The bad news? According to Famitsu, by way of NeoGAF, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is not as good as Nintendogs. Sorry. The good news, however, for anyone looking forward to the continuing cel shaded adventures of Link, is that Famitsu loved the crap out of the game, passing numerical judgment to the tune of a 39/40.

This means one of three things. Either the Famitsu editors were too busy/lazy to play Phantom Hourglass, assigning marginally measured scoring to insure against Nintendo fanboy ire, the massive advertising check cleared prior to publish or—and I believe this above all in my Link-loving heart—that the game is many megabits of stylish stylus sex (minus the female participation, primal grunting and profuse apologizing).

Get your hype-proof vests on, just in case. Michael McWhertor

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