One of the most colossal achievements of 2005.
“Shadow of the Colossus” is exactly this type of game.
Fans of SCEA’s previous hit “ICO” will find themselves immersed in a very familiar world full of earthly tones, dark shadowy figures, and characters that tend to act rather than talk. However the visual similarity isn’t the only thing that “ICO” and “Shadow of the Colossus” share.
The story is also quite similar to “ICO” as it revolves around a young male character and his efforts to aid a young female character from what he feels is an unpleasant situation. Although instead of guiding the and protecting the young damsel in the distress like when playing “ICO,” in “Shadow of the Colossus” the female character doesn’t really need any form of protection or guiding.
This is mostly due to the fact she is dead.
Without giving away too much of the plot, the general idea of the story involves the nameless male protagonist carrying an unexplained dead female into a massive sanctuary in hopes of asking a god to restore her life. The god answers the boy and makes a pact with him. He says that in exchange for the girl’s life, he requires that the 16 huge colossi that roam the land be destroyed. The boy agrees and the adventure begins, but little does he know that hunting the colossi is no easy task.
The best way to describe a colossus in this game is a giant creature composed of metal, stone, hair, and flesh. Some colossi may resemble animals such as snakes, birds, or 4-legged beasts, while others will posses a more human-like appearance and usually carry a gigantic weapon.
These creatures are spread all throughout the land and for good reason too. The colossi are so massive that they require huge areas of space to run around and cause destruction in. Some colossi are even in proportion to a real world 20-story building. The fun begins when gamers encounter one of these beasts and are quickly reminded that they are controlling a 5 foot no one in the ultimate battle of David versus Goliath.
But things aren’t as discouraging as they seem. Our nameless hero carries a bow with unlimited arrows and a magic sword that can serve as a compass by reflecting sunlight in the direction of the next colossus. The sword can also be used during battle to reflect sunlight onto a colossus in order to find its weak spots.
Literally the biggest weapon in the hero’s possession is his trusty steed Agro. The horse is the fastest way to travel across the vast lands, and also during a battle with colossi will keep you moving at a safe speed while shooting arrows from any direction while riding.
After gamers have pinpointed weak spots on a colossus, it’s time to approach it and bring it down. Depending on the colossus, gamers can either run up and attempt to climb up its enormous body from ground level or they can ride Agro into the midst of annihilation and do a leaping jump off of the saddle and onto the colossus. As long as gamers can grab onto a patch of the colossus’ hair, they can climb all around to attack.
The trick is to climb to where the weak spots are and stab it with all the character’s might. On the other hand it’s not that easy to climb around when the character only has a certain length in which he can continue hanging on as the colossus begins to shake and wobble about in an effort to send him flying. After a series of stabbings, the colossus should buckle and gravity will take its course on its oversized soon to be carcass.
The only real problem when playing “Shadow of the Colossus” is the slight wonky controls when riding the horse Agro. He often seems to have a mind of his own and will just assume run into a wall rather than letting gamers control him.
It’s not really a problem, but another issue in the game is not having an abundance of other things to do besides killing colossi. Yet in its defense, when a game this fun rolls around it really doesn’t matter if minigames or side quests are included.
Gamers that are fed up with the typical mindless video game fluff should definitely go out of there way and play this game. Not only is this one of the best video games on the market right now, it’s a colossal contender for Game of the Year.