Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - hands-on

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Everything you need to know to get you through the first dungeon

The tale begins with an adolescent Link sitting near a small pond. His pal next to him has a delivery to make the next day in Hyrule, the vast open lands just outside Link's tiny Ordon Village. In the interest of seeing Link venture out, the man assigns him the task instead of handling it personally. Then, you take control as Link finishes up his daily farmhand duties - in this case, wrangling some runaway goats back inside their barn. Doing this on your own would be pretty tough, but your suggestive gal-pal Ilia has a present for you - Epona, the very horse that carried your heroic ass all through Ocarina of Time. Nah, it's not the exact same horse, but still a welcome touch this early in the game.

After steering the goats back in (each with a giant GOAT IN! chime), a series of small tasks have to be completed in Ordon. In true Zelda fashion, each mystery is connected and you've got to figure out which one acts as the main domino to make the rest fall into place.

After wandering around the town for a good bit, you find that picking up certain reeds and blowing in them will summon a hawk to your arm. With it perched at the ready, you can point it at something and set it loose. Once you find the monkey, dancing happily atop a rock surrounded by water, you sick the hawk at him, and it brings the cradle back in one piece. With it in hand, you can finally unravel the long string of puzzles to obtain the slingshot and learn how to aim precisely with the Wii remote.

Brett Elston
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.