As many of my friends — and now, anyone who reads this blog — may know, I’ve never particularly liked the Zelda franchise. I’ve tried on several occasions, but could never bring myself to get into it.

After playing the newest entry, “The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks,” I’m not entirely sure why.

Nintendo has always been the best at making use of their systems in innovative ways. Just look at first-party offerings compared to third-party titles for the Wii: “Metroid Prime 3” compared to “Red Steel,” for example. It should come as no surprise then that “Spirit Tracks” is a quality title that takes advantage of the DS in playing off of its unique dual-screen design, touch-screen controls and microphone as well as raw processing power.

For starters, it looks gorgeous. The animations are smooth, field of vision is wide and there’s even — gasp — shading. I loved blasting cannons or playing with the various gadgets Link acquires just to see the wealth and range of particle effects in particular.

The outside landscape textures are just a teensy bit flat for those of us who are spoiled on the offerings of home consoles, but for a handheld they’re actually rather impressive.

My personal gripe with the DS has always been the fragile, low-res, paper-cutout look of so many models — no matter the developer — so I was quite pleased to see the models for “Spirit Tracks” are surprisingly crisp and solid-looking.

The cartoon style of Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass is back, and some of that personality seems to have rubbed off on dear ol’ Zelda a bit. Some of her lines are a bit stereotypically anime-inspired, but it doesn’t get to the point of annoyance, a la Navi from “Ocarina of Time.”

It shouldn’t take much guessing — even from someone unfamiliar with the franchise — that the plot revolves around saving the land of Hyrule and Princess Zelda, though she does play a larger role this time around. Also, as you’ve no doubt noticed, “Spirit Tracks” is so named because of the railways you’ll be traversing. These railways also happen to be my biggest problem with the game.

Traveling by train is treated as a puzzle, with unique boss fights, obstacles to overcome and instructions to follow.

This is not what is bad about traveling by train. What’s annoying is so many quests will have you running back and forth from place to place, with no option for travel other than your train.

The train isn’t painfully slow, but it’s not exactly fast either, not to mention the very nature of a railroad means you can’t go anywhere other than down pre-determined routes.

Thankfully, train riding gets a bit more interesting in the last third of the game, where there are more challenges to keep you on your toes.

For the first two-thirds, it can come across as tedious and time-consuming, particularly when you’re just eager to get to the next dungeon to figure out the next great puzzle.

Speaking of puzzles, I should mention the Zelda games, more so than any other franchise I know of, are based on exploration and puzzle-solving. That may seem pretty basic information or arbitrary to the Zelda fans who’ve been with the series for a long time, but hey, some of us are just finding our footing here.

That’s probably what I like so much about “Spirit Tracks,” actually. It’s not easy, but it doesn’t just throw you against the wind and say “Go!” either. This is totally newcomer-friendly and doesn’t punish you for seeking help. In fact, the top screen of the DS functions as a map, meaning that — theoretically — you’ll never be lost. The big perk to this is not only its availability, but functionality as well.

By selecting the option from the in-game menu, you’re able to draw directly onto the map. This is useful in so many ways, from helping locate treasure and solving puzzles to navigating a dungeon without getting lost.

No longer are directions relative or obscure; you can see and map out exactly where you need to go and what you need to do.

The touch screen is also used to control Link entirely, meaning no D-pad support.

It’s something that takes a little getting used to since you’ll likely hold the DS in an entirely different fashion than you’re used to, but it’s solid and accurate.

This solid control extends beyond Link himself and into the gadgetry he’ll acquire, with each device utilizing a different function of the DS. Want to start a whirlwind? Blow into the microphone.

Want to throw your boomerang? Trace the path you want the trajectory to follow.

Each new dungeon presents an interesting challenge and puzzle utilizing these acquired skills.

The combat isn’t exactly the most exciting thing around, but just like the levels themselves, will tease your brain a bit.

Plenty of enemies must be dealt with in specific ways, so you can’t just go weed-whacking through Hyrule — although doing so might earn you some pretty rupees.

“Spirit Tracks” has a nicely-implemented multiplayer mode, which only requires one copy of the game — a handy feature, to be sure. In it, you’ll go head-to-head with up to three of your friends to collect Force Gems while avoiding enemies and utilizing traps to edge out the competition. It can be hectic and a bit confusing with the Link-frenzy going on, but it’s still plenty of fun.

As it should be though, single-player is the main focus. It’s here you’ll spend most of your time, hunting down treasure, rescuing kingdoms … you know, everyday stuff.

Sound has always been another personal vendetta of mine against the Zelda series, as the franchise has yet to implement full voice-acting. It’s something that comes with the territory, though, and the writing isn’t long-winded in this particular entry, so this can be easily forgiven.

The music is delightful and varied, including background music and tunes available for Link to play on the Spirit Flute.

I may just have to listen to the soundtrack a few dozen more times. You know … for reference.

In fact, there’s a lot about this game I could do over again, with the aforementioned exception of train travel.

If you’ve been wondering about the Zelda series or even hesitant like me, you owe it to yourself to pick up “Spirit Tracks.” It might just change your mind.

Sophie Prell is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Alta.

This column appears courtesy of Sophie Prell’s blog, “G3: A Girl’s Guide to Gaming.” For more video game news, reviews and commentary, check out “G3” by clicking here: www.g3girlsgaming.blogspot.com or visiting Sophie’s Facebook fan page.