Let’s get the obvious out of the way – the game looks absolutely gorgeous. While the game is the spiritual graphical successor to Ocarina of Time, there are plenty of things, some of which were taken from Wind Waker, which just take the experience over the top. The character models look absolutely perfect – all of the characters, even the NPCs, look wonderfully detailed and expressive. This is easily the best that Link has ever looked in any game – not just graphically, but emotionally, as the new, realistic look melds perfectly with the expressiveness retained from Wind Waker. He’s also much more animated in different ways – nothing is jerky or forced, and there are a few cool touches – instead of doors that open automatically within dungeons, Link opens them himself. The backgrounds, landscapes, and other aspects are pretty much faultless – the game’s textures create an marvelous atmosphere that is both colorful, yet retains this sense of drear for certain areas. Toaru Village, the game’s first area, gives the perfect impression of a farmland, using drab colors to reflect the standing of those in the town, yet still has this feeling that is beautiful and cinematic. The water is especially worth noting, as players will make use of a helpful canoe to assist a villager in need. Paddling the canoe was a little quirky at first, but eventually was easy to do, and showed off the game’s impeccable water effects, which, quite simply, are brilliant.

The Forest Temple, the only playable dungeon, has its similarities with the versions in Ocarina and Wind Waker, yet remains unique by utilizing innovative ways to get around (swinging from monkeys!), and also features some very cool combat sections. Combat is remarkably fun, as it is much more advanced than it has ever been in any Zelda game. There are tons of new moves, some that are context-sensitive, that can be pulled off. For example, Link is no longer completely on the defense when his shield is up. While blocking enemy attacks, you can also press B button to perform a parry/push move with the shield that will knock your enemy off-balance and open him up for attack. There are also ways to roll around enemies to gain an upper hand, as well as by far the coolest combat addition – the downward stab featured prominently in Super Smash Bros Melee and Soul Calibur II that can be pulled off by pressing A when an enemy is knocked down, instantly killing it, in a pretty vicious way to boot.

The other new aspect of the game is the intense horse combat, which was another level of the demo we played. The section consisted of Link on his horse (which, it turns out, IS named Epona), chasing after a Moblin general on a giant boar through Hyrule Field while also doing battle with his underlings, also on boars. The controls are once again basically the same as Ocarina, with a limited amount of speed boosts that can be used by pressing A in order to catch up with the leader, and slashing him with your sword. This was challenging, yet tons of fun and played like a breeze. However, the best part of the level was after defeating the Moblin on the field, the battle shifted to a ruined castle for a one-on-one joust, which turned out to be the most intense portion of the entire demo. The joust made use of a great sense of strategy, forcing players to position Link just right to strike at just the right time in order to knock their opponent off their mount and sending them plummeting into the abyss below.

One of the Zelda franchise's calling cards has always been its astonishing boss battles against seemingly impossible odds. One of these battles was playable in the demo, being a battle that initially began against two huge Deku Babas. To defeat them, Link must utilize a new weapon, the Gust Boomerang (similar to the usual boomerang, except that holding the button it is set to charges it up in order to attack with a whirlwind that can bring items to you) in order to bring over two Bomb Spiders (new enemies that become bombs once they are hit), and place them where the twin Dekus will eat them before they eat you. Doing so will summon the true boss, a gargantuan Deku Baba, which introduces a new, very cool gameplay element making use of the Gust Boomerang – a monkey friend will swing from one side to the other of the area, clutching a bomb in its paws. Using the boomerang, you can lock onto the bomb, charge up your attack, and change your focus with a press of the L button to send the boomerang careening into the bomb, and then crashing into the enormous Baba, bringing him down so that he can deal with your blade. This was difficult enough, yet wasn’t clunky at all and felt perfectly natural. Once he was defeated, it wasn’t discovered what Link was actually supposed to be collecting as he completes each dungeon, but hopefully that will become known soon.

Another item worth mentioning is the game’s music, which is downright dazzling. It looks like Nintendo has finally spent the extra money on giving this game some true orchestral tunes, because it sounds absolutely perfect. The smacks and slashes are spot-on, and although the game isn’t voice-acted (from what we saw) there are some little grunts and giggles each character gives in order to establish their voice. The lack of acting also didn’t take anything away from the experience at all, and the addition of orchestrated music was definitely the most important thing – and it’s flawless.

My time spent with the game only gives me two gripes: one, the Z button’s function has shifted to that of a tip feature, and is no longer used for one of the secondary weapons as it was in Wind Waker. That might change for the final version, but to be truthful, the omission probably isn’t all that big of a deal considering how non-user friendly the GameCube’s Z button is to begin with. The other thing was that there were no levels shown making use of the game’s biggest new draw: the fact that Link will now transform into a wolf for certain sections of the game. Looking at the wolf combat in the trailers makes it out to be incredibly enjoyable, so it would have been helpful for Nintendo to provide a demo of this to see how exactly it’s done, but considering that what was shown was absolutely tremendous, it really puts the exclusion in perspective. In all, Twilight Princess is shaping up to be the biggest installment in the series yet: a massive, highly polished, incredibly innovative adventure that will truly create a new beginning for the series. It’s unknown how many of the new gameplay aspects revealed at E3 will affect the final product, but there is one thing I do know: I want this game. Now.

Eric Jones