I have to say....I'm impressed.
I was reluctant a little bit. Spirit Tracks, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Super Mario Galaxy 2... when they were first shown I thought they were pretty much just level hacks. But Mario is apparently the real deal and pretty challenging.
Miyamoto has said the Spirit Tracks will be a return to challenging Zelda games. And based on all this information surfacing, looks like there's more of a plot this time around. Especially compared to Phantom Hourglass.
Nice to see something that the Zelda community has speculated about since TWW days actually happen - New Hyrule (there's two campus, those who think new land is discovered and those who think the water goes away).
With the existence of a New Hyrule this bridges the gap with the pre-OoT titles, as that's the Hyrule where those games take place.
Nice to see a story, nice to see some new character (interested in that guy who used to be a soldier), nice to see more involvement with Zelda, nice to see New Hyrule implemented into the plot, nice to hear that it's more challenging. Good all the way around.
I hope they do something about the music though. PH's was so boring.