I just finished Spirit Tracks a while ago. Honestly, I started it not expecting much, but I ended being VERY pleasantly surprised. My opinion:
-It is SO much better than Phantom Hourglass, much better music, much better dungeons, much better items, slightly better controls (rolling is now much more comfortable, everything else is pretty much the same), and a central dungeon a million times better than the Temple of the Ocean King.
-Remember the reviewers mentioning that the central dungeon is now one of the game' s strongest points? They weren't kidding, they gave it the best puzzles of the game.
-There is one thing in which arguably PH has ST beat, and that's its method of transportation. The warps are not really that good and it's kinda slow, but IMO the train has a certain charm that makes me unable to hate it. You better learn to like it though, because all the sidequests that open the cool optional places, shortcuts, and warps are transport X item or person from X town to Y town
-For some reason some people hate the flute and can't get it to work properly, which is weird because I had absolutely no problems with it *shrugs*
-The game has one of my favorite ending scenarios this year, [spoiler]the "Pacman" part where you take your revenge on those evil trains
, the train fight with the Ganon train, the fight with Maladus, the duet with Zelda, and then the final battle together with Zelda against a Maladus that resembles a light blue Ganon...WITH A MUSTACHE[/spoiler]
-Honestly, I feel this is the first Zelda game in which the Link-Zelda relationship feels like something more than friends or rescuer and damsel in distress.
In my opinion, this game deserves that you at least give it a chance.