In The Wind Waker, Nintendo told us something very important: The Legend of Zelda is a story about good and evil which repeats itself. It spares them of course the trouble to explain how the different games are intertwined into a story line, especially since A Link to the Past, but it also allows them to radically change the style from a game to another like it's happening between The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Different people, different moods. While The Wind Waker had some cartoony graphics and a joyful feel with dark elements, its follow-up will have realistic graphics and a dark atmosphere with so far nothing which looks like joyful elements. Link is now a serious, preoccupied, handsome adventurer.

As such, the game feels closer to what probably was the most succesful Zelda to date, The Ocarina of Time, and one can't help thinking the game somehow follows the adult Link of this game. After all, several elements remind us of Link from Ocarina of Time, the main one being the horse, whether its name is Epona or not. That's when knowing The Wind Waker's tale becomes crucial, because it helps us to accept all the contradictions behind Twilight Princess: this, is the story of another Link, like it could simply be the story of another boy, of another man, following the steps of past heroes into their struggle against great evils.

This time, Link is clearly a young man not the child or adolescent he's been in the past. As a farmboy of Taoru village, he's entrusted with an important duty, he must go to attend the meeting of the villages of Hyrule in the name of the mayor. It is during this journey that his fate will become adventure, when great enemies and dangers will cross his path, and people's lives will then depend upon his actions. Among those persons are two prominent and yet very mysterious figures. One of them is the princess of Twilight, who most likely is Zelda, and is said to turn into a falcon when inside the land of darkness. The other character is Midna, who seems to be the strange stone creature Link carries on its back when he turns into a wolf.

The Twilight Realm is a return to Zelda's roots, those of A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time especially, when the world of Hyrule was divided into two worlds, one of light and one of darkness, born from the evil doings of Gannondorf. But this time around, things are different and much more complex. Similarly to one of the most beautiful sequence of The Wind Waker, the Twilight Realm is depicted in black and white, moreover, some characters - our protagonists at least - turn into animals, such as Link who becomes a wolf. At this point, it is difficult to link all these elements into one sensible story line, though the truth is that we certainly don't want to know more until we have the controller in our hands and the final game in our GameCube.

What we can be sure of, is that Twilight Princess will be a skilful mix of the familiar Zelda playground with brand new gameplay elements, and perhaps the latter one will present some of the most radical changes to be seen in the Zelda series. Among the traditional elements, we find some common items (boomerang, lantern...), the ability to ride horses (or other mounts, this is new), typical Zelda puzzles, training, the fishing, the chicken, etc. Nintendo had said it before, an adult Link means a more adult game. So far, there's no reason to doubt that, Twilight Princess seems by far the darkest episode of the saga with gruesome, blood-thirsty looking enemies. Nintendo did not try to hide the vicious look on their face or the dull glare of their evil eyes, weapons are sharp and look ready to spill drop. Even though we might not see a drop of it, we can't help thinking this is a major departure from the traditional Zelda atmosphere, some of the screenshots would suit better Resident Evil 4 than The Wind Waker.

And this, is maybe too much. It's too early to judge, after all this is only a preview, but along with the few heavily movie-influenced ideas (The Lord of the Rings and Lady Hawke), Twilight Princess could be going too far away from what we know and love about Zelda. The game, no one will object, looks fantastic and highly promising, yet, does it still retain the soul of Zelda games beyond the fact that it tells again the same legend ? Isn't it darker than it should, and to which benefit ? How much people are responsible for it, people who have been hassling Nintendo with the "kiddy image" for years ? We will be looking forward anxiously to the answers. However, if the fear Nintendo is going after a trend exists, there's no doubt of what awaits us at the end: one incredible game, "two or three times bigger than Ocarina of Time", with awe-inspiring graphics and the display of a vivid imagination. Knees will shake, jaws will drop and The Legend of Zelda will rule, once again.