The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess [GC]

Temple Boss
What Zelda demo would be complete without a massive boss fight? Good news, because the E3 demo has fans of the franchise covered, and then some. A giant plant creature has infested the Forest Temple, according to Nintendo. Link must dodge its nasty tentacles and use the Gale Boomerang's power to destroy it.

If this is a glimpse of boss fights to come, we couldn't be happier. The plant boss springs from a muddy, grimy lake, its two tentacles attacking Link whenever they get the chance. There are bombs located in the immediate area, but no way to get them to the mouths of the grotesque plant creature, which rests safely in the middle of the lake. We eventually figure out that we need to use Link's boomerang to carry the bombs to the creature. And we can already see the potential for this weapon in later fights and puzzles.

Using the boomerang, we first target the bomb and then lock onto one of the heads of the plant creature. We throw the boomerang, which picks up the bomb and carries it directly to the monster's head. Kaboom! To write that this new mechanic is awesome is a massive understatement. We can't wait to use it later levels.

Just when we think we've beaten the boss, it drops under the lake and emerges far bigger, with an added master head and two more tentacles. The horrible thing vomits a purplish, poisonous liquid at Link and also shoots its tentacles at the hero. At first, there isn?t any clear way to beat the enemy because all of the bombs have disappeared. But then the rear-end-flashing baboon from the previous level makes an entrance, and he's carrying bombs. He shows off his backside again, by the way. He swings in front of the boss from the left side of the screen to the right and back again and it's up to Link to target the bomb he's carrying and then lock onto the boss. It takes some practice, but eventually we get it and slay the beast. It dries up and its remaining eye falls from its socket, where it explodes into particles.

What We Didn't Play
No doubt about it, the four-level Twilight Princess demo was amazing in just about every way and we can't wait to play more, but as great as it was, we find ourselves every bit as intrigued by the areas that we couldn't play. At this year's E3, we learned more about Twilight Princess than ever before. Here are some of the fascinating facts about the game that readers may have yet know about:

Link changes into a wolf. We're not sure why, but this transformation occurs whenever the character crosses over to the Twilight World, a magical dimension where dark enemies lurk. The Twilight World has started to spread into parts of Hyrule and evil creatures from the dimension are wreaking havoc.

When Link first crosses over to the Twilight, he changes into a wolf and is captured. A character from the Twilight called Midna frees him. The mysterious figure is not really out to help look, but rather looking out for her interests, according to Nintendo. She believes that by helping Link she can in turn help herself. The two of them appear to work together quite a bit; a new trailer shows Midna riding on top of Link-wolf's back and the two of them fight off enemies together.

In wolf form, Link can run quickly and pounce unto enemies. He can also zip around and combo-attack his foes.

Zelda is in the game. She is the mysterious robed figure seen in the trailer and featured on the cover of the most recent EGM issue. Nintendo would not say how important she is to the story. However, the robe she wears is in fact a funeral robe, the developer says, and she's wearing it because she feels helpless; probably because Hyrule is slowing being poisoned by the Twilight and she can't stop it.

There is some kind of tie-in between Link's ability to change into a wolf and Zelda, but Nintendo won't say how. We've speculated in the past that the name Twilight Princess is actually a famous Japanese manga inspired by the movie Ladyhawke, whose main characters -- a knight and his lady -- were cursed to transform into a wolf and hawk respectively. Interestingly enough, Link can be seen holding a hawk in several scenes in the trailer and E3 demo.

While the new Zelda does not feature voice acting, it will employ orchestrated music by famed composer Koji Kondo. He has already created orchestrated music for the game, which sounds fantastic. Nintendo has said that Twilight Princess will feature a combination of orchestrated music and MIDI, and that it will orchestrate as many songs as is "fiscally responsible."

The Twilight World dynamic with Hyrule will be similar to the Light/Dark world mechanics in A Link to the Past.

Nintendo says there will be more dungeons and temple themes in Twilight Princess than in Ocarina of Time. Similarly, Link will gain more weapons than in Ocarina of Time, many of them unique to the series. The idea, according to the development team, is to make Twilight Princess the best Zelda game ever created.

Stay tuned to IGNcube for much more on what is sure to be one of the best games of the year. In the meantime, don't miss on on more than 30 minutes of new direct-feed footage in our videos section.

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