How to describe Shadow of the Colossus… Perhaps the best game of all time? That could work. Nostalgia notwithstanding this game is perhaps the best game I have ever played. Sure there are games that I may play more or have better memories of, but this game as a standalone experience is simply one that everyone must try.
The story is fairly simple and I don’t want to spoil anything here. Essentially you are a young man named Wander who has entered and ancient and forbidden land. In your arms you hold the body of a woman and at your side, your trusty steed Agro. You enter the land and make a deal with an ancient demon known as Dormin, who promises to bring the girl back to life if you kill 16 colossi that surround the area. You are then sent off around this forbidden land on horseback to kill each of the colossi, all the while absorbing what seems to be the remainder of their life-force. This minimal story may sound boring and generic, but done in this style it allows you to fill in the blanks yourself and if you pay attention to background details you may find out more about the land that you are in and exactly what happened.
The front cover for the game (A playstation 2 exclusive!)
The presentation for this game is hands down the best in all of gaming. The foreboding atmosphere of the land make it a beautiful and yet terrifying place to be. With huge vistas dotting the landscape, mountains to scale and places to visit, this land never feels as though it is empty, even though you are essentially just riding to the next colossus fight as you stare at the scenery. Speaking of the colossi, they live up to their name. I think the main thing this game does better than any other game is provide a true sense of scale. The colossi are huge, foreboding, each footstep sends tremors through the ground and their huge, seemingly stone bodies give the sense that they are ancient creatures. with vegetation growing on them, makeshift weapons out of things like stone pillars and armor it becomes clear that these creatures are things that entire armies would not dare fight against, and you’re on your own. The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful and is fittingly epic during the colossi battles with giant orchestras playing music to fill you with awe as the next colossi appears, ready for you to slay. While there isn’t any true character development per say (Wander is silent throughout the whole game) you do grow attached to your main sidekick, Agro. This game is huge, and you need your horse to get around the place. As you walk around this seemingly deserted and destroyed land, coming across ruined temples and ancient cities, at your side is Agro, ready to assist you. Sometimes Agro even helps during the Colossi battles and believe me nothing beats fighting against a giant, flying colossus while riding on horseback with your bow and arrow.
The gameplay is solid on all accounts. The simple nature of the game is that it’s essentially just a group of boss battles. Defeat a colossus, find out where the next one is, ride there, kill it. While this may sound simple, it’s the journey that makes it incredible to experience and the story developing makes it even more interesting to play. The battles themselves are absolutely how a game about fighting giant monsters should be like. You cling onto these giant monsters, holding on for dear life as they try to throw you off like a common insect, get to their weak spots and kill them. The challenge isn’t in defeating the monster however, it’s figuring out how to actually get on the colossus. Some of them are bizzare and require a lot of thinking and usage of the environment around you to get on and find their weak spots while others simply need to have good timing and patience in order to start climbing them. There is no greater tense moment in gaming as holding on for dear life as a giant Colossus is flailing left and right to get you off and your stamina gauge is slowly draining away. Each colossus is unique and has their own method on defeating them, making the game feel a bit like a puzzle game rather than an adventure, which is a good thing as it makes you think and you feel a lot more accomplished once you finally take the beast down. Outside of the story there is a time trial mode to defeat the colossi in as quick a time as possible and unlocks for new items to use. Outside of that however the game is fairly simple and the mindset of “defeat all the monsters” will get you far.
See that speck on the bottom left of the screen? That’s you… yeah…
Every game has faults however, this game while almost perfect in my eyes only has small ones. Some of the colossi become not very intimidating when compared to the majority as some of them are just barely bigger than yourself, this takes away some of the scale of the game however the puzzles to take them down make up for it. Also outside of the time trial run the story is all there is, meaning that it is just an experience and not something you will want to keep repeating over and over, which might put other people off.
Outside of this however, this game is the best example of a game for anyone. It is art, and it is perhaps the single game that I would say was close to being absolutely perfect. If you haven’t experienced this gem of a game then I highly suggest that you find a Playstation 2, find the game, and play it. Or buy the remastered version for PS3! Either way just play this game. By the end, you will agree that it would have been worth every penny.
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