The “Legend of Zelda” series has had a number of different art styles, the most recent being the more adult style of “Twilight Princess.”

The newest “Zelda” game for the Nintendo DS returns to the colorful, cel-shaded “kiddy” feel of “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker,” which originally appeared on the GameCube in 2003.

In fact, “The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass” is intended as a sequel to “Wind Waker,” starting the story where “Wind Waker” left off — with the boy in green (commonly known as Link) and the girl named Tetra (pretty much known as Zelda) sailing off into the sunset.

“Phantom Hourglass” starts with the pair and their band of pirates sailing into a dense fog from which a ghost ship appears. Tetra hops aboard the ship to investigate and promptly disappears with a scream. Link (whom I named Mad Dog because it makes me giggle) tries to go after her but falls into the water and is taken to a strange island. Thus begins his quest to rescue Tetra.

It’s been said this “Zelda” game aims for a more general and casual audience, so it’s filled with an abundance of tips (often unwanted), and the puzzles and battles aren’t very difficult. Veteran players will breeze through it.

Yet, “Phantom Hourglass” is done so well, and in such an interesting way, that its little annoyances don’t matter.

The game is controlled entirely with the touch screen, like it or not. At first, I had trouble moving Link around only with the stylus — not because it was hard but because I really, really wanted to use the directional pad. It took a few hours before the urge to use the buttons subsided and I realized how great the game actually controls.

An annoying fairy named Ciela accompanies Link on the trip, shouting such obvious things as “If only you had a sword to fight!” and “Maybe you should look for a key to unlock this door.” Ciela serves as a cursor of sorts, floating to wherever you touch the screen. Link follows her; this serves as your method of moving him.

Fighting involves tapping on enemies to make Link lunge, slashing to make him, uh, slash, and drawing a circle around him to perform a spinning attack. Link can roll by tapping at the edges of the screen, but this is the weakest and most inconsistent of the touch motions.

The best use of the touch screen comes with the map and items. Throughout the game, you’ll come across places that you can’t do anything about at the moment, such as a wall that can be bombed, once you have bombs. With a press of a button, the map on the top screen falls into the bottom, and you can write a memo on it so you don’t forget. Useful!

You can use items such as the boomerang by drawing on the screen, too. You can send it around corners and into enemies. Some dungeons are centered around this mechanic, and it works very well.

The main game might be short (about 15 hours), but there are plenty of sidequests and even a treasure hunt to keep players busy for a lot longer.

“Phantom Hourglass” takes a slightly different path by catering to more casual gamers, but it’s still a fantastic story with great (and very amusing) characters, and the touch mechanics work well once you get used to them.

“Zelda” fans should definitely pick it up; those new to the series should at least check it out.

“Drawn to Life” gets big kudos for making great use of the DS’s unique touch abilities, even if the actual gameplay isn’t that great.

You play as the Creator, who must save a dying village. To do this, a hero must be created. And I mean “created” literally.

Many of the major people and items in “Drawn to Life” are brought to life by the player using the touch screen. At the beginning of the game, you draw the Creator’s hero however you want him to look. Throughout the game, you draw items to help you, such as weapons or clouds to jump on. It’s really cool to see the things you’ve drawn thrown seamlessly into the pre-created environment.

What’s really neat about the way this is done is how things move. Your hero, for example, is drawn on a template of boxes. The lines between the boxes indicate joints, and when the hero is put into the world, he moves those joints realistically. There’s something really satisfying in seeing something you’ve drawn come to life like that.

When your hero gets injured, he loses parts. One hit, for example, leaves him sleeveless. Amusing, especially because you drew the guy with sleeves.

It can be tough to draw precisely, so “Drawn to Life” offers some templates. Most of these must be unlocked, but you’ll have eyes at your disposal at the start, which is good because eyes proved to be the most difficult for me to draw. After practice, the drawing gets easier.

The creation aspects of “Drawn to Life” are really fun, but the gameplay itself keeps it from being a great game. Once you’re out in the world (where it becomes a platformer in the vein of “Super Mario Bros.”), it becomes evident that not as much thought was put into the rest of the game. The gameplay is generic and easy, aka uninteresting.

But if you like the idea of customizing substantial parts of a game, “Drawn to Life” is still entertaining, and it would be a great game for kids. I hope to see an improved version of this idea in the future.

Reach Aimee Green at 473-7326 or Aimee.Green@lee.net.