Like Phantom Hourglass before it, Spirit Tracks is Zelda in its most wide-eyed innocent guise, sporting that classic Wind Waker aesthetic and a sense of boundless, wondrous adventure. There are no calamitous apocalyptic meteorites or encroaching sense of doom; it's all giddy charm and mild, inoffensive peril. Of course, similarities with Phantom Hourglass don't stop at Spirit Tracks' visual sheen and this is a close to a direct sequel as the series has seen - in design, if not actual chronology.
Certainly, Spirit Tracks doesn't stray too far away from the basic formula laid down by Phantom Hourglass, and that's both a blessing and something of a curse. In the positive column, Spirit Tracks features the same gloriously tactile touchscreen control scheme, influencing everything from basic navigation to core game mechanics. Again, it's not quite faultless, with combat frequently descending into bouts of unhinged prods and squiggles, but Phantom Hourglass' clever stylus manipulations shine as before, bolstered by a handful of expanded implementations.
In the spirit of a spoiler-free review, seeing as gleeful surprise and exploration are the lynchpin of the Zelda experience, we'll stop short of revealing anything beyond the blindingly predictable. So, yes, the boomerang is back and, once again, as in Phantom Hourglass, your stylus doodles denote its flight path. Phantom Hourglass might have given classic Zelda tropes a new lease of life with smart, satisfying DS-specific controls but Spirit Tracks uses the groundwork laid in the first DS game and carries it through into far more imaginative territory.
You'll directly control other characters alongside Link with your stylus, sketching out their route in one of the game's many co-operative-based puzzles and, love it or loathe it, blowing is back in a big way. We can't say we're the biggest fans of the DS's microphone - mainly because we actually like using our handhelds in public - but Spirit Tracks actually manages to integrate one of the DS's more arbitrary features into the core of the game. Sure, it's still likely to get you some funny looks on the bus but whistling into your handheld to cast magical melodies with your Spirit Flute feels perfectly natural, intuitive and, yes, immersive.
It's indicative of an overall design that's more ambitious and more assured this time around, despite little deviation from its predecessor on a fundamental level. Dungeons, although lacking in individual character, are constantly inventive, with a handful of genuine stumpers in the puzzle-solving department. Refinements don't stop there though - most notably, Phantom Hourglass's central dungeon hub conceit makes a return in the form of the Spirit Tower. Rather than a forced trawl through the same levels again and again though, it's a fresh experience each time with progress in the game opening up increasingly convoluted challenges. It's here that the Zelda team really lets loose and Phantom Hourglass' somewhat half-baked stealth elements are finally given some meat thanks to bolder level design.
If there's one area that's likely to prove divisive, it's this Zelda's locomotive gimmick. On a basic level, it's far more satisfying than previous games' jaunts into nautical travel, with your train's chugging engine perfectly matching Spirit Tracks' grandiose overworld theme in a way that's nothing but exhilarating. With a host of locomotive-based side quests that offer rewards for precise driving, it all feels like an actual game mechanic rather than laborious filler. Unfortunately, there's still a tendency towards exhausting, and often predictable, backtracking to pad out the experience, and the linear nature of your chosen mode of transportation makes proceedings unusually claustrophobic for a Zelda title. Indeed, there's far less of a focus on off-the-beaten-path exploration this time around and it feels like a bit of a step backward for a game that succeeds so admirably in building on its predecessor foundations elsewhere.
Thankfully, that's largely off-set by a more substantial adventure this time around and the surprisingly enjoyable competitive multiplayer battle mode adds depth to a package that's slightly lacking in other areas. What's more, this is hands-down the most charming Zelda adventure in ages. Shorn of Twilight Princess's more ponderous pretentions, Spirit Tracks is a delight from beginning to end and even Zelda herself kicks back for an unapologetically silly, carefree escapade.