Luckily, Spirit Tracks turned out great! Not only is the dungeon gameplay an overall improvement on all the ideas introduced on Phantom Hourglass, but the out of dungeon gameplay (train stuff) is actually really fun and addictive in it's own right. The main quest starts off really easy but the dungeons gradually become some of the hardest Zelda dungeons ever. The difficulty curve is weirdly consistent, unlike most Zelda games where you have 3 easy dungeons and 8 hard dungeons; each dungeon in this game is a slight step up in difficulty from the last to the point where the last few dungeons more difficult than you'd expect a Zelda dungeon to even get. You may find yourself spending up to 10 minutes doing trial and error on a single room. But that's fine because the gameplay is fun and the solutions are usually satisfying.

Dungeon Gameplay
The dungeon gameplay is very much similar to Phantom Hourglass. You can drag and tap on the screen to control Link and perform sword attacks, and hold the L or R button (or tap an icon) to use items. Many of the items are the same as Phantom Hourglass, but a lot of the old items are used in new and interesting ways.

One of the biggest changes is that the boomerang can pick up both fire and ice flames and will chill or heat the path drawn for it. So a lot of boomerang puzzles involve things like drawing ice floors on the surface of water, melting snow, and lighting torches.

Two of the new items, the whip and the whirlwind, add a lot of the gameplay. When the whirlwind is activated blowing into the microphone will send a tornado either in the direction Link was already standing or in whatever direction the stylus is being held when it's blown. It might sound complicated but it's not. The whirlwind is rarely used in the later half of the game and is mostly replaced with other items. It still has a handful of unique functions (mostly just pushing keys that you can't pick up) and becomes more of a utility than a puzzle solution.

The whip is one of the most useful items in the game. You use it by tapping in the direction you want to whip, though it's reach is limited to about half the radius of on-screen area around Link. While it deals about half as much damage as a sword attack it can hit almost any enemy. It can hit electrical enemies without getting shocked and steal the shields away from armored enemies. It's right along side the boomerang and the bow as a reliable combat item. For puzzles it's mostly used for swinging across special beams (similar to the grappling hook in Wind Waker) and grabbing onto handles.

There is also a pan flute that serves as the game's musical instrument. It's played by blowing into the microphone while using the stylus to slide the flute to determine the note. It's main uses are to wake up statues, reveal hidden treasures (in lieu of a shovel) and provide once-per-dungeon healing. There are also certain points in the story where you must play complex songs without messing up to advance the story.

Also, without spoiling it, there's an item obtained in one of the latest dungeons that's one of the coolest new Zelda items in a while; if anything, it's a shame that it's obtained so late in the game. Luckily the dungeon you get it in makes sure to fully realize all it's potential before you leave and almost never use it again.

As I mentioned above the dungeons are weirdly structured for a Zelda game. They seem shorter and easier (at first) but the pacing is kind of nice. Even later dungeons usually take somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour to complete. There are no exhausting Water Temples in this game. Most of the dungeons consist of a series of rooms with brain teaser-like puzzles and rarely feature complex multi-floor switch systems. The difficulty of the individual rooms will gradually increase but the dungeons always maintain their structural simplicity.

Although this compartmentalized format would've made it easy to implement a New Super Mario Bros. Wii-esque 'super guide' for more casual gamers, there's no such feature and it actually feels lacking; there was one puzzle in a town that I had trouble with and after a failed attempt Zelda's ghost popped up and said she was going to help me until I figured it out. But I never saw her do this again and I kind of wish she would have, or that there was at least a way to ask for her help when I was stumped. So be ready to head to GameFAQs every time you get stumped--it happened to me at least three or four times.

Some puzzles can actually be skipped though they are rarely the hardest ones in the dungeon. Many chests will not contain keys but instead contain rupees or treasure. It's easy to miss these (often you won't even realize there's a puzzle to be solved) but there are statues in every floor that will tell let you know if you got all the optional chests on that floor and if you didn't they'll show you the location of remaining chests on the map for a fee.

The boss fights are very much in line with Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass's boss fights: Essentially giant monster-shaped puzzles where you use your newest item on the enemy until they reveal their weak point that you have to hack at with your sword. Although it's worth noting that there's a slight dynamic element to the length of each boss fight: You can easily spend 1 or 2 extra 'rounds' of revealing the boss's weak point than you need to if you don't deal enough damage with your sword in the window of time you're given. This is likely to complement the boss rush mini game found in Castle Town which keeps your time as a high score.

Although the game only features a handful of dungeons proper each dungeon is padded with smaller bite-sized dungeon-like activities. Each new dungeon must be unlocked by finding and a 'shrine' which is usually few rooms of enemies followed by some kind of riddle and is ultimately cleared by completing a pan flute mini game. And between each dungeon the player must return to the Spirit Tower to attempt to scale the next few floors--each stretch of floors is like a dungeon in and of itself.

Spirit Tower Gameplay
The Spirit Tower is a giant dungeon you will visit multiple times (read: several similarly themed smaller dungeons) throughout the entire game. It contains about 30 floors total and you usually clear them in chunks of 5 or 6 floors at a time. Unlike Phantom Hourglass's Temple of the Ocean King, you will never have to replay previously cleared floors if you don't want to. There is a spiral staircase that lets you easily enter each set of floors without having to re-play the old ones.

The primary mechanic of the Spirit Tower is that you can have Zelda's ghost possess defeated phantoms and use them in combat and puzzles. In order to defeat Phantoms you must collect three 'tears of light' to charge up your sword and then strike the Phantom in the back. The tears of light only last until you return to the spiral staircase or clear the set of floors you're on. Like in Phantom Hourglass, you'll eventually get a sword upgrade that will let you attack Phantoms without getting the tears of light first.

Playing with Zelda is really cool. She mostly acts as a big moveable block that can carry things, including Link. She's more often used as a shield or a controllable moving platform than as a battle companion. Combat with her is really slow and awkward and boss fights are usually specifically designed around her clunky weird combat. While Zelda cannot use any of your items and upgrades, she can gain different abilities by possessing different kinds of Phantoms such as Warp Phantoms who can teleport to Phantom Eyes and Torch Phantoms who have flaming swords.

The puzzles involving Zelda are some of the most complicated puzzles in the game. She can walk through fire and spikes, but she's too heavy to walk over sand. She can hold electrified keys and hit switches with her sword, but she can't shoot projectile attacks. Sadly, puzzles are often more about what she can and cannot do than they are about doing two things at once. But they're still fun.

Train Gameplay
It's easy to be irritated by the aesthetic of the train aspect of the game. I'm not sure exactly what it is about trains that seems to offend us so much as gamers. Maybe it's because "train nerds" are among the least cool kinds of nerds and we don't like being clumped in with them? Whatever, the train stuff is actually really fun! It's honestly my favorite aspect of the game.

When the game starts a tutorial will teach you the basics: Use the directional levers at crossroads change tracks in order to avoid other trains and blow your whistle to clear animals off the tracks. However, there are never actually animals on the tracks or other trains outside of the tutorial. Other trains are replaced with crazy evil monster trains that will actively try to kill you and you'll never see "animals on the track" again, only monsters--perhaps the animals were scared off by the monsters?

In reality the whistle is more used for puzzle solving, pleasing passengers and tearing holes in the space time continuum. Scattered throughout the land are Stargate-like rings around the track. The rings come in pairs, one has a gem on the top and the other does not. When you shoot the gem with your canon it will glow and you can use your whistle to activate the portal. If you drive through it once the other end will become activated forever. Once you've opened up a portal you can use your whistle to turn it on and drive through either end in either direction any time you want. One of the more fun aspects of driving the train is utilizing the portals to plan the best route.

Whenever you leave a station or a portal you're first given the local map and asked to draw a route. The route you draw will simply determine the default position of the track-changing-lever when it pops up. You can go off course at any time, and re-draw your route at any time. Usually though, you'll want to plan your route out in advance so you can focus on fending off monsters and looking for secrets.

Pretty early on in the game your train is equipped with a canon. The canon is used for shooting monsters and blasting rocks. Monsters are pretty simple at first, they'll circle your train and eventually try to ram you. But later on in the game almost all monsters will shoot canon balls at you that must be countered in mid-air with your own canon balls to avoid getting hit. When the monsters get more aggressive the train part of the game becomes more like a simplified on-rails-shooter. There is also a giant Gohma boss that inhabits certain caves. While Gohma is the only boss-like monster you'll fight on your train you'll also get ambushed by pirates (and even land pirates in tanks) who will aggressively fire at and sometimes even board your train, resulting in a sword combat sequence.

Shooting rocks with the canon will result in random rupees or recovery hearts. But sometimes bunnies will also be hiding behind rocks and blasting the rock gives you an opportunity to play a bunny-catching minigame. If you successfully capture the bunny you can take it to the Rabbitland Rescue for a reward. There 50 hidden bunnies total and you'll get a special reward for finding all of them in any one realm.

But the most addictive aspect of the train gameplay are the side quests. They mostly consist of transporting cargo or passengers. Passengers will usually reward you with Force Gems which unlock new sections of track that either reveal short cuts or unlock new dungeon-like areas. Cargo often rewards you with treasure, which can be sold for money or used to upgrade your train.

When you're transporting passengers you have to drive more delicately and pay attention to road signs. If you ignore the signs or get hit by a monster your passenger will get sad. If your passenger's happiness decreases too much they will 'jump out' and go home on foot. Basically, having a passenger means you have to actually operate your train gracefully rather than just jerking the levers around however you like. Though most passengers are one time deals there's one passenger who will travel from station to station (ironically, in search of Princess Zelda) and will tip you a potentially large sum of rupees based on the quality of your driving.

Transporting cargo is one of the most challenging parts of the game. Most cargo side quests can be repeated infinitely, and you'll get a better reward based on how much cargo you're able to successfully transport. You'll lose a unit of cargo every time your train takes damage and and sometimes it can also be stolen by bandits. Some cargo will degrade on it's own; fish will rot, ice will melt in hot places, certain minerals will degrade in the sunlight. Transporting cargo often means "don't get hit by an enemy once" and you'll often have to choose between the shortest route and easiest route.

Most side quests reward you with treasures which can be sold for rupees or used to buy new train cars. "Treasures" are 16 types of non-unique items that you find all over the place. They have different rarities (Staffos Skull is common, Dragon Scale is rare, etc) and can be obtained through stores, in pots, in chests, or as rewards for clearing a mini game. The treasure is one of my favorite things about the game. Though a similar feature was in Phantom Hourglass and Wind Waker, the concept is taken to an Animal Crossing level of addictiveness in Spirit Tracks.

Another Animal Crossing-like aspect of the game is the use of the calendar. On every new calendar day stores will restock their goods, and some of them will shuffle their merchandise. One of the best merchants is Beedle who flies around in a hot air balloon that must be flagged down with your whistle. Also, every day there's a new contest where you can send prize cards to the post office, and every day you're mailed your prize from the previous day's contest. There's a lot of stuff to do every time you play the game and the treasure system gives you motivation to do it.

Similar to the synthesis side quests in the Final Fantasy series, certain combinations of treasures can be exchanged for new train cars. And, similar to Animal Crossing, the difference between train cars is purely aesthetic but the goal is to complete a set of similarly-themed cars. As in Phantom Hourglass, there is a "skull" theme and a "cake" theme and a "castle" theme, etc. Having one themed car will upgrade your train's hearts from 3 to 4, having at least 2 of a kind will upgrade your train's hearts from 4 to 5, and having a full set will upgrade your car to 6 stars. And if you complete the "golden" theme train car (consisting of the rarest treasures that can only be obtained by clearing super hard optional dungeons or performing insanely well at mini games) your train will have 7 hearts.

And if you're a completionist (or if you're just really having fun and looking for stuff to do) you can try to get every single train car from every set. And don't think it's all for nothing: There is a Gohma monster in one cave that must be defeated in order to successfully transport a specific kind of cargo, and it's way too hard (for me at least) to beat without fully upgrading my train first.

Story
As with Phantom Hourglass, the story is extremely self-contained. If you're really into the Zelda continuity or overall storyline, there's not much of that here. A few new pieces of information about the Zelda universe appear (such as an explanation of Force Gems) and there's a handful of references to other Zelda games. The story mostly just passively confirms that Tetra's mission to find a new Hyrule was successful, as it's setting is the budding kingdom founded by Tetra and her pirate crew.

One of the weirder aspects of the story is that it's set only 100 years after Phantom Hourglass, which means some characters from Phantom Hourglass are still alive and others are reincarnations/descendants. For example, Link's roommate, Niko, is the same Niko from Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, only now he's a very old man. Niko will actually give this Link some items that used to belong to last Link if you complete some side quests for him.

Also, the game supposedly develops Zelda as a character, but there's not much there we didn't already know. Remember, this is a new Zelda and is not Tetra. There's not really much to her other than being a "cute spunky princess." Her dialog and presence is fun and appreciated but nothing special really comes out of it. Though this game is probably one of the funniest Zelda games, and it's often because of her.

Overall the story is pleasant and interesting enough but it's more focused on the here-and-now than Hyrule's past or future. Though there is an ancient evil that must be stopped, it's an ancient evil that existed on this continent before Tetra and Link found it, but it's Link's job to 'clean it up' so that the new nation can thrive. One of the things I never quite 'bought' was the "Lokomos" and ancient race of half-human half-train people that build the Spirit Tracks. I'm totally ok with trains being magical, but the fact that they were created by spirits in Hoverounds is a bit much.

Controls
The controls are nearly identical to Phantom Hourglass and old items work the same way they used to. However, new items (like the whilrwind and whip) seem to be exceptionally well designed and their controls feel less awkward than items that retain their control scheme for the previous game. It probably would've been easy for them to change the controls of the bow and arrow to work more like the whip (where you can still walk while the item is equipped) but it's not entirely necessary. Edit: After double checking, I realized that you cannot walk while using any of the items--maybe it's just the responsiveness of the whirlwind and whip that make them feel more easier to use in combat?

Also, somehow all the new on-screen clutter, like Zelda's GUI controls and the train's levers and switches never actually seem to get in the way. I never once accidentally touched one of those buttons when I actually meant to touch area around it. It can even tell the difference between me tapping the on-screen lever with intent to fire the canon at an enemy that's moved behind the lever and tapping the lever with intent to pull it. Impressive.

Music and Sound
The music in this game is actually really cool and adds a lot to the game. The overworld song is probably one of the best overworld songs in any Zelda game and I realize that that's saying a lot. It sounds like a more up tempo and earthy version of the Lord of the Rings score, and seems to be both perfectly in time with the 'chuga-chug' noise of the train (so that the train noise sounds like it's part of the song) and it also gets faster and more complex depending on the speed of the train.

And the songs for dungeons match the pacing and tone of the dungeon in a way that almost betrays the series's typical use of music. Usually you'd expect dungeon music to be intense but the first few dungeons kind of have almost sarcastically simplistic sound tracks. The music for each dungeon seems to reflect the difficulty of the puzzles in the dungeon rather than reflecting the drama of the situation of Link finding his way through a dungeon. And the songs you play on the pan flute are so pleasing... I sometimes play the Song of Discovery just to hear what it sounds like.

Overall
My tastes in games, specifically my taste in Zelda games, may not be the same as everyone else's. Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time are far from my favorite Zelda games and I tend to find the bigger more complex dungeons exhausting and unfun. My favorite Zelda game ever is probably Link's Awakening and Spirit Tracks is a close second or third. In my opinion, this is one of the better Zelda games because it takes the gameplay in a direction that's more focused on being fun than being intimidating. Even if our tastes differ I hope this review was informative enough for you to get a good idea of how the game plays and decide for yourself if it's worth a shot.

9/10