I am not a very big console gamer, (I’m also not a very big poster or essay writer so please be lenient) and therefore don’t buy many console games, so when I do I tend to lean towards games that are a bit unusual and cover more than one genre. Shadow of the colossus is nothing like this, it is, in my opinion complete unique and is a genre in its own.
Ok so the game starts with the nameless hero, a young man, his black stallion ‘Agro’, carrying a curious black package across a land of deserts, forests and mountains were he finally reaches a strange temple. This will be the start of your quest, as you find out the package he was burdened with was in fact a young woman, who has passed away. Cut to the chase, woman dead – man don’t want her to be, so he strikes a deal with an unseen being in the temple. I could delve deeper but I don’t want to give anything away.
The quest is set, you must kill 16 colossi and everything will be peachy – sounds easy enough…
Like I said there are 16 colossi, so there are 16 fights, this game really is minimalist but has the goods were it counts. You have to hunt the colossi down using your magic sword to reflect the light in their direction, and then ride like the wind to get there. This might seem a little lame and to someone who enjoys all out action games it my well be, but for me travelling through this graphically rich, seamless landscape was half the fun, ok maybe a third.
One you reach your destination, a small cut scene will follow to allow you to gape in awe of the beast that stands before you. The colossi are fantastic pieces of art and design, both beautiful and scary as hell, oh and did I mention BIG! This is were the real fun begins, the aim is to locate weak point on the body of the beast, again using your sword and then finding a way to get up there and stab stab stab. These battles are truly amazing, the camera angles can be a bit messy, but when they work they make you feel totally immersed in the game. This is also because of the lack of things like radar or ammo etc, all you have is a small health bar and a gauge that is your grip strength, breath and power all in one, and these are neatly tucked away in a corner.
Back to the battles, even though the whole idea of the game is to kill theses things, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad when ever I did, probably because you spend so much time fighting them you become a little attached, plus they didn’t do anything wrong, which makes you the bad guy.
The game play is also brilliantly crafted, with amazing detail gone into animating Agro’s movements and the young hero, from hanging on for dear life as a colossi shakes its mighty neck in an attempt to remove him, to tripping up as he’s running up some stairs. Then there’s the fan boy stuff such as standing on Agro’s back whilst in full gallop and shooting a colossi with an arrow, or jumping of a platform miles above a misty pit onto a speeding wing.
So far I’ve put a point across that this game is pretty much the dogs, but the problem I have when I really really like something, be it a game, film or book, if I find something I don’t like it seems to amplify it a lot more than if I disliked something in a mediocre game. The camera being the main issue, you control the player with the left analog and the camera with the right but the camera doesn’t really like being moved around so it automatically goes were it wants to go. But you can customise this if you want. Also the game doesn’t have a very long lifespan; I completed it in about a week, and although this opens a hard and time attack mode once you’ve done it I felt it would be a while till I go back to it.
All in all this game is brilliant, graceful and mesmerising, not only in its look but the story and game play.
Graphics & Sound: 10
Gameplay: 10
Lifespan: 6
9 faf
Full Version: GAME: Shadow of the Collossus
The guy is called Wander/Wanda, it says in the manual. The Japanese title is Wander and the Colossus, but SCEA thought that didn't sound cool and changed the name.
I love this game. I'm up to the 16th (and final) Colossus, and it's damn hard. I know exactly what to do, it's just the doing that's tricky I can't jump from his second hand onto his head, I always fall back down to the bottom and have to climb back up, which is frustrating.
The game is a semi-sequel to Ico, in that it's made by the same people and set in the same world. The 16 boss fights are by far the most impressive I've seen in a game, and will blow you away when you first play it. Look at this guy:
See Wander hanging on for dear life their? And this is only a small/medium-sized Colossus. They get a LOT bigger.
The music is pretty impressive, too. Composed by Kow Otani (Gundam Wing, Gamera, Godzilla All-Out Attack, etc), it's a very impressive orchestrated number which really gets you pumped up during the battles.
Like super_horse said, it's a great game and well worth getting. I'd give the lifespan a 7.5 myself, as I often come back to play through my favourites again. It's also fun to just wander (no pun intended) on your horse around the colossal (again, no pun) world map. Another cool thing is, very little in the way of loading times. The game loads itself as it goes along, which keeps the realism flowing. Some of the Colossi are extremely frustrating and tricky, and it can take an hour or so to bring them down. But it makes the victory all the sweeter...
Watch this video to get an impression of the game. But beware! The video includes spoilers to the games ending, so stop watching once its shown the action sequences (the music changes and it goes all flickery, at about 3 minutes in).
I love this game. I'm up to the 16th (and final) Colossus, and it's damn hard. I know exactly what to do, it's just the doing that's tricky I can't jump from his second hand onto his head, I always fall back down to the bottom and have to climb back up, which is frustrating.
The game is a semi-sequel to Ico, in that it's made by the same people and set in the same world. The 16 boss fights are by far the most impressive I've seen in a game, and will blow you away when you first play it. Look at this guy:
See Wander hanging on for dear life their? And this is only a small/medium-sized Colossus. They get a LOT bigger.
The music is pretty impressive, too. Composed by Kow Otani (Gundam Wing, Gamera, Godzilla All-Out Attack, etc), it's a very impressive orchestrated number which really gets you pumped up during the battles.
Like super_horse said, it's a great game and well worth getting. I'd give the lifespan a 7.5 myself, as I often come back to play through my favourites again. It's also fun to just wander (no pun intended) on your horse around the colossal (again, no pun) world map. Another cool thing is, very little in the way of loading times. The game loads itself as it goes along, which keeps the realism flowing. Some of the Colossi are extremely frustrating and tricky, and it can take an hour or so to bring them down. But it makes the victory all the sweeter...
Watch this video to get an impression of the game. But beware! The video includes spoilers to the games ending, so stop watching once its shown the action sequences (the music changes and it goes all flickery, at about 3 minutes in).
It's actually a prequel.
It explains why in ICO people born with horns are thought to be evila nd are banished like at the start of ICO
I was in love with this game form the opening 5 minutes of play.
The (mostly) barren lands you wondered thoguh searching for collossi was beautiful,it was a great experience just getting your horse to rear up and gallop around the land.
Most of the collossi were damn huge and fun to fight. Though there were a few lacklustre small ones.
It's difficult to describe why a game which is basically 16 boss battles is so damn great but it really is.
Oh and replaying the time trials to get the cloth of desperation is worth it just for the hell of it
@Gundam:A tip. When you are on his second hand look for a weak spot on the Collossi other then on its head
It explains why in ICO people born with horns are thought to be evila nd are banished like at the start of ICO
I was in love with this game form the opening 5 minutes of play.
The (mostly) barren lands you wondered thoguh searching for collossi was beautiful,it was a great experience just getting your horse to rear up and gallop around the land.
Most of the collossi were damn huge and fun to fight. Though there were a few lacklustre small ones.
It's difficult to describe why a game which is basically 16 boss battles is so damn great but it really is.
Oh and replaying the time trials to get the cloth of desperation is worth it just for the hell of it
@Gundam:A tip. When you are on his second hand look for a weak spot on the Collossi other then on its head
Gonna play this again today. Tried it ages ago and got a bit pissed off as I couldn't get to grips with the movement of the horse. More to do with my ability as a gamer than the game, I suspect!
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