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235 of 242 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ico meets Metroid Prime, October 22, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Shadow of the Colossus is one of those all-too-rare titles that defies easy description and doesn't really fit comfortably into any existing genre. Is it an action game? Yes. Adventure? Sure. Puzzle? Yep. Platformer? Yeah. It even has slight horror elements.
On the surface, Shadow sounds simple: search for the colossus, find its weak spot, and stab it. Sounds easy enough, but that's like saying that To Kill a Mockingbird is a legal drama, or Platoon is about the Vietnam War - it's not the whole story. Even Shadow's story - boy wants to save girl - slowly reveals itself to be something much more complex and mysterious.
Where Shadow excels is in its design. Finding each colossus requires travel through a landscape that can only be described as dreamlike, yet it feels real. You'll seamlessly travel from a cliff overlooking a river to a thick forest, and then you could find yourself in the middle of a desert or at the edge of a lake. Since the land is so vast (and, besides the colossi, relatively uninhabited), you travel by horseback, courtesy of Agro, perhaps the best-animated animal character ever seen in a game. Controlling Agro is initially complex, yet intuitive, and thankfully his A.I. is sophisticated enough to keep you from riding him off the edge of a mountain. You're armed with only a sword and bow (with unlimited arrows), and there's no way to upgrade your weaponry. The real upgrade lies in the learned experience of defeating each of the colossi hidden in the valleys and mountains.
Each colossus is haunting, fantastic, ominous, and awe-inspiring, and there's even a slight sense of innocence. I won't go into specifics because the sense of wonder and discovery is vital to the gameplay, but if you avoid walkthroughs and spoilers (and you certainly should) you will constantly be surprised at each one. Defeating them requires careful thinking, experimentation, and trial-and-error, and there's not always one way to achieve victory. Just as the brilliant bosses of the Gamecube's two Metroid Prime games demanded quick thumbs and quick wits, the colossi are masterfully imagined, rendered, and designed, and get more complex as you progress. They had to be, as the game is basically sixteen boss battles. Still, there's nothing like the rush of finally discovering the key to each beast, but that's only part of the battle, as you then have to put your plan into action. Simply put, the colossi are some of the most cinematic and exhilirating experiences in gaming, and each one is unique and memorable.
If you have a PS2 and want something challenging, beautiful, and unlike anything else you've played before, Shadow of the Colossus is an absolute must. It's an instant candidate for Game of the Year, and should at the very least get recognition for its design. Games like this don't come along often - enjoy it.
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304 of 317 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely amazing - one or two caveats though..., October 20, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a perfect game for people who like a very artistic, environmental, and unique game. Most games can be decribed by referring to other games, but this one definitely stands alone.
The visuals are outstanding. The graphics almost look like they were painted onto your screen. (If you have a TV with component inputs, it's worth getting the cabling for it for this game.) The colors shift from soft to sharp at different points in the game, and they do a great job of drawing you into the experience.
The story turns out to be an incredible part of this game. As you hunt down these lumbering hulks, you begin to feel a sense of sympathy with some of them. For a game to invoke any kind of emotion is quite an accomplishment. I'd love to continue talking about the story, but I don't want to give any more away...
The score works perfectly within the game. As you approach, survey, and finally begin combat with these giants, the music changes to fit the feeling of the action. The developers obviously put most of their efforts into creating an enveloping experience, and they succeeded.
There is very little that is at all negative about the game, but I've hit a couple of points where the action gets heated and the frame rate dropped rather low. Fortunately, they designed a rather clever workaround: if the frame rate drops, the frames start to blend together smoothly so that you don't get any kind of stuttering.
The gameplay is solid, although adjusting to the controls takes some effort. The fact that there aren't armies of meaningless enemies between you and the collossi just adds to the ambiance of the game. The fact that you don't level up, find new weapons, gain new strengths, etc. really adds to the feeling that you are nothing but a tiny fly compared to these hulks.
Overall, it is an outstanding, artistically brilliant game that really draws you in and doesn't distract from its very single-minded focus. Add to that a brilliant score and a great sense of atmosphere, and you've got a great, unique game.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's "David and Goliath" like you've never seen, November 9, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
You want something different in the world of video games? Are FPSs, licensed movie games, and cheap knock-offs a tedious affair for your entertaiment, and you want something that's inventive AND fun? Well...WHY DIDN'T YOU READ OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS ABOUT THIS?! Why me?
- REVIEW
There's something to be said about the story in "Shadow of the Colossus." Quite simple really: a young latin-speaking man called Wonder goes to the forbidden land to kill 16 colossi for the revival of a dead girl. Who is she really: his girlfriend? His sister? A victim of unspeakable circumstances? All we known is that he cares for her so much that he'll stagger against gigantic, monstrous beings, with only his magical sword and his trusted horse. It was satisfying to defeat colossus after colossus, but it became heartbreaking as it reaches its closure. Full of doubts, confusion, and questioning on who's good and bad, I was almost in tears by the end of the game. This is the most compelling story I've ever played, and that says a lot, since this game has very little narratives.
"Shadow of the Colossus" succeeds in ways that "ICO", the game made by the same company, haven't. Sure, gamers love "ICO", but I personally find that game to be very limited in game and value. Here, they've done almost everything right in "Colossus." It's not only a game with artistic value, but it has an unique AND (importantly) entertaining gameplay. Davey-boy might have defeated Goliath with a stone, but can he and his stone defeat 16 other "Goliaths"? I don't think so.
The scale alone makes this game awesome to recommend; everything that's small from a distance instantly becomes big as I get close, like in real life. The land the main character journeys is a HUGE land, and it takes quite a long road to encounter a colossus, one at the time. Speaking of Colossus, the colossi are gigantic. No one reviewing this game is kidding: the colossi are, like, godzilla. Some are as big as the Tokyo Tower, but few are no bigger than a bull. Some colossi live on land, in the air, by the sea, and one that's simply inbetween. Not to mentioned, each of them are unique to defeat.
This is a thought-provoking game, in which you actually used your thoughts to provoke your way from one objective to another. As you get on your horse and ride the way into lengthy roads and obstacles, you'll come across with the colossi, all with own unique ways to kill, so you can't simply slash them to their demise; this may be an action game, but it's also a puzzler (I learned it the hard way). Each has its own weak points, and you have to find them using the sword reflecting the sunlight to point their whereabouts. Then you have to climb the colossi from their hairiest places to stab them in their weak spots, but sometimes you have to depend on the environment to provoke some collosi to show their weaknesses. It'll take quite a while for anyone to get used to the game's controls, especially when trying to jump grab the horse's saddle after 20-something times, but all that time and adjustment is rewarding.
Did people already mention the presentation of this game looks incredible? Of course they did. How can any gamer complain about the graphics in this game, it looks beautiful, and I just love the art direction, the design of the colossi, and most of all, the blur effects on the camera controls. Even thought it looks great, the graphics isn't technically-refined (what with the chuggy frame-rate and collision issues). The audio, however, is what I love more than the graphics. The sound effects are small but naturalistic, the voice actors, even in a Latin/Japanese mixed language, is excellent, and the orchestrated music is so emotional and thematic, I wanted to buy the soundtrack of this game! (I know I'm not the only one who reserved the game's OST)
Evidently, the developers have yet to learn their lesson from their last game. It's still a short game (7-9 hours, less if you're a better gamer than me), and even with the inclusion of hard mode, the magic can only last for so long. Normally, the limited replay value subtracts a star off my rating, but I just couldn't. My mind couldn't shake off the experience I have with "Shadow of the Colossus." I rented this work of art, and now I want to buy it, just to relive the story in spirit of a Disney/New Line film and the thrilling enjoyment of fighting against a colossus, which is also tragic when I realize that these monsters are living wholesome beings. A hard truth to know in the aftermath...that's the effect of a great game.
This is Del Keyes, saying "The bigger they are, the harder to put this game down"
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