Zelda Wii U TGA Reveal Breakdown

Our friends at GameXplain made a brief rundown of the different elements for the Zelda Wii U reveal straight out of The Game Awards. You can subscribe to GameXplain here, but we will run down some of the key learnings they got from the footage below.

First off is the scale of Hyrule in the new game, which now clearly appears larger than it did during the E3 reveal. When Link jumps off the cliff and starts slowly gliding, it seems to keep going and going.

A fan decided to do some rough guesswork based on the information shared in the footage, and concluded that the are covered by the map had to have been 5.42 x 4.36 miles, or 8.7 x 7.1 kilometers, totaling 23.6 square miles or 61.8 square kilometers.

Our sources are reticent that the open world could affect game design adversely, citing how you can apparently pick up apples which grow throughout the game. While they're hopeful that Aonuma and company would not add open world elements without reason, I would point out Aonuma has been outspoken about changing the conventions of the franchise.

Next up are some newly revealed mechanics. The E3 trailer showed Link vaulting off his horse while he targeted an enemy for some takedown shots with his bow and arrows. This new footage shows how that is actually implemented into gameplay, as you get brief bullet time (or hang time, if you will) in the air to target enemies before you hit the ground.

For locomotion, Link doesn't seem to get wayside shrines or anything similar to that, but some elements return from previous games, the sailcloth and a ridable horse. Whereas the sailcloth in Wind Waker didn't really live up to its potential, here it seems you will have true freedom using it to move around. Similarly, the horse seems to have some AI elements, as it will move around for you and actively avoid hitting into trees and other obstacles. This allows you to observe the map from the GamePad.

We're passing over running down our source's more speculatory thoughts and musings, but you can watch the whole video to check that out. To sum, check out this callback from the footage that many fans noticed and can't be a coincidence.