The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess [GC]

Immediately following Nintendo's press conference, we attended a developer session to discuss the newly unveiled trailer for the game.

Before delving into the details of the gameplay, the developers first commented on the decision process in adopting the more realistic graphics style. Director Eiji Aonuma explained that the team wanted Twilight Princess to concentrate on a more realistic control scheme and gameplay. Thus a more realistic aesthetic direction was adopted to support the theme. Both he and Shigeru Miyamoto stressed that it is more important that the art style emphasize what the gameplay is trying to achieve, and not the other way around.

In the opening stage of the E3 demo, Link's in an idyllic village dressed in a rustic outfit and carrying out duties as a cowboy/shepherd. In preserving the realistic scale of the Hyrule world, Aonumua said that it only makes sense that a horse is needed to travel the vast territories. Putting Link in cowboy boots gives us the opportunity to meet Epona very early on and also to strengthen the bond of Link and Epona as cowboy and horse.

We were introduced to one of the game's unique gameplay elements when Link plucked up a blade of grass from the ground and used it as a musical instrument to call Epona. The ability to summon and communicate with animals will be an important one in the game, according to Aonumua, further evidenced when we saw Link use a different blade to summan an eagle. We also witnessed several mini-games in action, one of which involves sheep-herding.

After a quick combat tutorial, Link's adventure starts when a childhood friend is kidnapped by a boar-riding creature, echoing the kidnapping of Link's sister in Wind Waker.

One scene that we were eager to see in action was the much touted horse battle sequences. In the demo, Link rode Epona while trying to cut down an enemy chief who had minions surrounding and distracting Link. The Hyrule field seems more vast than ever and the horse battles epic, as the action moves furiously, accompanied by a thundering soundtrack and lightning in the night sky. At the end of the horse battle stage is a mini-boss fight that sets Link in a jousting match with the enemy chief. The elven boy has truly grown up.

In the Forest Temple demo, we were shown several key gameplay elements such as co-operating with a secondary character and a new twist on an old Zelda item, the Gale Boomerang. It now has the ability to fetch items back to Link or carry them to another target. This was demonstrated in another boss battle, where Link needed to snatch a bomb from a monkey and drop it onto the boss's weak point. It's a neat twist and Nintendo assured us that there will be more new items in the final game.

The control and combo system looks to be very tight and responsive as well. Aonuma commented that they have added so many new combat techniques (like finishing moves) onto the old Wind Wake engine that it had simply become a new combat engine.

The concept of the Twilight World was then introduced as a dark magic force that is slowly absorbing Hyrule and making it into a desolate place. As hinted in the last trailer revealed at this year's Game Developer Conference, one of the major features of the game is Link being able to transform into a wolf. Aonumua explained that Link's transformation is closely tied with the Twilight World.

Since no humans (or teenage elves) can survive in the Twilight World, Link must transform into a wolf to survive there. Transforming also gives Link a few bestial perks, including the ability to communicate with other animals, heightened animal senses, and new wolf-only attacks. An interesting compliment to the wolf attacks is that they change and are influenced by whoever is riding Link.

The game's vibrant graphics will really help immerse players in the new Hyrule. The character's animations have been visibly improved and polished, something that Miyamoto admits he was concerned with since showing it at the last E3. Nintendo seems to have paid more attention to the production of the real-time cutscenes than previous games and used more exclamatory sounds for Link.

Based on this recent showing, we have high hopes for Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. We'll have more updates over the next few months, and will definitely be keeping our doors locked at the next full moon.

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