure.
Overall, this is another really good Zelda game worth playing that gets a bad rap. It executes what is important in a Zelda game with what I think is actually a pretty cool main gimmick. It is one of the worst Zelda's for side content FWIW
Anyway, the gameplay in between the dungeons was also pretty neat outside of a few of those mainline backtrackers. There were neat little puzzles, cool Lokomo pan flute duets, and fun stations to explore. I actually think riding the train around is a pretty neat gimmick, and it was pretty cool for the first 10-15 hours of the playthrough. However, it definitely starts to get boring later on and the charm starts to wear off, especially for me because I was going for all heart pieces and force gems. This is probably one of the worst Zelda's for side quests. They are all backtracking fetch quests which just make you a trucker across the map. The game does have some sick mini-games though i.e. Goron Target Range, Pirate Hideout, and Sword Training.
The Story is just okay until you get to the very end and then it becomes kinda amazing. That ending is definitely among the best in the series for both cool moments and gameplay. There are like 5 different boss fights that pretty much all hit, and there's like 10 new songs that drop during that ending that are all bangers. The soundtrack in general is pretty good. The train, underwater, field, chancellor cole, Lokomo duet, and Byrne themes are standouts for sure.
Overall, this is another really good Zelda game worth playing that gets a bad rap. It executes what is important in a Zelda game with what I think is actually a pretty cool main gimmick. It is one of the worst Zelda's for side content FWIW