I´d like to share some info from german N-Zone with you. There are some new and some old things in it. And a very surprising Zelda review!

Games news/ hands on:

Super Mario Galaxy:

- the graphics are superb. It looks like the Wii hardware was developed only for this game!

- There are small planets but also large areas.

- Boo Mario looks like an ordinary Boo with Mario´s cap, white beard and big nose

Expectation: 5/5 Stars (the game will probably be reviewed 90%+)

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption:

 - Graphics are awesome.

- The controls are great and feel better than any dual analog control ever felt.

- When the Scan Visor is used, Samus eyes are following the pointer in realtime which looks stunning.

Expectation: 5/5 Stars (the game will probably be rated 90%+)

Soul Calibur Legends:

- you can select 2 characters and switch between them during the game

- every character has it´s own movements and gestures. Ivy, for example, plays very "different" with her wipp.

 Estimation: 4,5/5 Stars (The game will probably be rated between 80%-85%)

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles:

- The graphics are good but not stunning. There is still room for improvement.

- Controls are great and the coop mode is fun as hell.

- The game will unveil the last minutes of Umbrella and how everything ended.

Estimation: 4/5 Stars (The game will probably be rated about 80%)

Most important Review:

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass:

- The graphics look great and much like Wind Waker.

- The controls are very precise and fun.

- There is no hours of boring sailing anymore but the price is a tiny world map with just 4 areas instead of 49 like in Wind Waker.

- The story is boring, it sounds like every other Zelda story before.

- There are 7 dungeons in the game, including one dungeon you have to visit multiple times. They are great.

- There are no heartpieces anymore, and a big lack of sidequests which is dissapointing as hell.

- The game as a whole is a big dissapointment and not as good as previous titles.

Score: 88%  (the worst score any Zelda game ever got from N-Zone)

Charts from Germany:

Wii:

1) Mario Party 8

2) Mario Strikers Charged Football

3) Wii Play

4) the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

5) Need for Speed: Carbon

6) Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition

7) Pirates of the Caribbean: At world´s end

8) Wario Ware: smooth Moves

9) Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2

10 ) Red Steel

DS:

 1) Dr. Kawashimas Brain Training

2) New Super Mario Bros.

3) Animal Crossing

4) Anno 1701 (a strategy game)

5) Harvest Moon DS

6) Diddy Kong Racing DS

7) Pokemon Ranger

8) Dr Kawashima: More Brain Training (new!)

9) English Training

10) Nintendogs: Dalmatians and Friends.

 So, that´s it for now. I hope you liked it and didn´t die like I did when I read the Zelda score...how could they let out the sidequests?

I´m also thinking of buying future Play-Zone and XBox-Zone magazines which provide the same charts for the other consoles.

If they truly did take out all the boring sailing I might have to check out zelda on the ds...

Not all of it but the biggest part.

Problem is: they also took out everything that makes a Zelda game a Zelda game...

 Sidequests became a big deal with Links Awakening, before that they were very short on anything extra to the game.  Heart pieces are very Zeldaish though and have always been a part of the series.  I don't see it as a show stopper to me.

I don't understand those previews...

Mario Galaxy and Metroid are not out yet, but they give them both 90%? I would assume Mario would be a little higher than Metroid...and I wouldn't expect them to be only 5% away from...Soul Caliber Legends...

Well they expect the titles will get 90%+ - this is not an actual score it is just what the titles will probably get. It is more of a hands-on.

And in the case of Mario and Metroid you could expect them to get about 95%, with Soul Calibur Legends between 84-87% or so. N-Zone never gave a rating above 97%. there are literally worlds between a game rated 95% and a game rated 96%. They reviewed Ocarina of Time with 97% (the highest score ever) and Majoras Mask with 96% and called it "slightly dissapointing".

 But that´s not what I was interested in most. I just wrote it down because some people may be interested in.

The big things are the charts and the Zelda review. They seem to be highly dissapointed by everything in the game, specially the small world without lots of islands, the lack of heartpieces and sidequests, there seem to be less items than in previous Zelda games and so on... it really sounds like just gave it some credit for beeing "Zelda". It´s sad.

That's... just plain wrong. My friend bought an import copy and there are lots of sidequests and extra islands to screw around on and explore. Hell even gamefaqs users who own it say there are.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=932377&topic=36923499

So yeah... I don't know what they are complaining about.

Maybe they were confused by it being in Japanese... I don't know. There aren't heart containers, and I suppose that could frustrate some people who weren't ready for that change to the Zelda franchise, but I can't get my friend to shut up about the game. He loves the sidequests. I'm sure the story isn't great, it rarely is in a Zelda game, but the only real major removal was heart pieces. They certainly did not toss out all side quests.

Uhm, they showed the whole map and there are about 10 island in the game, two of them are very tiny. There are less than 4 bottles in the game to find (they don´t even mention if there are any to find), less items than in previous titles, the characters are not so full of life... I don´t know.

did your friend finish the game already?

Yeah, there was a guide up for it on gamefaqs which he followed. He claimed he found a lot to do in between the main quests, though he didn't understand much of it. The guide only covers the main quest, but even it mentions that there are a lot of sidequests that it isn't translating. I'm not sure what they all are or anything and I doubt you will find a guide to sidequests out there with a Japanese version only, but everyone on the internet and the one person I know with the game claims that there are a lot of sidequests and things to drag the game out. As for only 4 bottles being in the game, it's been a while since I played it, but weren't there only 4 or 5 in Twilight Princess?

Anyway, I'll wait for more review sources. I have trouble believing this one simply because it contradicts everything I have heard. That and they gave SCL a 4.5... wtf

Edit: there are 16 islands in the game btw. There are four quadrants: southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest. There are five islands in the southwest, four islands in the northwest, four in the southeast, and three in the northwest. 5 + 4 + 4 + 3 = 16.