Shadow of the Colossus

Beauty and the beast finally makes its way onto UK PlayStation 2s.

Having recently indulged in a playthrough of Jagged Alliance 2, I find myself feeling nostalgic for the "good old days". Prior to the mass stagnation entering the market (I had to take a step back when I noticed Quake 4 had been released), games felt "new", mysterious, and wonderful to play. You could tell when a developer had placed a lot of love into their game and had gone all-out to see what cool and crazy new ideas they could implement – manuals in particular were long-winded and filled with humour and detail, and intro movies and storylines were deep and immersive, not to mention the unique gameplay styles. I’d really like to start playing those kinds of games again, and apparently, so would the developers behind Shadow of the Colossus, a game which might not have a three hundred page manual filled with the backstory of Hiigara (though the included manual is still quite cool), or an epic storyline, but damn if it isn’t neat, unique, and most of all fun to play. The game feels so different from the other faster-paced titles that make up today’s industry that I can’t help but give this thing kudos for purposefully avoiding what could have easily turned into a mindless hack-and-slash with the occasional boss battle, and instead becoming a graceful title of exploration, desperation, and of course the occasional heart-pounding mayhem.

But let’s start from the beginning, Shadow of the Colossus focuses on the tale of three major characters – a daring, if desperate hero, his steed ("Agro" – though the names of the other characters are not readily forthcoming), and his fallen ladyfriend. Apparently, some manner of flawed sacrifice ritual has occurred involving the girl, and now that she is effectively all but dead, the hero saddles up and sets off to a far-away land in hopes of finding a solution. Apparently, in a distant temple, there exists an entity that can resurrect the spirits of the dead. Hopeful of aid, our hero begs for this entity to bring life back to his beloved, but is told that in order for this to occur, he must first go forth and slay the mythical and fearsome Colossi occupying the region.

The storyline to the game actually runs a lot deeper than is immediately presented (as the game began, I barely even knew what my character was doing or why he was there until the first lines of dialogue began after several minutes), but this is hardly a bad thing. The focus of Shadow of the Colossus is based almost solely on exploration, not only of the surrounding lands or hunting for secrets, but also of the storyline itself. Anybody who’s a fan of Metroid Prime (and of course Ico) will instantly settle into this game with ease, as the gradual presentation and feeling of being alone in this desolate land, tasked with the overwhelming objective of saving the day (though in this case, the quest is on a much more personal and slightly selfish level). Of course, aside from some basic guidance, it was effectively up to me to determine how to accomplish the objectives set forth for me – such as, say, finding a way to take down the fifty-foot behemoth armed with a club bearing down on me, when all I had was a somewhat flimsy sword and a bow.

To go into more detail, the game is naturally intuitive for any player, and it is very easy to grasp all of the basic concepts. What I particularly liked was how basic information was offered, without the game stretching out all of the details on the table for me. Following the intro movie, I was basically left standing there at an altar with my horse nearby, and after running around in circles for a bit, it was explained that I could hold down the circle button to raise my sword into the air, and providing adequate sunlight was available, a ray of light would be refracted in the direction the next Colossus I was destined to face was located. After zeroing in on the location, I was then able to mount my horse and charge off into battle. And then it struck me just how god damn huge this game was, and I praised Jesus for the advances in streaming technology. Aside from intermission segments, Shadow of the Colossus has no loading segments whatsoever, and I found I could roam the entire land freely with absolutely no pausing.

Aiding this was the fact that the visibility distance was absolutely huge, putting even Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to shame. Okay, so the backdrops looked pretty crummy until I got close, but the sheer expansiveness of the land was jaw-dropping initially, and the lighting effects really help. Unfortunately, I could tell that the developers had to pound the hell out of the PS2’s hardware just to get the game running decent, as special effects (and fancy blooming) make up most of the game’s artistic appeal, and this is sadly offset by low texture detail, lack of anti-aliasing, and a framerate level that consistently dips into the low 20’s (if not lower). The game never drops below the "playable" point however, and the sheer sense of scale and the fantastic animation system more than makes up for these downfalls.

But getting back on track, once I had mounted my horse and charged out onto the lush landscape, I was well on my way to finding my first objective. The entirety of Shadow of the Colossus is actually based around two things; finding the Colossi, and then finding a way to stab them to death without getting smooshed into kibble. These two seemingly simple tasks are offset by the game’s exploratory nature however, as players are basically set loose into the world with only small pointers or notes of guidance to help get them moving in the right direction. As an example, on my very first battle, I spent approximately fifteen minutes dancing around my titan opponent plinking him with arrows or poking my tiny sword into his foot with no appreciable result before finally getting crushed into the ground. Upon a second attempt, I played closer attention to the game’s brief hints about how I had to "scale" the Colossus in order to reach its vitals, and eventually found a spot where I could grapple onto the beast’s ankles and clamber up to start thwacking away at its goodies.

In fact, this is effectively how all of the battles in the game are paced. Rather than bogging the player down with minor henchmen or mini-battles, the entire combat focus of the game revolves around battling the Colossi. Following a menacing introductory cutscene when you get close to the engagement zone, the battle is on, and players are tasked with only the most basic of guidance of finding a way to climb up the Colossus they are fighting and reach its vulnerable points without getting crushed or shaken off. And believe me, once you climb onboard, these guys will be pissed. As an integral gameplay element, players must not only manage their own health, but also a "stamina" gauge. Any move involving using a weapon, jumping, or simply hanging on to something can drain stamina, and while the simple act of standing on the ground or running around will ensure a quick recovery, once an attempt is made to scale a Colossus, the stakes raise. As you try to reach the vital points, a Colossus will typically shake around madly, use its weapons, and even run into world objects in an attempt to shake you off, and only by holding down the R1 shoulder button can players hope to hang on while this is occurring. Hanging on will drain stamina quite rapidly however (and it won’t recharge), so players need to find places where they can release the R1 button to take a brief rest without falling off. Taking into account how some Colossi can be fast-moving fish monsters or even gigantic airborne birds however, finding brief moments of respite can require quick reflexes and good planning to avoid getting thrown off. Curiously however, actually getting tossed to the ground does not have much of a penalty beyond the minor annoyance of having to work your way back up again, as the amount of damage I took from falling was fairly minor and regenerated very quickly.

Each Colossus requires a unique approach, and as I got further and further into the game, I found that the basic rugged tactics I had used earlier could no longer easily apply. Every foe you face has a "gimmick" that must be exploited in order to gain the upper hand, and finding these gimmicks is part of the experience. One Colossus for example required me to duck into a number of underground caverns as it used its long arms and sizable head to try and force me out – the trick to get on top of it was to find an alternate exit to the caves, sneak around behind while it was distracted, and clamber up the rear before it could react. And that’s just one basic example – the solutions for tackling these behemoths becomes more and more tricky to unravel as the game goes on, and some truly creative solutions eventually need to be implemented. Players may find themselves running into a few "well, DUH" moments as well, but the combat pacing really does allow players to explore a huge number of options before being offered a gentle prod in the right direction, and each time I brought a Colossus down I was gifted with a great sense of satisfaction.

With all that shining praise said, I admit that Shadow of the Colossus is not going to be a game for everyone. As mentioned, the entire focus is simply on fighting these various forms of Colossi and exploring the game world, and while each battle is fierce and unique, the landscape itself seemed somewhat devoid of content or interesting reasons for exploration besides the occasional "oooh, that’s pretty" moment. Because the pacing of the game is comparatively slow and the storyline not quite forthcoming, gamers craving a faster-paced action thriller may be turned away, but from a personal standpoint, I thought the game’s presentation as a whole was fantastic, with my only major complaints being that some of the later battles could get borderline frustrating, and that there isn’t any kind of multiplayer co-op implementation – the entire game is simply single-player-oriented. Still, players can choose to repeat Colossi battles as often as they wish by re-visiting their corpses after they’ve been slain (and even go to a "time attack" mode as an additional challenge), and there are also a few other secrets that can be found for players who look hard enough, so there’s a lot to look forward to.

As a closing statement, I almost feel as if Shadow of the Colossus is an epic game set a little ahead of its time. It’s obvious that the developers had a very specific goal in mind while creating this game, and this definitely contributed to the game’s high-quality nature – for what it does. Add a bit more versatility to the gameplay and some multiplayer (even though I know that it isn’t the current focus, I feel with some minor revisions a co-operative gameplay mode could have been fantastic) and you’d have a near-perfect title, but Shadow of the Colossus remains a work of art nonetheless. It is however obvious that the life cycle of the PS2 has just about reached its peak, and new hardware is desperately needed to avoid the kind of framerate and texture quality issues glaringly present in this title. Regardless, this is a must-have for any level-minded gamer in search of a new game promoting adventure and exploration.

This review courtesy of our friends at Gameshark .