This was the second review I ever wrote, which was completed on November 14th, 2005. This is part of my Old Reviews series. I suggest you read that linked post before reading any of these reviews by the way, so you can get more context as to why I wrote them the way I did. All I have done is copy and paste, therefore any errors I made back then have been unchanged. It will be nice for myself to see how much I might’ve screwed up/improved. Every time I read one of my older reviews, I feel like it was written by a different person. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad yet:
—
Let me just start off by saying that Shadow of the Colossus is one of the most amazing gaming experiences I have ever had.
The game’s premise is of a young man trying to bring a beautiful young girl back to life. He travels to a distant, barren land on his horse Agro with her body, and reaches an ancient stone structure and places her upon a pedestal. A combination of disembodied voices from above speaks to him after seeing the boy unsheathe the Ancient Sword, and we learn the voices are known only as Dormin. Dormin tells us that there is a possibility that the girl can be brought to life, but only if you destroy each and every one of the sixteen colossi.
Thus, the game begins, and your goal is to locate and destroy your first Colossus. This is where all of the gameplay mechanics are revealed, as they never really change throughout the whole game. You are given three tools: Your sword, bow & arrow, and Agro, your horse. None of which are upgradeable. What you start with is what you end with.
Your sword has two different uses. One of those of course is used for attacking, while the other is actually locating the colossi themselves. When you are given your next task of destroying a colossus, you first have to locate it. The system incorporated into this is really great and yet so simple. Whenever you are in a sunlit area, you are able to raise your sword towards the sky, and the sun will reflect off of it, creating a beam. The beam will become narrower as you come closer to locating the colossus, and if you pinpoint its exact location, the controller will vibrate. This same technique can be used to identify and reveal the weak points on the colossi themselves, informing you of exactly where you need to thrust your sword to weaken the majestic beasts.
The bow and arrow is also a very useful weapon. Its only real use though, is to hit weak points on the colossi. For some of the battles, the only way to be able to climb onto the colossi is to first hit their weak spots with your arrows. They will change their positioning or fall over completely, allowing you to climb onto them to be able to use your sword.
Agro is put simply, the coolest. Whether it is Agro’s fluid animations, or his helpful A.I., Agro never disappoints me. You will count on this horse more than anything else in this game. While you will use Agro for all of your traveling needs, he is also essential to defeating colossi too. For some colossi, he is a necessity, whether it is trying to escape them or trying to chase them down, Agro always somehow manages to do it. Although, you are a big part of the equation too.
To make Agro go faster, you have to tap X. While you are riding him, no matter the speed, you are able to do a variety of things. You can shoot your bow & arrow, use your sword to locate colossi or their weak points, duck, or stand up on him and then shoot your bow & arrow. You can also jump small ledges or off of hills if you need to. Whenever you are on foot and you need Agro, you can press X, and depending on Agro’s distance, you will either call his name, or whistle. When you do this, the camera will lock onto his position as long as you hold the X button, and will follow Agro until he reaches you. While riding Agro, you will never have to worry about going off a cliff either. For example, if you are standing on him shooting your bow & arrow, Agro can ride forever. Whenever he bumps into a cliff or wall, he will just ride around it. He is the perfect companion, and probably one of the most beautiful and fluid creatures I have seen in a game.
You also have Health and Energy bars.
Your health bar is just a red bar telling you how much health you have left before you die. As you progress further through the game, it will grow. You can also increase your health by finding secret items, but you will have to discover those on your own. Your health also will heal itself naturally. To do this at its quickest rate, you have to be standing still or on Agro, and it will regenerate more quickly than it would if you were to run around.
More importantly now, you have your Energy bar. Your Energy bar is a pink circle located right above your health bar, and it can tell you a variety of things. First and foremost, it tells you how much ‘grip’ you have left. Whenever you go climbing (which is something you will do a lot when fighting colossi), the pink circle will decrease, and when it reaches zero, you lose your grip. Most of the time, you will end up falling and injuring yourself, unless what you were climbing is temporarily level. Your Energy bar can also tell you how hard you will shoot an arrow or thrust your sword, depending on how long you hold down the attack button. Lastly, it will also tell you how much oxygen you have left while you are swimming. It will grow in size the farther you progress through the game.
Now, onto what makes this game so great. The epic battles with the colossi are simply amazing and beautifully cinematic. I will talk about as much I can without spoiling anything, since discovering the colossi and how each one is unique is an experience all on its own. As said at the beginning of this review, there are a total of 16 colossi throughout the whole game. Each one has its own unique characteristics and elements of puzzle solving. You always have to find the colossi first, and locating them can be a puzzle all on its own, especially when platforming elements are thrown into the mix. Your next step after discovering their location is to discover the colossi’s weak point, and then finding out how to actually get on the colossi to take it down. As you progress farther into the game, the colossi will become more difficult, and have more weak points to find. You will find that colossi are based on real creatures with their own unique spin. Some resemble eels, while others resemble giant crabs or dragons. Some are small, while others are as big as skyscrapers. Some will stomp you, while others prefer to launch projectiles. I’m sure you get the point. Each one is an individual, and each battle feels completely different from the one prior to it.
Now that I have gone over the basic structure of the game, I will use the first colossus you fight as an example in detail. This is not really a spoiler, because when you know what you are doing on this guy, he can be taken down in less than two minutes. He is more of a tutorial than anything, as the game teaches you about your weapons and HUD during this battle. But, if you do not want to find out how to beat the first colossus, simply skip the next paragraph completely.
After I am told to find and destroy the first colossus, I exit the stone structure and enter the sunlight. I call my horse, and climb on top of him. I raise my sword, and move the beam until the controller vibrates. I then travel in the designated direction, tapping X faster and faster to reach my destination quickly. When I reach the area, some ominous music plays, signifying I am in the correct area. But, I am blocked by various rock formations. I get off of my horse, and walk over to the obvious, climbable ivy, and work my way up. The game then has display boxes appear on the screen, telling me the various actions I can do while climbing. It continues to tell me the controls as I encounter areas that require new, unlearned moves. I reach the top, and a small cinematic of the colossus revealing himself plays. His footsteps shake the trees, ground, and my controller. I use L1 to lock onto him, and use the R2 button to zoom the camera in as I charge towards him. I hold my sword into the air, and the sunlight narrows in on a weak point on his leg. I now know what I need to grab onto, and where I need to thrust my sword to weaken him. I press X and whistle at the colossus (seeing as Agro is stuck on the ground below) to grab his attention. I rather the colossus faces me instead of never truly seeing his new enemy. Once I have his attention and draw in closer towards him, the soundtrack kicks in, heightening the drama. His feet raise the ground beneath him as they connect with the rocky terrain, and it shakes my controller too. I see a large patch of fur on the back of his left ankle, and I grab onto it. A blue symbol shines, revealing the spot I need to stab. After a couple of thrusts, a cinematic shows the colossus falling to his knees, giving me the opportunity to climb higher onto his back. I reach a platform protruding out from his lower back, and he stands up. This platform gives me time to let my energy restore itself. I have to be careful though, because the colossi’s movement can still throw me off. I climb higher onto his back, holding the triangle button for a few seconds and letting go to maximize my jumps. I reach his upper back, and he tries to shake me off, but I hold the R1 button to keep my grip. He stops, and I move up to his head. There is another blue symbol here, and I hold the square button until the energy bar signifies that I am using maximum power in my attack. I press the square button again, and I damage the colossus dramatically. He moves around in pain, but I keep my grip. I continue this attack scheme until he falls over. The soundtrack cues in some incredibly sad music, making me feel that as if what I did just now was wrong.
Now onto the two things that could easily wreck a great game: controls and camera.
The controls for this game are excellent, and I have only one problem with them. They are fluid and responsive, and do not really hinder the game at all. I know some people have griped about using the Triangle button for jumping and getting on your horse, but if you use the Triangle button and R1 like you should, it is not an issue. The only aspect I did not like about the controls is when you are swimming. Sometimes when I need to get onto a platform, I end up jumping and just falling back into the water because it can be hard to tell if I am close enough or not, which can be annoying when in a hurry. They should have let you be able to jump just a little higher out of the water than you should. But besides that, I have no problems with them.
The camera works great most of the time, and does a great job of giving you those awe-inspiring cinematic shots. During all of the movies and the gameplay itself, you are able to move the camera with the Right Analog Stick, and zoom in with R2. While you are playing, you can press L2 to move the camera behind you, and lock-on to colossi with L1. I love having this much control over the camera, because I get to make the battle as cinematically dramatic as I want, which adds a ton of fun to the epic battles. Any camera problems in this game can easily be fixed with the press of a button. Some people may not like having to move the camera to get the best view that they can, or they may not like using the lock-on camera because it obstructs your view of what is going on around you and you may bump into a rock, but these problems do not take away from the experience at all.
The graphics in this game are gorgeous, and some of the best the PS2 has ever seen. The environments are breath taking, and dare I say, photo-realistic at times. While the extent of what you will see is just rocks, trees, sand, and some water, they are all beautiful, and all have amazing lighting and shadow effects. Little details like water shimmering off of surfaces just make it better. The parts where you will notice the graphics truly shine though, are Agro and the colossi. Agro is, as I said before, one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen in a game. His fluid movements, the way his mane and tail flow realistically when he runs or moves his body, is an achievement all on its own. Somehow, the developers managed to take it a step farther and made the colossi themselves look even better. You will constantly be shocked at how beautiful and life-like each and every one of these creatures are. Some tower over 300 feet, and have tons of different details outline over their body, from pieces of armor or patches of fur, to scales and hardened skin.. They all have their own set of movements that uniquely characterizes how majestic and special they really are. If you do not feel bad after killing one of these creatures, you have no soul.
There are a few graphical problems though. Mainly just with objects popping up out of nowhere in the distance, or some disappearing. It only hindered gameplay once for me, which was when I was fighting my fourth colossus. For this particular battle, I had to grab onto a piece of him that dangles from his head, and when I was underground in a cavern, the piece kept disappearing off and on when I moved the camera. I needed to grab onto it, but whenever I tried, I could not see it and I missed a couple of times. Nothing too major though.
The game also displays some amazing particle and motion blur effects. Whenever the colossi walk, you see bits of dirt and rock flying into the air, and if you are close enough, the screen will shake. If you are in a cavern under where the colossus is walking, dirt and smoke fall from the walls, completely covering you in a black fog. Whenever you move the camera, you are given an awesome motion blur effect too. It helps the cinematic feel and realism greatly.
This soundtrack is probably one of the best fitting soundtracks I ever heard. It fits so seamlessly into the game, and switches on cue based on the situation. Whenever you are close to or in the presence of a colossus, ominous music plays, informing you that danger is close. When you are actually fighting them though, is when the orchestra really kicks it up a notch. The music forces you to realize how epic the battle you are having is, and does a superb job of it. There are different tunes that will play throughout the game, and some are used only for a few colossi, so the music will never get old. If only more developers would have great music like this in their games. The sound itself is also excellent. Agro’s noises and footsteps sound life-like, as does the falling rocks and footsteps of the colossi.
Some details of note about this game if that you can save after defeating every colossus, or you can save at various altars throughout the world (which are usually placed near battle areas). When you are just riding around, there are no loading points. The world is big and completely seamless. The only load times you will see is when you load your game, or when you defeat a colossus.
The game is not too hard either. If you get stuck, Dormin will cue in and give you a hint that should always help you out. A lot of people may get stuck on trying to find the weak points on the colossi when they are climbing them, and this is usually because they do not have their sword equipped. Their weak points will only appear if you have your sword in hand. After you defeat a colossus, their corpse will appear on your map. You can go visit their corpses, and if you stand on top of them and press circle, you can begin “Reminiscence Mode” which lets you replay the entire battle. You can also replay battles when you beat the game.
When you beat the game, you unlock “Hard Mode” and “Time Attack”. Time Attack mode is where you are able to try and defeat colossi within a time limit. This is done by pressing circle while in front of their statues to pray, and the mode will place you at the beginning of the battle. There are lots of secret items to unlock, so good luck getting them all.
This game provides moderate replay value, as there are other modes to beat and a large, open world to explore. You may be surprised when you find a secret area or items that increase your health or that give you new powers.
This is one of the best, original, and most fun games of this year. Its retail price as of this writing is only forty bucks, and if you do not want to shell out the cash, give it a rent.
This game in my opinion though is a must-buy.
—
fin
