Team ICO are responsible for arguably two of the best games ever created, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, though these games weren't met with bank busting sales records both games offered something very unique to the gaming industry, amassed a huge cult following, and share critical acclaim. You may recall in my review of ICO that I adored the game in every shape and form, it had its flaws but these problems were vastly outweighed by greatness, but can Shadow of the Colossus follow in its footsteps?
You play as Wander, a man who adventures into a place known as 'The Forbidden Lands' with the hope of resurrecting his dead girlfriend, Mono, by consulting a being known as Dormin. Dormin agrees to bring Mono back to life so long as Wander hunts down and kills 16 Colossi that roam the Forbidden Lands. As Wander begins to slay the giant beasts he begins to change and Dormin's plan is revealed.
Shadow of the Colossus' story is something very different from the norm in the gaming market, however it never delves into its story too deeply which stops it from becoming something amazing. You begin to notice slight changes to Wander's appearance with each passing colossi but you are never told anything beyond Wander's story up until the final 3 or 4 colossi, and even then it is only truly seen in the final cutscene at as shallow a level as possible. Depth is what was needed in this story because it is far too thin on the ground. Though the game feels short, around 4-5 hours in length, it never overstays its welcome. Any more colossi and the game would have become tedious and absurd, any less and it wouldn’t have been enough.
You play as Wander, a man who adventures into a place known as 'The Forbidden Lands' with the hope of resurrecting his dead girlfriend, Mono, by consulting a being known as Dormin. Dormin agrees to bring Mono back to life so long as Wander hunts down and kills 16 Colossi that roam the Forbidden Lands. As Wander begins to slay the giant beasts he begins to change and Dormin's plan is revealed.
Shadow of the Colossus' story is something very different from the norm in the gaming market, however it never delves into its story too deeply which stops it from becoming something amazing. You begin to notice slight changes to Wander's appearance with each passing colossi but you are never told anything beyond Wander's story up until the final 3 or 4 colossi, and even then it is only truly seen in the final cutscene at as shallow a level as possible. Depth is what was needed in this story because it is far too thin on the ground. Though the game feels short, around 4-5 hours in length, it never overstays its welcome. Any more colossi and the game would have become tedious and absurd, any less and it wouldn’t have been enough.
The gameplay to SotC is something also unlike anything else in the industry. Though the game comes across as an action-adventure it is actually a 3rd person puzzle platformer. This is because there is no other gameplay besides climbing, jumping, and stabbing glowing weak points. The game is 16 boss battles strung together with open world horse riding. The puzzles consist of finding your way to the colossus, finding out how to take down a colossus, and then actually taking the colossus down; this process is repeated 16 times snd that's it. Surprisingly it never gets repetitive and that's because each colossus is so different from the last. The challenge also gets greater with each colossi beginning with a pretty slow, dumb, and easy to kill colossus; all the way up to a colossus that will kill you in one shot and requires a very precise, perfectly timed set of actions in order to climb & kill it. It is worth mentioning though that, especially with some of the early colossi, the A.I is a bit dumb and can often get sidetracked or forget your existence mere seconds after getting its attention.
The game does a very very good job of making you feel small compared to everything else in the world. The map itself is probably among the largest on the PS2, spanning miles upon miles of highly detailed and simply beautiful natural environment & ancient architecture. Buildings & cliffs tower above Wander and the colossi are simply astounding in size, if I was to define a 'big' game, SotC would be that definition even if its lacking in length and overall content. That is another large gripe of mine. The world is so damn huge, yet it is completely empty besides save points, lizards, trees, and of course the 16 bosses. Yeah the place is forbidden and all but why make a place so damn big and not put anything in it?
SotC is visually impressive for its sense of scale, but the PS2 & PS3 versions leave something to be desired in terms of graphical fidelity. The frame rate could be smoother and textures could be more varied but in all fairness the game is pushing the PS2 to its limits with the amount of world to generate. Lighting has a large roll to play in SotC too, in order to find the colossi you must hold your sword up to the sunlight and it will point in the direction the colossus resides, in darker areas this is not possible. The light also gives the PS2 graphics a bit of a facelift and makes them look nicer than that actually are. The PS4 version is a completely different story however with it being one of the best looking games on the system, and it runs like a dream!
The musical score is among the best in the business, I could honestly listen to this all day and all night because its so good. There is very little in terms of voice acting, there are very few characters and each one only has a line or two of dialogue in the entire game.
In short Shadow of the Colossus (despite the negatives I seem to have focused on) is a masterpiece and one of the best games available for the Sony systems it is available on...however it is not up to the standard of that set by ICO. I feel that the community, as with many cult classics, over-hype the game into becoming something godly when in reality it isn't. There are many improvements to be made such as what I've mentioned above.
But these things are minor offsets and also tend to make the experience more unique. But these gripes shouldn't mean you should pass it up.
The game does a very very good job of making you feel small compared to everything else in the world. The map itself is probably among the largest on the PS2, spanning miles upon miles of highly detailed and simply beautiful natural environment & ancient architecture. Buildings & cliffs tower above Wander and the colossi are simply astounding in size, if I was to define a 'big' game, SotC would be that definition even if its lacking in length and overall content. That is another large gripe of mine. The world is so damn huge, yet it is completely empty besides save points, lizards, trees, and of course the 16 bosses. Yeah the place is forbidden and all but why make a place so damn big and not put anything in it?
SotC is visually impressive for its sense of scale, but the PS2 & PS3 versions leave something to be desired in terms of graphical fidelity. The frame rate could be smoother and textures could be more varied but in all fairness the game is pushing the PS2 to its limits with the amount of world to generate. Lighting has a large roll to play in SotC too, in order to find the colossi you must hold your sword up to the sunlight and it will point in the direction the colossus resides, in darker areas this is not possible. The light also gives the PS2 graphics a bit of a facelift and makes them look nicer than that actually are. The PS4 version is a completely different story however with it being one of the best looking games on the system, and it runs like a dream!
The musical score is among the best in the business, I could honestly listen to this all day and all night because its so good. There is very little in terms of voice acting, there are very few characters and each one only has a line or two of dialogue in the entire game.
In short Shadow of the Colossus (despite the negatives I seem to have focused on) is a masterpiece and one of the best games available for the Sony systems it is available on...however it is not up to the standard of that set by ICO. I feel that the community, as with many cult classics, over-hype the game into becoming something godly when in reality it isn't. There are many improvements to be made such as what I've mentioned above.
But these things are minor offsets and also tend to make the experience more unique. But these gripes shouldn't mean you should pass it up.
STORY: 7/10
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
PRESENTATION: 8/10
LIFESPAN: 6/10
SCORE: 8/10
Shadow of the Colossus is a game every PS2, PS3, or PS4 owner should have.