Twilight Princess

Human Link: As a young man, Link is able to use the full range of movement / fighting styles the game affords (jump attack, climb, roll, power swipe, shield block helm splitter, etc...) during enemy encounters as well as the use of many of the tools that will be familiar to long time fans of the series (clawshot, zora armor, hero's bow, hawkeye, iron boots, boomerang, bottles of potions, etc...).  Human Link is able to interact and speak with most NPC's and supporting characters, getting hints on what's to come or where to go next.  Human Link however is unable to use warp portals, see, engage or communicate with any invisible or spirit-like characters and is limited in his ability to get around the map quickly without the help of Epona.

Wolf Link: In his more canine-like form, Link can move around much quicker on his own and use warp portals, although is unable to use any item and has few special attack techniques.  Wolf Link is able to detect, remember and follow scent trails, locate special diggable areas where treasure and items can be claimed and can see and interact with beings of an ethereal nature.  Wolf Link can not interact with non-ethereal humans (they run away or attempt to attack you in this form) however is able to communicate with other animals who often know more about what's going on and can be more helpful than the human populace.  Midna is a constant companion in this form, providing insight and standing ready to assist Wolf Link in reaching high and hard to reach areas.

It should be noted as well that initially, Human Link is exclusively played in 'day' segments of Hyrule and Wolf Link is exclusive to the 'shadow' settings.  However the opportunity does come up sometime later in the game where you will be able to change back and forth between the two at will which becomes extremely helpful in later stages and all but makes Epona unnecessary.

There are a number of beautifully rendered areas (day and twilit versions) to explore and many faces familiar to series fans to encounter (the moutain dwelling Goron and water dwelling Zora, for example).  Fans will also find many familiar enemies to pummell upon (ie: the ghostly Poes, keese, deku babas, walltulas and bokoblins), as well as a host of new denizens exclusive to this latest Link adventure.  As is typical in versions past, important items found in dungeon exploration become key in getting through the various Boss and Mid-boss battles and there are a host of mini dungeons to explore (for battle or profit) and mini-games / quests which will yield items when completed that will be immensely useful as the game progresses.

For example:

Heart Peices: You start the game with 3 hearts on your life meter and one more is added each time you complete a Boss battle.  However there is the potential to end the game with 20 hearts in your life meter and there are various heart pieces strewn about Hyrule to collect via exploration or task completions. Total there are 45 peices to be found and for every 5 collected you add another full heart to your life meter.  

The Poe Hunt:  An unfortunate citizen of Castle Town has had his life force stolen by ghastly creatures called Poes, leaving him in a rather unfortunate state.  His energy has been shared out among 60 of these creatures located within the vast boundaries of Hyrule and to return him to his normal state, all 60 must be located and his life force retrieved from each one.  To Human Link, the Poes appear as disembodied floating lanterns so this task must be completed in wolf form as only Wolf Link can see the Poes and combat them.

Bug Collecting: A young socialite in Castle Town is seeking to hold a party for 24 golden bugs.  There are a male and female of each of 12 species (dragonfly, ladybug, snail, praying mantis, etc...) located across the land to be located and captured.  Only Human Link can perform this task as Wolf Link is unable to actually grab the bugs and stash them away on its person.  Hint...they glow and are most easily located at night or in shadows.

The Cave of Ordeals: This is an opportunity just before the final few stages of the game to practice your fighting skills, key item usage and gather a bit of loot (and maybe pick up a couple of Poes).  The Cave is 50 levels, each featuring a different sort of adversary already encountered and getting more challenging as you go deeper into the cave.  Both Human Link and Wolf Link will be given the opportunity to come out for a play as you make your way through and engage in a little mindless carnage and treasure hunting while you refine your skills before your final big encounters.

Granted this isn't exactly Halo 3  or Final Fantasy XII; and in fact between the classic platform fighting moves and arsenal of tools and toys at your disposal its very much like Super Mario Bros meets James Bond in appearance.  Still for the fans of this long standing franchise, all you could hope for from a Zelda adventure is present with Twilight Princess and then some.  

The graphics continue to improve with each new release and Twilight Princess is no exception.  The care the designers take in the finer details is apparent. The backgrounds are richly detailed and the camera movements are very fluid and the battles are very quick paced compared to Link's earlier adventures.  The sun is positively blinding when the camera angle is moved to the sky during mid day and Wolf Link even stretches and yawns not unlike the family dog when you allow the character to idle for any period.  Even the cinematic at the beginning while the game waits for the "start" button to be selected is more like a movie trailer than a screen saver.   

The dungeons are suitably challenging as are many of the boss battles and mini-games.  Being very much a plot driven game, many aspects, items and locations can only be discovered, used or unlocked in due course.  However there is enough going on once things have progressed a little to allow the player to move quite freely around Hyrule and battle the resident baddies, hunt for heart peices or Poes, or even hold up and do a spot of fishing if one is so inclined.  There is a world of familiar characters providing fond tie-ins to adventures past as well as some fascinating new ones that I hope we will get to see again in future versions.   

In fact, the only real con as far as gameplay or format is that free camera control is available only for the Game Cube via the 'C' control stick.  If you are playing this on the Wii, you will unfortunately have to pretty much settle for the defaul angles as offered: the remote not providing near the flexibility of a more standard control set up.

It took me a good 60 hours of real time to get through this one and there was quite a bit I didn't do in the way of item collecting or side trips and tasks.  To me this is one of the best franchises out there.  Each adventure builds on the last expanding the characters and world in a very natural way.  As the technology improves, so does the game play and Twilight Princess keeps up on the Zelda tradition in fine style.  If you've been living in a cave for the last 20 years and have never hack and slashed your way with Link through a horde of Chu Chus, this is a fine one to cut your teeth on.  If you are like me and have played every adventure since the original Intellevision 2D platform version in the mid 80s, Twilight Princess will most definitely not disappoint.

Tell the Gorons, Skippy said "Hi, brudda" for me.  Cheers!