The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Preview

Horseback Battle

You need a trusty steed

The next sequence sees us jump some way forward in the game's narrative and in chase of the marauding rider from the earlier cutscene. Now in familiar green garb and with a sword and shield, Link must steer Epona across a vast grassy plain in pursuit of the demon that has the kidnapped boy proudly tied to a spear on his stead. Be sure to check out our exclusive (cammed) footage of this exciting section.

Of course, there's always a catch, and here it comes in the form of the marauder's henchmen, chasing Link atop their own wild boar and generally making the life of a hero anything but easy. The temporary speed burst afforded to Link on Epona also makes things difficult, the lash icons representing each burst taking a good five to ten seconds to renew, and easily double that if all are greedily used up.

The objective of this boss battle is still very straightforward...

The objective of this boss battle, however, despite these catches, is still very straightforward: hit the chieftain enough times and nothing else will matter. Endeavouring to do this and ignoring his henchmen we race after our prey and, after a long protracted horseback battle over Hyrule's undulating planes, finally topple him from his seat, leaving him hanging limply from his mount.

This isn't the end of it though - far from it, in fact. The boar carrying the chief rider bolts through a stone archway and onto a long, open and very, very high-up stone bridge. The elongated cutscene sees Link follow and each rider take their place at opposite ends of the runway. With the archway boarded up with flaming wooden planks, there's no way out except to win a perilous game of chicken.

Horse combat, and acceleration in particular, takes some getting used to

Steadying our nerves we advance, accelerate, and as we are about to meet in the middle, at the last second we veer to the side and thump A in a bid to knock the villain from his ride. Unfortunately we're a little slow the first time and see Link sprawling off the bridge for our troubles. Second go, however, and we stand victorious, a swift slash of Link's sword sending the chief marauder plummeting to his doom. The boar trots harmlessly by, the boy safe. We're left with a nice little cutscene of Link on Epona, reared up on her hind legs and that warm fuzzy feeling that we've done the right thing. Altogether now: "ahh".