The first demo is called “Dragon Mountain” and is evidently one of the earliest dungeons in the game. Link enters a cave and begins fighting small pig-like creatures, some of which are armed with various weapons. The wooden staves can be used to light torches and so many things can be set ablaze! I was running across a rope bridge and to my surprise it caught ablaze! Well that’s only surprising since in games, often these little details are forgotten. Also, the boarded up hallways can be both smashed with the Large Blades you pick up from enemies, but can also be burned with Staves. Speaking of which, it’s rather humourous to see Link swing the larger, heavier blade. It is much slower than his normal blade but seems to pack a heavier punch. After a certain amount of hits however, the blade will snap: much like the Giant’s Knife from OoT.

Within the dungeon, the lighting was particularly impressive. I took Link into a pitch black room with but a single Torch and lit my Staff with it. The shadows were beautiful. A common theme in the game is the “smoke”. Smoke swirls about after defeating enemies, or figuring out puzzles. So stylized!

One thing I need to mention is that Link’s facial expressions are tremendous. You see him watch the enemy carefully when fighting, or if you’re creeping along a wall he’ll begin to grimace seriously. When he does his Sword Spin charging attack his irises contract and looks surprised. Or when he is low on life, he leans over and half closes his eyes in exhaustion.

Link now has a pendant that acts like Navi and Tatl in the previous games. This magical item seems to let two people see and communicate to each other. In Dragon Mountain, the voice was that of an adult male. (It changes depending on who is helping you in whatever level.) Whenever the game wishes to give you a hint or teach you a new move, the controller rumbles slightly and you can see a “Z” icon flashing slowly to the left of your Item Setup Icons.

While I was enjoying my exploration of what seemed to be a gigantic dungeon the game reset. Boo.

The next Demo takes place in Link’s home village. According to the demo description, Link is given his trademark outfit by his sister for his twelfth birthday. While in the village the residents will teach you various moves and skills. For instance, a man lying in wait among the grasses shows you how to sneak along by crawling on the ground to catch a pig. One of the Elders wields a spear and gives Link swordsmanship lessons. Next you go and meet your sister at the top of the port’s Lookout Point. There, playing with the seagulls, is Link’s younger sister, Arill. After she asks you if you spoke with their grandmother, she gives Link a special treasure: a telescope! You can zoom in and out and Arill then says it’s just like the one she has.

After looking around, you see a gigantic bird clutching what seems to be a person and flying about. I look on as a pirate ship appears and begins firing at the beast. After clipping it slightly across the face, the bird drops its prey into the northern woods. Arill asks that you go help the person out. Link arrives on the scene and the young pirate girl wakes up…

An lo, the demo ends. Boo!!

I next tried out the Boss level. A huge parasite has taken over the Dragon’s Volcano and you’re the one to fight it. Link runs into the room and the creature attacks. It looks a little bit like a crustacean crossed with a Moldorm. To defeat the monster you have to use the all-new grappling hook to grab a hold of the Dragon’s tail, which is sticking through the ceiling. Swinging across the lava filled chasm, I let the little hero fall onto a wooden platform. Part of the ceiling surrounding the Dragon’s tail falls onto the creature, damaging the hard shell. Two more similar hits destroy the boss’ defends and its time to kick some ass. Using the Grappling Hook once more, Link hits the monster’s eye, stunning it. A bit of short bladework later and the enemy crackles, turns black and lies dead at Link’s feet.

Vast Ocean was the next area I explored. A sailor (?) gives Link directions and has him play a mini-game, in effort to train you in the workings of Link’s personal ship. Sail around and get rupees from the various barrels floating in the water. However it isn’t merely an easy method to collect money, as the vertical barrels required Link to jump over it in his vessel. Here were the controls:

If you fell out of the boat you had to press B by the hull to re-enter. It was rather challenging trying to time hoisting the sails to jump at the correct time. The time limit on the minigame was five minutes.

Ah, the final demo. The name was “Island of the Magical Beast” and was probably the toughest of all playable levels. You speak with the little pirate girl you helped earlier in the town demo and she tells you your sister is being held at the top of the fortress. She says that at one time, long ago, it was a hideout for her pirate crew’s rivals. Anyway, she tells Link he is the only hope for his sister and its unlikely that they’d be able to just sail into the tower as it is heavily guarded. A mischevious grin…

Next scene, we see Link has been stuffed in a barrel. Poor Link. He doesn’t like it. The girl just laughs and says this is the only way. As the countdown from three hits, Link goes from Scared, to Angry to Resigned. Hilarious! Once Link hits the side of the fortress (ouch) and lands in the water we see a very disgusted Link bobbing in the water, clearly unamused about his current situation. Link has to sneak around the fortress avoiding searchlights and Moblins equipped with lanterns, Solid Snake style. While this doesn’t seem all that difficult, the execution would tell you otherwise. Link hides himself in various barrels and when you get close to a Moblin, they begin sniffing around trying to find you. If you move, they charge at you, destroying the barrel.

Link finds himself in jail. Now he’s really pissed. Anyway, after moving a crate you’re able to crouch and then crawl into a tiny tunnel. Link crawls around and during this we get a nice PANTY SHOT of Link’s behind. Thousand of female gamers sigh as they remember he’s twelve. Too bad. I had a lot of fun yelling “PANTY SHOT!” into a crowd of gamers whenever this happened, much to the disgust of my fellow colleagues. Heheheheh. Erm, anyway. So Link escapes from the cell and then sneaks about once more. To finish the area, one must disable two lights by climbing up and defeating the monsters (the same pig-like creatures from Dragon Mountain) that man them.

Finally when you reach the top of the tower you see your sister, surrounded by her seagull companions… The two see each other and grin but then the bird that captured breaks through the ceiling and instead of getting to fight the beast, the demo ends.

BOO!

Ah well, looks like it is time to wait for the finished game. So long…