Though quite short, Shadow of the Colossus is one of the most entertaining and original action-adventure games of 2005.
It’s been a long wait, but Shadow of the Colossus, brought to us by Fumito Ueda, the designer behind the early Playstation 2 game Ico. Like Ico before it, Shadow of the Colossus sets out to bring us a gameplay experience that sets itself apart from many other action-adventure games on the market. The concept behind Colossus is relatively simple: A young boy travels to the ends of the Earth in order to find a forbidden land inhabited by sixteen Colossi. (Who, by the way, live up to their name quite well.) He brings with him a young maiden, who I can only assume is dead. The game doesn’t give you many details regarding the “story”. Our young hero (known to many as “Wander”.) brings the girl (“Mono”) to a massive temple found in the middle of this deserted land. Once there, Wander is confronted by an ominous sounding spirit\god\deity. Wander pleads with the god to return the girl’s soul, and the god informs Wander that his girlfriend’s soul can be restored…if Wander can manage to find and defeat the sixteen Colossi that roam the land. (Don’t worry about finding them, they’re hard to miss.) So, to make a long story short: You have to kill 16 Colossi in order to save your woman.
Despite Shadow’s fairly simple premise, the game comes together beautifully. The basic gameplay of the game can be broken down into the following steps:
1. Locate a Colossus.
2. Find the Colossus’s weak point.
3. Find a way onto the Colossus.
4. Stab the hell out of the weak point.
While this may sound simple and repetitive, trust me when I say it’s anything but that. Throughout the entire game, your hero is armed only with a magical sword and a bow that fires an unlimited amount of arrows. Your only companion is a black horse named “Agro”, who will prove to be essential for not only fighting the Colossi, but traveling through the vast worlds in order to locate your foes. Before each battle with a Colossus, you are addressed by the temple’s deity, who gives you a hint as to where your foe is and what kind of Colossus you will be facing. After these brief scenes, you’ll jump on your horse and ride off to meet your challenge. In order to find the Colossi, you must use that magic sword that I mentioned. With just the press of a button, Wander will unsheathe the sword and raise it above his head, reflecting a beam of sunlight that will point you toward the next Colossus. It’s really a very simple yet brilliant mechanic that is both helpful and a fairly fun alternative to using a map system. (Although you have the option to do that too.) Exploring the world in Shadow of the Colossus is actually one of the high points of the game. Although the world is pretty much devoid of anything besides the Colossi themselves, it’s still very entertaining to travel through these worlds and admire the scenery that the game has to offer. However, it would have been nice to see more minor enemies to fight or perhaps some environmental puzzles to solve before fighting each Colossus. They could have at least thrown in a few animals to make the world feel more alive. Nevertheless, it’s still fun to explore the environments in the game.
Once you actually locate a Colossus, the real meat of the game comes into play. Each Colossus is completely different from the last, and not just in appearance. Fighting these giant stone monstrosities proves to be fresh and unique each time, because the battles are remarkably well designed, so it never really feels like you’re doing the same thing twice. Some Colossi swim, some fly, some are fast, others slow, some will tunnel underground in order to attack you, others use projectiles, some of them are fierce and will attack on sight, others are seemingly peaceful and won’t attack unless provoked, some Colossi are only a bit bigger than you, others are massive behemoths the size of living skyscrapers. In order to take down a Colossus, you’ll have to use a combination of your weapons, quick thinking, and learning to use the environments to your advantage. Figuring out exactly how to damage a Colossus is more than half of the fun. Once you learn the trick to defeating a Colossus, you are charged with the task of climbing onto them in order to reach their weak point. Wander has a grip meter that runs out fairly quick, so when climbing up a Colossus, you’ve got to do so with haste or else you’ll fall off or, in some cases, be shaken off by the Colossus. Either way, you’ll fall back to the ground and be forced to start over again. It’s a bit strange that Wander takes no damage from falling, no matter how high he falls from, but this is probably for the better since death by falling would lead to far too many frustrating moments. Finally taking down a Colossus proves to be immensely satisfying. Overall, the unique gameplay style in Shadow of the Colossus makes it one of the most entertaining action-adventure games that I’ve played in a long while.
The graphics in Shadow are not just on par with the gameplay: They are simply spectacular and can be accurately described as being artistically beautiful. It’s the superb art design of the game that makes the environments so great to traverse. The graphics and detail really help immerse the player and contribute to the otherworldly feel of the vast landscape. Each Colossus looks simply stunning; the enemy designs in Shadow remind me somewhat of Alaskan totem-poles, or possibly something you’d see in ancient South\Central American architecture. It’s really something that has to be seen in order to be fully appreciated. My only real complaint with the game’s graphics is that the framerate can sometimes chug a bit...but that’s really being picky. For the majority of the time, the game’s framerate troubles are covered up by a motion blur that actually adds to the intensity of the game. It should also be noted that this game contains what I consider to be some of the BEST animations that I have ever seen in any game...EVER. The way Wander stumbles, trips, jumps, rolls, sprints, dives and tumbles as he dodges attacks and struggles to climb up a Colossus are utterly convincing and well done. No animation feels canned. Actually, Wander does run kind of like he has down syndrome...but that’s really the only sub-par animation in the game.
The game’s sound design, while not as good as the art design, is still impressive. Each battle is emphasized nicely by an original musical score, and while the battle music remains essentially the same for every fight, it helps to keep the player interested in what’s going on onscreen. The music acts a fairly subtle way to immerse the player throughout the game, changing from non-existent, to slow and tense when a Colossus is located, to fast and frantic during fights. The voice-overs are done in a fictional language, which also contributes to the game’s otherworldly sense of time and place. All of the sound effects are solid, and a few, like the roar of agony emitted by a Colossus once you plunge your magic sword into the top of their heads, are exceptionally well done.
While the game itself is nothing short of spectacular, it is short. Like I stated before, there are only sixteen Colossi to defeat, and while this is actually quite a lot for a game like this, the game can be beaten in about a weekend. It’s a shame that the game doesn’t last longer, because you definitely won’t want to see it end by the time it’s over. There is some replay value to be had, such as time trials and unlockable weapons, but there are really not a whole lot of reasons to come back. If this sounds like it would annoy you, then I suggest giving Shadow a rental rather than shelling out $50 for it. Either way, this game shouldn’t be missed by anyone, no matter what kind of games you enjoy playing.
Though it’s quite short, Shadow of the Colossus is easily one of the best action-adventure games of 2005, or ever for that matter. It isn’t a flawless game, due mainly to it’s length and the fact that there isn’t any more depth to the gameplay outside of fighting the Colossi, but passing this game up is a huge mistake. Shadow of the Colossus shouldn’t be missed by anyone. If you’re tired of bland action-adventure games for the PS2, or if you just feel like playing something different, give Shadow of the Colossus a try. It won’t disappoint.
8 out of 10
GREAT
PROS AND CONS
COLOSSAL
+ Enormous world to explore and beautiful art and enemy design
+ Fresh and original action-adventure gameplay
+ The Colossi are BIG. Really big.
MINISCULE
- Very short, and not a whole lot of replay value
- The world, while vast, is very empty
- Framerate can get slow sometimes