Minimally Exceptional

Confession: I am a sucker for all things Zelda, so odds are good that I will play and enjoy whatever Nintendo puts out (even when they go off the rails a little bit). Spirit Tracks came out recently, so naturally I picked this up on the day it was released.

Right now I am about halfway through Spirit Tracks – I have finished the first two dungeons and a handful of side quest activities. So far it is indeed a little bit “off the rails”.

If you are familiar with the Zelda formula then there is nothing groundbreaking here: dungeon based fighting and puzzle solving with various power ups, tools, and weapons that you find as your quest continues. This is not a bad thing, as even after all of these years the Zelda formula is still generally fun and designers somehow manage to keep world and level designs fresh. I say that it’s generally fun because while I have had fun with it so far, I have been suffering from bouts of disinterest that keep me from going back to it as often as I normally would. This could just be because I’m busy as shit at work and don’t feel much like gaming in my off time, or it could be because I typically despise DS games that exclusively control with the stylus and don’t offer any other control options.

Regardless, the premise of the game is at least a little odd. Link uses a train to traverse the world, and you have to guide the train along the train tracks to get to the various destinations where you embark on typical Zelda-esque activities. Often the destinations are unavailable because the tracks have disappeared, and so a big part of the game is restoring the tracks through relics found in the various dungeons. This is all well and good, but I have caught myself more than once thinking “Can’t you just get off the damn train and WALK??? The tower is RIGHT THERE.”

Anyway, now that things are settling down at work some hopefully I’ll have the motivation to pick this back up soon. Not only does it bother me that I’ve put it off for so long, but there are two or three other handheld games that are still in the queue.