Weeklies
Game: "Shadow of the Colossus"
System: PlayStation 2
Genre: Adventure
Published by: Sony
Reviewer: Protoclown
Posted: 1/13/2008
Review: Shadow of the Colossus is one of the most engrossing, captivating games I have ever played, and there is no doubt that it belongs firmly cemented on my "Top Five Favorite Games of All-Time" list. The designers took a huge gamble in this game comprised of nothing but sixteen epic boss fights, but by eliminating the tedium of level grinding, it allowed them to focus all of their energy on the kinds of battles that tend to be the most enjoyable part of any game. Why bother with all the crap you normally have to trudge through to get to the good stuff, when you can just skip past all that and get straight to the main event you came for in the first place?
But it's not as if you simply teleport from boss to boss. No, you have to travel the countryside, seeking the next colossus on your hit list, and crossing over some beautiful terrain in the process. Despite the graphical limitations of the PS2, this is one of the most gorgeous games I have ever seen. There are no enemies to distract you from the breathtaking scenery, and the completely barren landscape does far more for the game's moody atmosphere than any number of smallfry goblin fights ever could. You get the real sense as you travel the sparse terrain that something terrible happened here. Similarly, the narrative is minimalistic as well, giving you just the basics you need to understand why you're here doing what you're doing. You fill in the blanks yourself. It doesn't sound like it should be so compelling, but somehow it is.
And then of course there are the colossi themselves. Just when you think you've gotten the basic pattern and expect the next colossus to be even bigger yet, they throw you a curveball and you're fighting something you didn't see coming. Figuring out how to defeat each colossus is the fun part, as simply bombarding it with everything you've got won't suffice. Each one has a weakness, and the game requires you to pay close attention to the clues in order to figure out what that weakness is. Some colossi are easy, some are insanely challenging, but all are fun, and after you defeat the game you can go back to your temple headquarters and instantly teleport back to your favorite battles, replaying them again and again to try to beat your old times.
This is one of those games that's so epic and cinematic in scope that it's nearly as much fun to watch as it is to play. I enjoy seeing my friends playing the game for the first time, and watching how quickly they manage to solve the puzzles compared to my own first trek through the game. This game is addictive as hell, too; you'll find yourself wanting to get to the next colossus "just to see what it looks like" before you call it a day, and next thing you know you'll have fought three more than you planned. If you've never played this game, you owe it to yourself to check it out. And if you don't like action games, watch a friend play through it. This is a beautiful, awesome journey that demands to be seen if not experienced.
Overall rating: 
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)
Reader Comments
I don't think it's a stretch to say the camera is the worst I've yet dealt with.
The colossi fights are easy, drawn out, and tedious. The catfish where you plod around in this giant lake, trying to align yourself to get scooped up by its tail while avoiding those electrified barbs but the wanderer swims so slow and the camera and depth perception throw you off so much it takes forever to actually do this, and when you DO get on it, stab out the spines, and get to the head it submerges and you have to let go and do it aaaaaaall over again. The salamander I had to flip over ten times to kill the first time, though in a replay to get screenshots I discovered a way to cut it down to five, which takes it from "ridiculous" to "really unnecessary". The kappa where a glitch or oversight has the Dormin telling you to abandon what you're doing when you climb up its back, which gets you where you need to be. The dragon I figured out how to ground in two seconds, then took me another half hour of fluff to actually kill it. The final which I had to climb no less than five times because whenever I tried to jump from its left bicep to its right hand, the sloppy camera and controls would somehow put me on its tricep with my only option being to let go and climb up it again, climbing which amounts to "hold R1 and tap Triangle". Also, you're given the answers to fifteen of the sixteen colossi, either by the Dormin or the sword.
I guess I can see how the world could have been beautiful had more attention been put into the world and making it look less like a computer generated it and getting the grid patterns off everything, instead of seeing how high they could crank the fog and bloom.
It's riddled with cliches. The only reason the first lion is afraid of fire is because some law book out there says "beasts are afraid of fire". It's inflammable, which throws out "it can get hurt by fire" and it lives in a small temple with four giant candelabras, which throws out "it doesn't understand fire". The "big reveal" at the end can be seen coming a mile away because it's been used in just about every cartoon ever made. Hell, the game's bloody name is a cliche.
Also, I've determined that the only explanation for the plot and world is that the wanderer is Dracula incarnate. Or more likely, somebody was too caught up in trying to rip off Vagrant Story that they overlooked WHY what happened in Vagrant Story happened.
I loved the game anyway and thought it frustrated just enough to challenge me without either being piss easy or sweetcorn-in-your-shit hard. The roaming around the epic landscape almost made me gasp in adulation more than once. Sure the game had some issues with the camera and such but the overall feel of the game overcomes the problems.
Certainly one of my fave PS2 games of all time.
I think it's wonderful that this game is such a hit and I have no argument with the people that love it and think it's beautiful, but personally, I fall more into the camp of "Let's watch someone play" rather than doing it myself.
Anyway, i liked ICO better...
Top 5 games:
#1: We love Katamari damacy
#2: Dragon Quest 8
#3: System Shock 2
#4: Tomb Raider's
#5: Horror games (Silent Hill, Fatal Frame etc...)
However, I will say that some of the battles were artificially long, like the catfish one, but the worst for me was the one where you fight the giant turtle-like colossus in the barren geyser field. You had to get that bastard to stand a certain way over a geyser right as it's erupting, and meanwhile, he's blasting the shit out of you with his mouth laser.
And hell, it probably takes five minutes to stab the swordsman to death because you have to climb up the back of his head, down his forehead, press whatever button is Attack I don't remember, wait a second, stab, wait for him to stop bucking, notice your grip meter's low, climb back up his forehead and down back onto his shoulders, let go, let the grip meter recharge, grab him when he moves funny to signal the start of his shaking, and repeat about six times.
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