Nintendo brought the E3 demo for Zelda: Spirit Tracks to PAX, and it feels awfully familiar. Players of Phantom Hourglass will recognize the cel-shaded art and the draw-to-interact mechanics (and perhaps the faintest whiff of reheated ideas), but old is boring. The demo notably offered vignettes of a dungeon crawl and a train run.

Seriously, who builds these things?
Dungeon crawling in Spirit Tracks looks like it’ll be virtually identical to Phantom Hourglass, which means derivative switch and key puzzles with a fair amount of polish. There was a new fan weapon that generates aimed whirlwinds when you blow into the mic, but even that is just a remix of Wind Waker’s leaf. It’s the sort of play that will be entertaining if you’re new to the franchise, but otherwise the ongoing monotony just leeches out the fun. On the bright side, there were no signs of timed dungeons, or even excessive backtracking.

Although most of the level and puzzle design feels repetitive, there has been one fundamental change since Phantom Hourglass. One of the invincible murder phantoms from the last game has evidently defected and now takes his orders from Link.

In a shocking coup for game design, your tagalong phantom hasn’t been irrevocably nerfed now that he’s playable. Instead, he lumbers and murders as invincibly as before, but the dungeons have been built to encourage cooperation between Link’s quick versatility and the phantom’s sturdiness. This mostly means coordinated switch activation and occasionally hiding behind your indestructible hate ghost, but there are some interesting mechanics that underlie the banal puzzles, like phantom riding.

Link can hop on the phantom’s shoulders and ride him through lava and other hazards. The phantom walks by following lines that you draw onscreen, and as he walks, you can control Link like a little blond turret. You have to switch focus between Link and the phantom to control each. So you usually end up plotting a course for the phantom and then focusing on Link to manage encroaching monsters. Phantom riding adds a dimension of planning to ordinary walking. It’s a little cumbersome, but it’s like playing a rail shooter where you lay your own rails.

There ain’t no gettin’ offa this train we on
Mine cart simulators are back, and look how they’ve grown! Ok, the track was completely flat, and the train doesn’t actually move very fast, but the point holds. If you’re old enough to remember the SNES heyday of mine cart simulators, then prepare for déjà vu.

Image used without permission
from GoNintendo.com

Train control in Spirit Tracks works much like boat piloting in Phantom Hourglass before it, less the route plotting. So there’s not much to do but watch the scenery go by and occasionally shoot at hostile critters. You do have to avoid hitting other trains, but a map of the entire rail system and occasional track junctions keep them non-threatening.

More interesting is the development team’s effort to expand the Zelda bestiary of deadly livestock. Cows and pigs litter the track and take offense when bombed or struck. Your train’s whistle does clear them off the track with minimal risk of injury and vengeance, but it’s disturbing that chicken terrorism is spreading to previously allied farm animals.

Train piloting wasn’t terribly engaging, but it was followed by a compelling tunnel battle. It wasn’t a boss fight in the “use a dungeon item to expose the weak spot” sense of the term, but a massive cave spider repeatedly rushed the train. The gameplay for this segment focused more on the strengths of rail shooters, which added some excitement to an otherwise sedate gameplay mode. It’s not exactly typical Zelda, but the tunnel battle mixed up the pacing and made the train gameplay more engaging.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be out this Fall. Check it out for an accessible entry point into the franchise or if you loved Phantom Hourglass. However, it’s looking safe to skip if you’ve played other entries in the series.

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