Ultimately the multiplayer mode is the game's biggest departure from the Zelda series; the game has a bona fide Wi-Fi mode that allows you to play against someone across the world in a two-player Triforce war. One player controls Link, while the other commands three Phantom guards. The objective is to carry pieces of the Triforce into your base, all the while avoiding the attacks of the Phantom guards. The player with the most points at the end of three rounds is the winner.

There are three different Triforce sizes, and each has its own point value and weight. The bigger Triforce pieces will slow you down a lot but you're rewarded with a boatload of points if you manage to get them home. There are also power-ups and power-down items that Link can pick up around the stage. One item will speed up Link's foot speed while the other will slow him down. Another item will create a decoy that will randomly walk around the stage to cause a diversion. While not exactly on the level of Four Swords, multiplayer is a cool addition to the single-player game, which will probably take the average gamer a good 15 hours to finish.


With a firm U.S. release date still nowhere in sight, American gamers are going to have to wait patiently until E3 to see when Phantom Hourglass is going to hit their shores. We expect the title to ship sometime near the end of this year as Nintendo is usually very good about localizing its marquee games quickly. Director Eiji Aonuma promised at GDC 2007 that Phantom Hourglass was going to take Zelda in a new direction and would be the answer to Zelda's "lack of originality" problem. With the Japanese retail version already out, it's only a matter of time before Western gamers will be able to see just how much truth there is in Aonuma's statement.