Not what I expected, but fun and exciting on it's own.
I'm a die hard Zelda fan, so I own almost all of the games and know more or less the storyline they all fit into.
Spirit tracks throws that out the window, because on one side you have the train and the legend of the spirit tracks, which weren't present in and other Zelda game, and an all new bad guy who has never been mentioned before. However in Spirit Tracks there are descendants (the grandchildren to be more specific) of characters from Wind Waker, which occurred 100 years after Ocarina of Time. This left me very confused, you see, and frustrated with the Spirit Tracks storyline.
However, it is a fun game of its own right. For people who don't know the storyline of all the Zelda games strung together, I expect this would be an extremely fun game. For people like me, who know the storyline, well we just have to throw it out the window and ignore it until the game's over.
Travel by train can get a little restrictive, especialy for those of us who are used to roaming around Hyrule field freely, however we are distracted from our restrictions with an array of monsters and other things to blow up with our cannon while in the train.
The actual dungeon crawls are fun, and I must say, WAY better than the Wind Waker ones. While Link's weapons aren't exactly brand-new to the series, they're still fun to use and useful in the dungeon crawls. They make you think, although regrettably they're not that hard to figure out. Figuring out how to move from room to room inside the dungeon makes you stop and think for a moment. The bosses, if you know what to do, aren't at all that hard, but that may just be my Zelda series experience talking.
The game's own inner storyline (taken out of context from all the other Zelda games) is really cool too. It's independent and unique, and really keeps you playing. I've spent several days where I'd start playing early in the afternoon and I wouldn't even look up from the game until close to 1 or 2 in the morning!
All in all, it's a REALLY good stand alone game. It's storyline is unique, the gameplay is immersive, the characters are vast, there are opportunities for ALOT of side quests, and it's just difficult enough to make you feel good whenever you progress.
However (and I'm just speaking for myself here) it's REALLY hard to take a Zelda game seriously when it's in the cell shading (which is why Wind Waker was received so badly compared to Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess I think). And I'm sorry, nintendo, but Spirit Tracks just doesn't seem live up to the Zelda name.
My verdict:
A great game for a stand alone, but not quite up to Zelda snuff. Spirit Tracks gets an 8 out of 10 stars.Read full review
