Shadow of the Colossus
Review: Shadow of the Colossus for PlayStation 2 by Sony Computer Entertainment
Overview: From the team that brought you the incredibly inspired Ico, comes a game that presents a unique experience. The basis of the game is pretty simple: your girl is dead and a mystical voice from the sky says you can bring her back to life by killing some giants. The problem is: all you’ve got is a horse, a sword, and a bow and arrow set. It’s gonna be tricky.
Shininess: Wow, this game is pretty. Shadow of the Colossus takes a very minimalist approach to game play, but keeps the graphics amazingly detailed. The wide open fields you must traverse to find each colossus is about as wide and open as any field I’ve ever seen in a game. They just stretch on and on. After the first couple of battles with colossi, you realize that you’ve never gone somewhere that wasn’t part of the map you were already on. It’s just one giant seamless game world with no loading screens at all. You never have to go into a dungeon or something and wait for the screen to change. It’s all right there.
And then there are the colossi themselves. They are, without a doubt, the most massive characters I have ever come across in a game. There are no random enemies between you and the colossi, so all that processing power is allowed to go straight into your battles with them. Every last bit of migs and megs is used to create these things. The textures are amazing on the colossus. You’re not exactly sure what they are. They’re an interesting mix of stone and hair. Every last bit of the colossi are detailed because you are going to see every last bit of them, close up and personal.
To see them from the ground is indeed a sight to behold. Words cannot do the experience justice, neither can pictures. This is a game you must play to truly comprehend the magnitude.
The music in the game also takes a very minimalist approach. Running through empty fields is completely devoid of music. And yet, it’s incredibly appropriate. You get that sense of loneliness as you travel this mysterious place. All you hear is the trample of your horse’s hooves, an occasional bird chirp, and the wind. Only when you finally encounter your massive targets does any music start to play. Before you are able to climb up on them, the music is frantic and desperate, perfectly matching your feelings. Once you are able to latch on and start climbing around these guys, it becomes more like a tune of noble, brave struggle.
Funness: Shadow of the Colossus is a very fun game indeed. It harkens to that idea of simplification that Nintendo seems to be pushing lately. You don’t have to memorize tons of button combinations, you don’t have to plot amazing strategies, etc. It’s just you, your limited equipment, and your own brain. Every colossus has a different strategy. And they don’t necessarily have only one way to bring them down. Oh sure, you have to hit their magic weak spot with your sword every time, but trying to figure out how to do that at all isn’t always straightforward, nor is there only one specific way to reach it. This game will test your powers of observation and your creative thinking. If your brain is starting to strain a bit, the magical voice from the sky will give you a vague clue every great once in a while. This game is a challenge, and sometimes a frustrating one. But most of the time, it’s the good kind of challenging that compels you to keep trying and trying until you get it right.
The feeling of just awesome grandeur when climbing these amazing creatures is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced when playing a video game. You have a true sense of fear when you’re desperately clinging to the fur of a colossus and it starts to shake around like a wet dog, trying to fling you loose.
Worthiness: Being a brand new game for the PS2, you’re gonna shell out 50 bucks for this title. If you’re looking for a fun, unique gaming experience, I’d say that this game is definitely worth the money. You wouldn’t think that a game with only boss battles would have enough to it to be worth full price, but this game says you are dumb and wrong. I doubt many would be disappointed getting this game as an impulse purchase. If you’re still feeling skeptical, you owe it to yourself to at least give it a rent. Unless you are seriously hardcore, you’re not going to beat it during the rental period and you are going to want to play it more. And the best part is, even after you finish it the first time, there is special stuff for you to get!
I say you should go buy this game.
--The Geek
What say you?!