Phantom Hourglass is the latest installment in The Legend of Zelda franchise - one of the premier gaming series.  The release of any new Zelda typically earns massive amounts of attention, but Phantom Hourglass is special because it is boasting a totally new way to play Zelda.  With any popular franchise, drastic changes are typically met with harsh anxiety from the fanbase, and Phantom Hourglass is no exception.  As the North American (October 1st) and European (October 19th) releases approach, it's about time the hype train for this game gets in full gear.

The fourteenth installment in the Legend of Zelda series proper (sorry IGN, try again with your FAQ), Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to The Wind Waker released on the GameCube back in March of 2003 in North America.  Taking place a few short months after the conclusion of The Wind Waker, Link and Tetra set sail along with the other pirates in search of more adventure.  In the neighboring waters of The Great Sea, the terror of the seas learn of a phantom ship that supposedly lurks around.  The phantom ship appears before them, and without hesitation, Tetra jumps aboard.  After a loud scream is heard aboard the ship, Link races to aid Tetra as the phantom ship departs.  Sadly, Link falls into the water and awakens on Mercay Island, where a fairy named Sierra explains what is going on.  From there, Link will eventually meet up with a captain named Linebeck, who agrees to help Link only because of a mutual interest. 

The game is then divided into two segments; tracking down the phantom ship that kidnapped Tetra and another quest which we will not go into detail about to avoid spoilers for now.  Like The Wind Waker before it, Link will need to sail the high seas to reach new islands, some of which contain dungeons while others contain side-quest events.  Unlike The Wind Waker, however, Link will be sailing aboard a steamboat which will automatically navigate itself once players plot in the course on the touch screen using the stylus.  This radically changes how sea faring is handled; while en route to a destination, players can only control the camera, alter the speed of the ship and fire the cannon at enemies.  Of course, at anytime players can enter a course correction and change the heading, but there is no on-the-fly directional control of your vessel.

While this may sound like an even more boring gameplay element than The Wind Waker's tedious sailing, Eiji Aonuma and company put plent of stuff into the sea to keep player's busy.  Enemies will spring up from the waves and attack without warning, impediments will obstruct the progress into a nearby area, and merchants and pirates lurk in each quadrant of the ocean.  Whereas The Great Sea truly lived up to its name, the seas in Phantom Hourglass are relatively smaller - the game map consists of four quadrants, each with a few islands.  This may at first appear like a relatively small game, but there is quite a bit to see and do.