My Shadow of the Collossus Review
The Story:
Shadow of the Collossus begins with a wanderer warrior traveling to the forbidden lands with his trusty horse named Agro. However, he is not going alone. Along with wanderer, he brings a women, whom is dead. Questions will sprout to your head: Who is this girl? Is she the wanderers girlfriend? His spouse? Little sister?
The warrior then enters a strange sanctuary with 16 statues lined against the wall, giving an atmosphere of suspense. Suddenly a strange voice from the ceiling begins talking to wanderer saying wanderer must slay the 16 collossi's in order to restore life back to the girl. Wanderer then rides on his his horse, packs up his sword and bow, and then begins traveling to destroy the 16 collossi's. From there, that is where your adventure begins.
Graphics:
The environments, oh the environments. There is only one word that can elaborate my feelings of the graphics of this game: BEAUTIFUL. The instant you leave the sanctuary, you will be jawdropped by the gorgeous vast land. Throughout the game, you will be traveling through deserts, temples, lakes, valleys, and much much more. Throughout your traveling, you will encounter few animals like fishes, lizards, and birds, giving you a feeling of this forbidden land.
Not only are the environments are beautiful, but the collossi's are simply breathtaking as well. Huge, towering, and furry creatures made of stone and flesh will bring a prickle down your spine will make you wondering "Am I really going to fight these beasts?".
Gameplay:
Most of the gameplay is during your battles against the collossi's. Fighting a collossi isn't an easy walk in the park. In fact, you must use your environment, reflexes, bow, Agro (your horse), strategy, and patience to get onto these beats and slay them.
The collossi's aren't dumb. While you're on the collossi's, they will try shaking you off their backs, making the gameplay even more challenging. While you're on the beasts, you must find these giant glowing symbols among their bodies, and stab them with your sword. From there, the collossi's will react in agony pain and try even harder to grasp you off their backs.
Some of these fights can be frustrating at times. Whenever you attempt to jump on a collossi, wanderer falls short, you will sometimes be cursing to yourself wondering why wanderer cannot grasp that one strand of fur from the collossi.
Sometimes while you're in battle, you might have no distinct clue what to do. There will be times you will attempt to find the collossi's weakspot, but you might've spent over 30 minutes before you realize you must use this one strategy first. destroy the collossi's armor, and then its weakspot will be revealed giving you an opportunity to kill it.
After you kill a collossi, there will be a sense of sorrow. There is a collossus, minding its own business, until a human decides to challenge it and slay the collossus with the human sword.
Value:
Well what can I say? This has been my very first time playing Shadow of the Collossus, and it has been a great adventure. The game is rather short. An average video game player will probably beat SOTC in a minimum of 8-10 hours. The game offers little replay value due to unlocking some new features after the first playthrough. Although the game is short and wishing players for more, gamers will remember Shadow of the Collossus.
The Good:
- Gorgeous lands and environments.
- Huge jawdropping collossi's that will make you awe.
- A sense of kinship will connect you and your horse, Agro.
- A sense of accomplishment...and pity after slaying each collossi's.
- One of those games you will never forget.
- Excellent ending!
The Bad:
- Flimsy controls takes a while getting acquainted to.
- A little on the short side.
- Navigating to a new collossi can be somewhat difficult and tedious.
- Story could've been more fleshed out.
- Little replay value.
Overall I will give Shadow of the Collossus an 8.5. Due to its amazing adventure, beautiful environments, and larger-than-life collossus's, Shadow of the Collossus is a game that is definitely worth playing and an adventure you will never forget.