Shadow of the Colossus

The Good
Too many good things!

First, the gameplay. You ride a horse in this game. I can ride horses in real life, and the way you ride the horse in the game feels very real. It's not like driving a car, but like riding a real animal. Sometimes this animal doesn't listen to you, you'll have to learn how to control it. You can also pet your horse on the neck! So cute! I discovered you can do that if you don't equip your sword and bow.

Now about the most interesting thing. The colossi are absolutely different. There are flying colossi, swimming colossi, and every battle against a colossus is different.

To defeat the colossi, you'll have to think about many different things. It's necessary to think about how to climb on the colossus, how to find his weak point.

There are battles on the earth, in the air, in the water. You'll have to think how to act in different places. Fighting on the ground is not at all the same as in the water.

For example, two totally different battles. There is a colossus who is like a fish, all the time in the water. In the beginning, you can't even understand how you can beat this colossus. You have to watch the fish very carefully, and the timing must be very exact!

Another amazing battle, and very scary, against the sand worm, where you ride your horse and shoot! This colossus also does some silly things.

The colossi themselves are totally different. Some are beautiful, some are ugly. Some are evil, some are cute. There is one beautiful bird, like a phoenix. Some colossi attack you immediately, even if you don't attack. Some attack you only when you attack them. And some don't attack at all! And the final one is really special. Unlike anyone you've seen before. And he wears clothes.

You have feelings to those colossi. I liked some and I disliked some. I like animals, and don't like those who look like humans. You have pity to some when you kill them, or don't have pity. I think those primitive animals are the most poor. The final colossus (even though he can't move) is pretty intelligent. He even takes you into the hand and looks at you. But the animals are not so smart, they don't have such abilities, so it's like hunting.

The moment you meet a colossus, there is great action. In most games, you have levels and bosses, and in this game, levels and the bosses are the same! The levels are moving, and you have to hang... I shouted too much when my husband and I played the game!

The story is short, but very touching. There is one very touching moment in the game, my husband and I both cried! In this story, almost nobody speaks, but there is always so much atmosphere.

Graphics are beautiful. The mountains, the magic bridge... And there is no game that can match "Shadow of the Colossus" in animation. Amazing.

There are so many great details in the game. The face of the hero becomes more ugly the more you play the game. There are some very special save points in the game, you have to kneel and pray in order to save.

The Bad
Nothing bad... maybe the camera. The colossi are so big, and the camera is moving, sometimes you can't see yourself. But actually, it's not bad... it's part of the gameplay. You fight such a big animal, of course sometimes you can only see his back.

Actually, I have nothing bad to say, so I said that just to say something...

The Bottom Line
One of my most favorite games. You beat sixteen amazing creatures to see the ending of the story that is full of surprises.

The Good
Video games are a lot of fun. Hot damn, one thing the modern age has brought us is a never-ending supply of entertainment in the form of internet chatting, web surfing for information, compiling information for an online database as well as just playing video games. In fact, video games are at times so fun that they are difficult to put down and compel the player to not stop. This is called addiction, and there are some gamers who believe a good video game should have this addictive quality; at one time the video game magazine GamePro had it as one of its rating requirements. The assessment is a fair one in this context; fun is what people want and expect in a game, so it makes sense for them to have a game that doesn’t stop being fun. If a game is addictive, then it serves its own purpose very well as a leisure activity or “time-killer”, if you will. That’s what a game is: an activity that you partake in and, win or lose, you enjoy yourself during the time you are doing it.

Videogames are also a burgeoning expressive art form. What once was quick, simple fun has evolved to telling complex stories of ambiguous morality that may resonate deeply with the player’s emotions. From its crude beginnings, videogames have become a billion-dollar industry as a pop-culture sensation and a technological marvel. However, this balance of being both a game and as art has never been resolved. Take for example, this issue: “Do video games make people think? Do videogames challenge people such that they are different people at the end of the experience?”

This “thinking” is actively thinking, thinking to come to a conclusion that hasn’t been thought of before and not just thinking mechanically. Sure, there’s a lot of thinking going on in games. This takes a myriad of forms in the plethora of different videogame genres: action games require fast, reflexive thinking; puzzle games require abstract problem-solving; RPG’s may require moralistic decision-making. The differences are vast as are the heated discussions to which is better, but they are all the same in the as they require the player to operate within the set parameters that the game lays out for you. You are following the game; the player is making decisions only based on what the game asks of you. Once again, this is pretty much just using your brain and not thinking on your own and coming to your own conclusions.

The game play aside, what success video games have achieved somewhat in terms of thinking are games that “make you think”. Games have matured in the recent past by tackling social issues and telling compelling stories that people affect people long after the game is over. One quick example is Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, where despite fighting cute monsters in random battles the main story has themes of child abandonment, sibling rivalry, a death in the family as well as racism (or monsterism, though this is minor). Modern video games are not slow to tackle new and unproven themes that once may have been too edgy for an audience.

However, a video game is still a game, no matter how well a video game tells a story or challenges the player to think outside the box. Besides anything else a game aspires to be, they must be fun to play. The entire experience of having a wonderful story told to you with amazing graphics and wonderful music is compromised by one thing: you are playing a video game with the purpose to win it. Almost every game made has a “game over” screen, and as a gamer you’ll do everything you can not to be staring at it. Whatever thinking you do while playing a video game usually has to do with the video game itself; if it is a smart and good video game then it will shape your thinking to become addicted to the game play. Addiction is not thinking; addiction is doing something without thinking.

And then you have Shadow of the Colossus, a masterpiece of a game that is so good people are usually left sputtering adjectives of praise but not able to describe why it’s so good. The likes of this game, which pits the unknown protagonist against 16 epic boss fights in order to save a dead woman, has never been seen before and likely its kind won’t be seen again. It’s a unique experience that raises the bar as to what a video game can achieve in terms of artistic expression. Lots have been written about the various colossi and the “purity” of boiling a game down to just the boss battles in which a boss is the anthropomorphism of a video game level. Shadow of the Colossus is an unique blend of having action/puzzle game play in an adventure game; it tells a touching story that is very out of place for a video game, and succeeds because of it. It is an extremely immersive game that is emotive without being crass and manipulative. It is the most well-made video game created because you will understand and appreciate exactly what the developers are trying to say and do.

You’ve read it all before in any of the hundreds of reviews that universally praise this game. While the praise is well-deserved, Shadow of the Colossus succeeds as a work of art because it does something that just about no video game ever made does: it lets you think.

That’s right: it lets you think. It doesn’t crowd your brain with superfluous decision making or needless details. You have a set objective, and to achieve that you must best these colossi, whom you can figure out how to beat by just looking at them. This takes place in a set world that is extremely detailed and immersive with no loading times. This is a simple and pure game, and because the set parameters are so few and unexplained—you must kill these colossi in this beautiful world without knowing why—as you play the game it lets you think.

That’s “let you think”, not “make you think”. Shadow of the Colossus isn’t so self-important to take itself so seriously. If it has anything important to say, then it challenges you to figure it out. This game is similar to the brilliance of Bioshock that permits the player to be as immersive in the story if they choose to do so, but in Shadow of the Colossus the details must be filled in by the player themselves because the story is told so sparsely and mysteriously. As in both games, a player can blaze through from beginning to end, enjoy themselves and be witness to a marvelous experience, and not know why.

This concept of “letting you think” is no better exemplified than by the game’s most important characters: the environment and the player’s horse, Agro. It is riding through this “cursed land” on your beloved horse that is the essence of the game, not the novelty of solely fighting epic boss battles where you have to climb on somebody to kill them. Take for instance: it is evident a vast percentage of the resources available for game development where allocated to making the world environment and to making the horse run and operate properly. The gigantic world is beautifully detailed and well designed and runs without any load times whatsoever. Agro is the most realistic depiction of a horse in a video game (compared to Gun, for example), and besides accurate, realistic-type controls Agro features a smooth transition from a walk to a trot to a gallop, no mean feat for an animal with four legs.

If the stars of Shadow of the Colossus are the colossi themselves, then wouldn’t a prudent development decision be to focus just on the colossi themselves? If you devoted the resources making the world environment and the horse (who is only used to as part of the colossi battles for a regretful few) to making the colossi, then we would have a game that could feature twice as many colossi, or ultra-smart colossus A.I. that could quiz you what your favorite color is before you cross a bridge. Wouldn’t more and better colossi make a better Shadow of the Colossus game?

No. If this decision was made and, for example, the game took place in a castle where you walk from room to room (like ICO), all the inspiration and magic would be gone because there isn’t a context for things to happen in. This can be seen in the game itself; after beating it once, the game features a challenge mode where you can walk up to the statue of any one colossus (all located in the same room) to play and replay the boss fights; fun, but not part of the amazing game experience.

Riding through the huge world is the real essence of the game. Just like every other part of the game, the environment is simplified and devoid of any real animals, save some tiny animals—it’s just riding. There are no random battles to encounter to level up your stats, as there are no NPC’s to encounter to take quests and buy weapons. It is a pure element, just like all the elements in this game. After receiving orders as to which colossus to whack next—the fantasy world equivalent of a GTA crime boss you take missions for—the player rides to the next destination with only your magical sword to serve as a compass. For a game that tells its story so subtly and is very stingy with any concrete details, this journey is the best part of the game because even though you are riding to the next colossus the real action takes place in your own damn brain.

That’s right, for this day and age where everyone demands better graphics the best part of Shadow of the Colossus takes place in your own imagination. As the distance grows, so does the anticipation. The mind fills with questions: What will the next colossus look like? If the last one was so tough to beat, how will I beat this one? What is the purpose of these colossi? Who is the mysterious woman I’m trying to save? But most importantly, why? Why am I trying to kill these magnificent creatures? Why do I feel regret even as I inch closer to my objective?

Shadow of the Colossus doesn’t ask you these questions; no, it lets you think for yourself. As you’re riding and thinking about these things your thoughts will drift to other subjects, but since your mind is already in a critical state of mind you are likely to do some more. That’s right, this game fools you into thinking for yourself. Genius, this is nothing short of genius. This game transcends the parameters it sets itself becomes something much more by using the best story teller you know: yourself.

Shadow of the Colossus is a “pure” game where everything is exactly as it should be. It is a perfect blend of technology, art and inspiration. Everything about this game is as it should be: the mysterious story matches every blade of grass on the lush landscape; the tense gripping battles matches the long, silent, contemplative ride through the wilderness. This is a game that will never, ever age. 100 hundred years from now people will still appreciate this game because it couldn’t be any better, not now nor then.

The Bad
No customizable songs available on non-existent horse radio. Can’t stick a sword up a colossus’ ass. Was expecting a final boss so big that a spaceship is required to build and fly to the moon from which you can time a jump to grab onto the colossus’ toe hair.

The Bottom Line
Man, I was a bit disappointed by the difficulty of this game. I breezed through a couple of them and said out loud to the TV, “Wha? But that’s so easy!” I did need to look up a faq for the two smallest “lion” colossi, shamefully, and the last guy I just spoiled it for myself and read it before I started because I was getting “colossi-itis” and just wanted the satisfaction of ending this great game.

I went and read through a faq that tried to explain EVERYTHING about the story, and I just have to say: man, you nerds, stop trying to figure magic out. The game is great because it’s mysterious. As in the cult film “Donnie Darko” (2001), it’s cool and interesting because you have no pin-wheelin’ idea what’s going on; later on in the Director’s Cut release where everything was explained, the movie just wasn’t cool nor interesting anymore. Man, just because you think you know something doesn’t make it better or your enjoyment of it better.

The tagline to this review comes from David Lynch; he replied thusly when asked why he often has very tiny people in his movies (for example, the end of “Mulholland Dr.” (2001)). Dave’s got a point, you know; it’s tough being a giant colossus.

The Good
To start with, Shadow of the Colossus awakes a lot of feelings. I've been playing video games for 20 years or so and I can't remember many games that make me feel the things that I feel with this one. I'm talking about melancholy, tenderness and sadness as I've never feel before in any other game the way that Shadow of the Colossus does. The emotional burden of the game is what I really want to remark, over the game itself.

I can spend hours and hours talking about the landscapes in the game or the incredible post production on it, but the feelings that the game awakes are the most important thing and what makes this game unique. The loneliness of an insignificant character in a complete new world where his horse is his only friend. The relation between the character and his horse is so beautiful that I'm sure that many developers would be delighted if they could reach that depth in their games between their (human) characters. We'll spend hours riding our horse looking for the next battle, and we'll love the horse sincerely from the beginning. It's like if we know that we're nothing without the horse in such an enormous land.

Everything's colossal, heroic and epic. If we think about a little description of the game we'll realize how epic is this game: Take your horse and ride to the battle with 16 colossus that you must defeat, to give your beloved her life back, only with a bow and a sword that will guide you shining a light on your way once you aim it to the sun. Isn't it epic enough?

The colossus are the main attractive of the game. Many of the colossus are as you may imagine in your mind when you hear the word "colossus", but many others aren't, because we have many kinds of them. The game would have been a great one if they've featured just enormous creatures to be defeated, but they tried to make unique creatures too, and that's why you'll have to face flying colossus, giant sand worms (Dune!) or some surprises in the deep water.

Each colossus has a different way to be defeated, and that's why the experience of your previous battle will be useless in the next one. Some of them are agile and some aren't, others are harder to be climbed... Yes, that's right, we'll have to climb most of them to find their vital points, and some of them are so big that we'll have to spend some time resting in a platform of their armors. Battles are really long, and we'll have a hint if we spend a lot of time, but sometimes this hint is useless and we'll be frustrated if we don't know how to attack the creature. Shadow of the Colossus is not an action game, it's and adventure game. Drawing your sword and attack the colossus with it is as stupid as enormous are your enemies because you won't even hurt him a little bit.

There are no enemies besides the colossus, which is something that many people don't like about the game. It's certainly a double-edged decision, but I really think that it makes the game more intimate, increasing that loneliness feeling in the whole game and giving the story more depth. There's no justification to start killing minor creatures in that wasted land. Anyway, if you want to make other things rather than fighting against those creatures you can hunt small lizards and collect fruits from the trees, that will help you increasing your parameters.

The game has a monotonous story line but in the ending part everything's epic as the other aspects of the game, with a nice closure leaving a bittersweet feeling for the player that will rest for many time in the player's mind. A perfect combination of sadness and the strange feeling of finishing one of the most incredible games in a long time.

Talking about the gameplay, there are some problems with concrete jumps, but the controls response as they should. Sometimes we may think that they don't work as we try, but it's just because we're fighting against a colossus for 1 hour, and we're tired, and when that happens everything seems to be harder than it really is. Anyway, controls aren't easy, but it's good because it's like feeling the effort of our character climbing the giant creatures to defeat them. It really works fine and improves the epic experience of the game.

Kow Otani is the compositor for the soundtrack of the game which is as epic as all the other things. Kow Otani will intimidate with the music every time that we face the colossus, in those moments that we don't know exactly what to do. Then, when we start to thing about how defeating the colossus, the music changes (that's when we're climbing the colossus for example) to a more heroic and vivid tone. Once we've defeated our foe, the music will harmonize with a sweet melody to accompany our rest of the battle. This cycle is repeated in every colossus (with different compositions, of course). The music will also accompany us in our riding through many different landscapes, like dry deserts, old ruined temples or giant lakes.

The Bad
There are some inadequate things in Shadow of the Colossus. There are not big prize in riding all over the map because the game has no extra things to do. There's not even a special motivation about doing that. I'm one of those players that really need to see everything of a game, visiting each place and taking every single item. I've played Shadow of the Colossus three times, and none of them I feel like I should explore all the map.

Hunting small lizards will increase your parameters, but... some of them are really evasive! You'll need to take your time just for hunting a single small lizard. Some of them are even harder than the colossus! Maybe the game should've been called "Shadow of the Lizards" or something.

If you stop for a moment and think, you'll realize soon that the game is just going from point A to B to defeat a big boss in there and nothing more. There's no important story in between, so the concept is really simple.

We have to use the sword to guide us to our next challenge, but sometimes it's not the best GPS in the world. For example, if the enemy is at the other side of a mountain the sword will guide you directly to it, and it won't avoid the mountain between you and where you must go. It's possible that you get lost because of that, and in such an enormous place it's not something really funny. What's more, in some places you can't see where you must go because you can't see the ray of light. It happens when there's no sun shining, when you're inside a cavern or inside a deep forest, sometimes it's a bit annoying. Anyway, it's still so epic...

Once you've finished the game you won't play it much more times. A game with a concept so simple (unique, but simple) don't need to be played many times. You'll unlock a time attack mode when you've finished the game for the first time, and it's the only new thing to play, which is the same thing that you've been doing before, so, no new feature at all.

Another thing about its low replay value is the fact that every colossus is so unique that you'll remember easy how to defeat it when you play the game again, no matter if it's been months from the last time. There's only one way to kill each colossus and weak points are always in the same place, so you won't have to play again to find new ways of defeating them because there aren't. There are some strange ways to defeating them but they're more like a bug than other thing. When you finish the game you won't feel again the same feelings that the first time, the experience changes a lot, but it's still a good game.

Game's not hard at all, only a bit frustrating sometimes. It's really difficult that a colossus hurts you because they move slow and they need a lot of time to turn around. Don't forget that it's like fighting against mountains! To avoid the attack of a colossus is easy, and one hit of them won't kill you at all. The only limit of the game is your own patience, you have to be really patience because it's possible that you climb a lot of time to reach the weak point of the colossus, which is most of the times on the head and then you may fall from there to the ground and you'll have to start all over again from the beginning, but colossus aren't dangerous at all.

The Bottom Line
Shadow of the Colossus may not be the best game for the PlayStation 2 because some aspects like its replayability, but it's clear that it's one of the most unique games made not only for the Playstation 2 but the whole video game industry. The game design is unforgettable and the concept is revolutionary in every aspect, but the storyline and the emotions that it awakes are even more remarkable, showing us how colossal love could be.