How my "Phantom Hourglass" intentions turned into "Duck Amuck" reality in France

On the 10 hour plane ride each way or late at night when my wife was sleeping, my DS was a good friend to pass the time and help me relax last week. But not exactly in the way I had intended.

My big plan was to use this vacation to finish "Legend of Zelda: the Phantom Hourglass," which I really enjoyed when I played it last fall and went through a brief spurt again this winter. I was about 2/3 of the way through it, I figured, and maybe I'd finally complete it.

It's weird that I hadn't finished "Phantom Hourglass" already since I really like the game, especially the revolutionary and intuitive touch screen controls. But the fact is I just don't play my DS all th at much. Living in LA I don't take public transportation very often and when I'm home, I'd usually rather game on the 37" hi-def TV than the little DS screen.

As it turned out, I slept pretty much all the way out to Paris and spent my free time the first few days reading (books, not game blogs). But when I finally turned on the DS in a beautiful chateau in rural Champagne (I'm pretty sure I'm the only person to have ever played a videogame in this place, as it was mostly populated by old British folks who reminded me of the parents in "Match Point"), I had a problem -- I had no f'ing idea what was going on in "Phantom Hourglass." It had been so long that I've totally forgotten what I'm doing and what my goal is. Sure, I have all those notes I scribbled on the maps, but even those don't make much sense to me. I've totally forgotten their context.

I was back in that temple on the main island and I have to go back in to look for something? Or maybe I just got what I wanted there and am ready to go somewhere else now? When you don't play a game like "Zelda" for a long time and then you pick it up again, there's really no way to know what to do. It made me think that it would be great if there was some mechanism in the game to be reminded of exactly what you've done and what your current goals are. "Zelda" games don't have that. Which is great when you're engrossed in the world. But a major problem if you've been out of it for a while.

So what did I do? I played some of my favorite casual games. Oh, how I love "Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck" (here's my review from last fall, paired with a review of a separate, awful "Looney Tunes" game). I haven't even mentioned "Duck Amuck" on this blog before, but I think it's easily one of the best DS titles ever and certainly the most unjustly overlooked game of 2007. It's simple but extremely clever and executes on its premise -- adapting the classic Looney Tune "Duck Amuck" to a videogame in which the player's goal is torturing Daffy Duck -- almost flawlessly. And it uses every element of the DS, even the ability to flip the thing shut, to great effect.

I also played some "Cooking Mama 2" and "Star Trek: Tactical Assault." Which are not games I'd actually really recommend, just ones that I enjoy despite their many flaws. Probably because I've always thought it would be fun to be a gourmet chef or a Starfleet captain.