Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus
Reviewed by: Meghan Ventura

System: Playstation 2 (Greatest Hit)
Price: $49.99, or if a Greatest Hit copy $19.99
Rating: T for Teen
Developer: Team Ico
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment of America

Summary: To revive a loved one, a nameless hero embarks on an incredibly daring journey, tasked with the duty of destroying 16 gigantic, fearsome giants called Colossi.

Overall Score: 8.8
+Graphics: 9
+Story/Concept: 9
+Music: 9
+Gameplay: 9
+Replay value: 8

Difficulty: Hard. Most boss battles require patience and creativity.

Learning Curve: Picking up basic controls doesn’t take very long. Applying them to fighting Colossi may take a little more effort though.

Total hours of play: At the very least, 13+

Family Factor: This is a dark fantasy game that has a few visually disturbing elements. The protagonist has a not-so-lovely transformation throughout the game, and every time after he defeats a colossus, he is impaled by shadowy ribbons that stem from the Colossi’s fallen body.

Review:
Shadow of the Colossus isn’t so much a game as it is an experience. It’s not one of those games you can easily shove into a genre, but floats over to that hazy line separating art and digital media. And in being so close to art, the experience Shadow presents may be one you love, hate or are indifferent to. If you’ve played it’s predecessor, Ico, and didn’t enjoy it, Shadow is probably not for you. It has qualities of adventure games like Zelda and Okami in that you’re a hero traversing a wide world for some great purpose, but Shadow lacks the large inventory of items and cast of characters that are also associated with that genre. It’s a puzzle game not in the sense of lining up blocks, but trying to figure out how to climb up mammoth monsters while they’re trying to destroy you. It’s a role-playing game because it’s a very story-driven game and you get stronger after each battle you win. But, to shortly summarize the game, Shadow of the Colossus is a dramatic series of 16 thrilling boss fights against mountain-sized monsters tagged with a slow-paced surrealistic story, and it’s intense.

The story begins simply and unfolds beautifully with the realistic and detailed graphics. You are the protagonist, a nameless warrior, journeys to a temple to bring a deceased girl named Mono back to life. The hero, called the Wanderer or Wander in the Japanese version of the game, then strikes a deal with the temple’s resident spirit, Dormin—if Wander destroys the 16 Colossi, Dormin will revive the girl, but at a terrible cost. Resolute and armed with a legendary glowing sword, Wander accepts.

Everything about SotC’s storytelling is incredibly eerie—the lack of knowledge about the characters’ pasts, the shadowiness of the environment, the music or lack thereof. In fact, a good portion of the game goes on in dead silence. If you’re not locked in battle with the towering Colossi or watching a cut scene play out, there is no background music. None. This is a very weird move for an adventure game, which usually pump out all kinds of orchestrated tracks, but very aesthetically effective. The only sounds come from Wander, his horse Agro, or the natural surroundings, which is usually the wind whispering over the desolate land. The silence reminds the player you’re truly alone. The only living human in the land. No one would hear a cry for help or your last breath. The challenge of felling the Colossi is yours alone.

And this challenge is by no means easy. Thank goodness the controls are straightforward, even if they do take a bit of time to adjust to and use effectively, or else it would be even more of a challenge.

First, you have to find the Colossus. You always start your search from the temple, which is in the center of the world map. From there, you use your sword to guide you. Not in the Inigo-Montoya-wander-around-a-forest-until-you-hit-something kind of guidance, but in a much more majestic use-the-force kind of way. If you stand in sunlight, the sword will focus a beam of light in the general direction you need to go like a lethal compass. There are several small stone shrines along the way to the Colossi that you can save your game at by pressing the Circle button, providing a fair amount of chances to take a breather and step away from the game (this is NOT mentioned in the game’s manual for some reason). Otherwise, you can save right after you defeat a Colossi.

As the game progresses and finding the next Colossi becomes more difficult, you will need to do this multiple times during one trek and the light beams will sometimes be misleading. If you use your map, ask your sword often for directions, and take your trusty horse Agro, you should arrive at the Colossus within 10-15 minutes.

Upon your arrival, the game will cue the dramatic music and, in a very frightening, rumble-feature heavy sequence, the Colossus will awaken and charge or hulk towards you. This is where the hard part truly begins—determining the Colossus’s weakness.

The Colossi are essentially large moving puzzles, but not in the friendly Tetris-puzzle way, because they can kill you pretty quickly if you’re not careful. If you can find a patch of sunlight, you can hoist up your light sword and its beam will focus in on the Colossus’s weak-points, showing you where you and your sword need to stab. Then you need to find how to climb up to those weak points. This usually involves finding a patch of the Colossi’s hair or armor to grab onto, but can be as intricate or frightening as provoking them into an attack and then finding a way to the top. If you’re having trouble, Dormin’s voice will speak from the heavens and give you a hint, sometimes direct but oftentimes vague, on what to. This part of the battle is often the most difficult, tiresome and tryingly frustrating. For some battles, creativity and resourcefulness will be a much better strategy than blindly running towards the Colossus’s feet and looking for footholds. Some of the victorious strategies were ones I stumbled upon by mere chance or accident. As cowardly of a cop-out they are, I suggest you have a walkthrough handy or, more favorably, an incredible amount of patience.

Eventually, you’ll hit payoff and find its weakness. From here on out the only real difficult part is making sure your strength meter doesn’t drain completely because when it does, Wander’s arms will give out and you’ll fall a long way down. But this moment of discovery is undoubtedly one of the best parts of the game—that spark of triumph, the turning of tables and the music simultaneously morphing into a more victorious melody. For once, you have a chance.

The game’s camera is usually co-operative in battle, but sometimes you have to give it a little guidance by nudging the analog stick. But if you get cornered, you’re pretty much SOL as far as being able to use the camera in any effective manner. This can be very stressful when you have a Colossi breathing down your kneck, waiting to bludgeon you.

Shortly afterwards you find its weakness, the Colossus will fall, and you will be returned to the temple you started at. The game’s cycle continues like this for all 16 Colossi with very little variation. However, despite repetitiveness in the game’s flow, the adventure never gets boring. I found I was always waiting for more explanation, more definition to some of the visual story elements. It took me a while to figure out why after you defeated a Colossi, shadowy ribbons of blood would snake out from its body and impale Wander, who would subsequently fall to the ground and pass out. This reason eventually became clear, but it just goes to show Shadow is a game that requires patience and a certain amount of acceptance to enjoy. Even after completing the game, the story still had unanswered questions from the game’s beginning (like what is Wander’s relation to Mono and why is he so desperate to save her?).

Overall, Shadow of the Colossus offers a surreal, dark experience that I found really engaging and different from the standard adventure-game fare. I was talking to one of my professor’s about Shadow, and he made a very interesting suggestion that the game could be used to help children get over their fear of monsters under the beds or in closets. I can see this game would definitely help with that because I will never forget the feelings of fear and sheer smallness I felt when the first Colossi loomed into sight. You simply have to suck up all fear you might have, toss caution to the wind and face it head-on. Younger kids might get frustrated with the controls at first (they do take a little practice) and find the surreal, slightly scary imagery (like the Colossi’s blood flowing into Wander after battle) difficult to take in.


Related games: Ico (PS2); also, adventure games like Okami and Zelda