The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass -- The Hourglass Gimmick.

Every new Zelda adds something to the basic Zelda formula to change things up and provide a little dash of originality. Majora's Mask had Link stuck in a time loop for example, and Twilight Princess had Link transforming into a wolf. Beyond the whole touch control aspect, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has the Phantom Hourglass and the Temple of the Ocean King. The Temple of the Ocean King is the game's central dungeon, which in itself is an original concept for Zelda. What do I mean by central dungeon? It's a dungeon that you have to repeatedly visit. You're only able to get so far each visit, mainly due to the tools at Link's disposal. After completing the regular dungeons around the game's world you'll normally have to return to the Temple of the Ocean King to progress a little further and open the way for the story to grant you access further into game. The problem is that the Temple of the Ocean King is cursed by the game's villain and it slowly drains the life of whoever enters it. The temple is broken into safe zones and hot spots. Anything hot and your life drains. Most of the temple will be considered hot. The safe zones will stop your life from draining and keep the temple's enemies, called phantoms, from hurting you. You can't hurt phantoms. So it's a very stealthy and timed experience. The Phantom Hourglass allows you to enter the hot spots in the dungeon and not have the temple drain your life. But each second spent in the hot spots causes sand to drain in the hourglass. Once the sands of the hourglass run out, you'll have no protection and your life will drain. Being attacked by the phantoms will not only cause you physical damage but also take time from your hourglass thus giving you less time to complete the dungeon. And the game is already cutting it close for you as it is. In theory the Temple of the Ocean King is great and provides some of the best dungeon puzzles ever experienced in the Zelda series. But the fact that you have to repeatedly visit the dungeon and complete the same exact puzzles and floors over and over again each time visit really puts a damper on the execution. You're either going to really love the Temple of the Ocean King or you're going to dread and despise it. I'm sort leaning toward the later at this stage of things...