Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Rex_Nex]

Shadow of the Colossus has to be my favorite game ever created. Made in 2005, it revolves around a unnamed character and his journey to defeat the thirteen Colossi and save his love who is named Mono. Or something. The storyline is pretty nondescript.

Gameplay is a odd mix of linearity and freeroaming. It's linear in the fact that you do one thing at a time, all the way until you complete the game. However, you are in a giant continent; are you really not going to explore its beautiful scenery? And when you are actually working on completing the game; fighting the colossi, everything is just perfectly done. The stamina system, climbing system, how you defeat the Colossi, etc. Everything is done just right.

Anywho, the game is art personified. From the most unmemorable of areas to the giant stages that feature the battles with the Colossi themselves, everything is beautifully done. Mind you, it was made for the PS2 and has graphics that would pass even by today's standards. I really wish other game designers would take a look at SotC and take away the great parts of the game.

Anyway, before I leave your eyes to ponder on some screen shots, I would like to let you know that if you have not played this game, you are really missing out on a good piece of video game history.

Screenshots? Screenshots. Dialup users, you have been warned.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[NewsMuffin]

I beat this game over twenty times when I was younger.
This game was the best thing ever.

[Ozyton]

I beat the game once and it was awesome. Too bad I used a walkthrough for a couple of the fights because I was impatient =(

Oh, it didn't help that I didn't know you could hold the button to sprint on the horse until very late in the game. =/

I bought it again but never got to take it out of the wrapping to try it, and now I have no idea where on earth it went. A friend says I let him borrow it, so if that's the case I'll probably never see it again.

[lordcooper]

One of the best games I have ever played.  I eagerly await the film, the HD Ico/Shadow of the Colossus remake (coming out on PS3 September 27th) and the spiritual successor The Last Guardian.

[Itnetlolor]

The PS3 update gives me a reason to get one whenever I can afford to. But I'll keep to my copy for now. I've yet to play Ico, but heard awesome reviews about it, and also can't wait for The Last Guardian. Also a reason to get a PS3.

I can imagine just how awesome the upgrade will be. I mean, if it was a work of art on the PS2, it will be absolute masterwork on the PS3; especially with much smoother camera movement and outright awesome panoramic scenes all over the place and the further enhanced details on... everything. An already awesome game (series) gets even more awesome. I can't wait!

I wonder if there are any screenshots of the HD update for the PS3 released yet.

[Vattic]

I just finished this for the first time yesterday. Sure I have a few complaints which can mostly be ignored due to it's age but I can't speak fondly enough. It makes me want a PS3, something I've never even considered feeling before.

[Enzo]

Curse you for reminding me that this game has been in my to-play pile for two years. I know it's amazing and I know I'll love it and I know it's (already) a classic, but damn it, I only have so much time for gamin'.

I remember back when it came out, a buddy rented it and I was just floored by the environments and cinematic combat. Maybe I'll move it to the top of my pile.

[Duke 2.0]

 I spent more time riding around, hunting lizards, climbing pointless rock formations and messing around on secret beaches than actually slaying colossi.

 Yes even the giant flying on in the desert that I fought a dozen times just because of how open the arena was.

[Darkmere]

I'm usually pretty generous with games, and I'm not saying you folks are wrong for liking it, but I never understood anything about this game. I never played the other one in the series, because I had no idea it was part of a series. As far as I could tell, the game was a lot of running around an empty world and stabbing glowy parts of large things. Why? No idea, the game sure isn't going to tell you.

I got about halfway through the game before completely giving in to apathy. My roommate picked it up and beat the game in a week. I saw the ending and wanted my money back, because I still had no idea what the game even was about. Everyone says this is a masterpiece, all I see is a lot of existential imagery, fiddly controls, and a gimmick that doesn't really work.

[Pandarsenic]

I'm usually pretty generous with games, and I'm not saying you folks are wrong for liking it, but I never understood anything about this game. I never played the other one in the series, because I had no idea it was part of a series. As far as I could tell, the game was a lot of running around an empty world and stabbing glowy parts of large things. Why? No idea, the game sure isn't going to tell you.

I got about halfway through the game before completely giving in to apathy. My roommate picked it up and beat the game in a week. I saw the ending and wanted my money back, because I still had no idea what the game even was about. Everyone says this is a masterpiece, all I see is a lot of existential imagery, fiddly controls, and a gimmick that doesn't really work.

wut

[Duke 2.0]

and a gimmick that doesn't really work.

 You will have to explain this in a bit more detail beyond wandering around in massive empty spaces. I also want to know what you thought the plot was, just to know what bits of dialogue you missed. There is a good bit of this plot that you just have to guess about and some parts nobody will ever know, but they are side details for the narrative at work.

 I completely understand why the large empty world would not appeal to some people, I think a majority of the reason I liked the game was how it controlled. That would be a matter of taste, and I understand how somebody who does not enjoy the movement would find it tedious.

[Darkmere]

Gimmick: It's a game of nothing but boss fights. There's next to nothing in the way of progression or goals or development, just a bunch of empty space and big things you're killing for some reason.

Plot as I know it: Nameless guy rides a horse and has a dead girlfriend. He wanders around and stabs big things. That's literally all I got from the first several colossi. I then felt an utter lack of connection or motivation and quit playing.

wut

Oh, I'll try and use smaller words.

This game, what do?

[Duke 2.0]

 I'm sure you saw the cutscenes at the beginning, which I don't fault you for glazing over due to weird backwards forgotten language with two voices jibberish and general weird language choice. It was pretty clear that he was being chased by a bunch of dudes, with a cutscene or two after a few colossi are slain that expand on them a bit to provide some understanding of what is going on.

 It is very much an unconventional narrative, with no gameplay progression beyond a larger grip and health meter after every fight. There are some artistic cues in the main characters model growing more washed-out, blood splatters on his clothes, ripped hems and his hair going from the previous brown to a dull dark blue. The girl also changes as the game progresses, getting whiter and brighter the more colossi you slay. Aside from these subtle cues there is no progression from any of the fights. All the story dialogue is at the beginning and end.

 I will challenge the idea of a lack of goals. Especially with the subject at hand there is a very popular sense of overcoming challenges because they are there. You see a mountain and climb it, you see an ancient land lizard that requires a complex series of actions to defeat, you want to see it fall. It's sort of an instinct of a gamer at some point. Beyond that there are the people who follow the plot and emphasize with the story somehow, which is a bit more tricky. There are a bunch of subtle actions between Wander, the characters name which is never said, and his horse. People tend to like characters who have pets and have deep relationships with them, so a lot of people came to emphasize with the characters just through the various animations put in.

 I would like to note that I'm not fighting or arguing with you. I perfectly understand why something as crazy as this game may not appeal to people. I am simply showing the probable appeal to those of us who loved it for some reason.

[nenjin]

I actually agree with Darkmere. But I know to tread lightly when criticizing SoC, because a lot of people love it. I try to be generous to what it did do pretty well: an interesting story, evocative images, a totally new approach in boss fighting and game structure.....

But I agree as a game it was only so so, and by the end I found the Colossi to be gimmicky. The big story reveal didn't really affect me, I suppose because I didn't embrace the willow-armed little kid slaying giants with teh uber sword story. I remember spending a lot of time running around, searching for anything other than the Colossi to pay attention to and being disappointed.

I think SoC was just one of those games that thematically clicks with some people and others not, and whether or not you really got into the theme of it dictates how you see the whole rest of the game. You can't replay SoC. There's nothing to do differently other than fall off at different places on the Colossi.

So to me it's like that movie that EVERYONE loved, and I appreciated but I don't mark as a pivotal moment in movie history.

[Pandarsenic]

What I'm getting is

> Went into game expecting something generic
> Didn't get something generic
> Concludes that proper response is disappointment