Reviews// Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)

As for the graphics, they are truly something else for a PlayStation 2. When you first start the game, you notice the limitations that a six year-old console has to bear for such an ambitious game as this. The characters and landscapes have no anti-aliasing and there is a little bit of pop-up as you ride through the land. But after a short play, soaking in the view and acknowledging the true size of this world, the shortcomings become less noticeable. In fact, you begin to feel that this is one of the most technically accomplished PS2 games on a visual scale, particularly when you see the detail and textures on each of the sixteen Colossi, and within the different areas that you battle each one.

"Right now though, I'm finding it hard to keep up with this huge beast as one stride it takes is another several feet for me to run to. Foolishly, I decide to whistle as loudly as I can. Big mistake. Or rather, colossal mistake (Ouch!). The Colossus stops in its tracks, and slowly turns around. Slow, chilling music plays as the monster stares me in the face. Blimey! This thing has a Captain Caveman-style club! It raises its arm and I race the other way in a blind panic, my tunic now decidedly brown. Just as hard as it was for me to catch up to it, it takes too many precious seconds for me to even get close to a safe distance. As the club falls with immense speed, I manage to leap to the side and just avoid the crashing thud that would have broken my brain had I not been so agile. The shockwave of the Colossus' weapon sends me flying to the floor, and as I struggle to get up, I finally manage to get out of harm's way. The Colossus stares at me as I stand outside its reach, and it turns and starts walking away."


Usually, to defeat a Colossus once you run into one, you need to find its weak spot. Its 'vitals' are represented with a light blue symbol on a particular furry location on a Colossus' body, and you can use your sword to uncover this as well as find other weak points to target. However, as Mother Nature would have it (damn her non-existent eyes) you won't be able to get a beam of light from your sword if you're not under direct sunlight. Thus, you can uncover bugger all if you're battling a huge beast under a shroud of cloud, which will be most of the time. Once you've assessed where its vitals are, the next step is to actually get to it. These being monsters, they're not likely to offer you a cup of tea and let you play with their fur, so you have to use your wits to find a way to grab onto it. As you get further into the game, the method of exposing its weak spot gets much more abstract and will require you to use everything you've got to take it down. Once it's stunned, you're able to cling onto its fur or other 'grabbable' point and then the fun really begins.

"Standing around, trying to look for an agreeable method of approach (that is to say, agreeable with my face so it doesn't get smashed in) a mysterious voice tells me of a weak point. I go for it, and send the beast crashing to the ground. This was my chance. I jump onto its back and in my attempt to stab the Colossus in its vitals (ooh, madam). I'm being hurled about more than a kid's half-empty stomach at Alton Towers. Holding on with all my strength, I manage to clamber to the head where it's vital symbol lies, and stab the hell out of it. Brained, the Colossus falls and the next thing I know, I find myself in the Temple Altar once again, intent on finding the very next monster..."


You have a pink gauge in the corner of the screen that acts as your stamina meter, which slowly decreases the longer you swim underwater, ride standing on horseback, or grapple the bareback of a Colossus, Texas Rodeo-style. And the latter is where the motion capture really does impress - it's second to nothing we've ever seen before. Colossi will react to fire, grimace at you, leap and charge towards you, and will try to shake you off furiously if you scramble onto their backs or wherever their fur happens to be. As you cling on for dear life, you can't help but laugh and feel sorry for the poor bloke you're playing, as he gets thrashed from side to side, up and down, and even upside down. It's even more surprising to see him fall to the side or even roll backwards realistically as your monstrous foes lift their heads or shake their backs. The attention to detail in capturing the motion of everything is sincerely breathtaking. The main character will perform believable jumps and will stagger a little on landing if you take a running leap. Agro will gallop and react to the reins while halting if he doesn't want to take a ride off the cliff. Which is fair enough, because if you fancy a free-fall, you can do so. The world is unrestrictive, so you can indulge in some suicide motion if the exploration side of things really does get to you.

And this the sole drawback with Shadow of the Colossus. Some may not appreciate it for the type of game it really is. We can imagine the mass-market, drowned in their Need for Speeds and FIFAs, to play this game for a little bit, call it boring and shut the console off. This isn't a game for quick, cheap thrills, but an immersive, involving experience which will grab anyone interested in a bit of adventure. The no-frills attitude of Shadow of the Colossus is hardly a drawback but rather a bonus - this is a title with a pure gameplay goal in mind, and adding people, sub-quests and the like would really have killed the whole feeling and atmosphere this game is trying to make. It is quite a short game: for those that like to explore, this will probably take about 10 hours to complete. Mind you, this isn't quite an RPG in the pure sense of the phrase. Nor is it really an action game. It's an adventure. An experience.

SPOnG Score: A+

This is why video games are being accepted as an art form of sorts. It's short, it's niche, but it's epic and it's deeply involving. Remember when you played Shenmue for the first time and thought 'Wow, this is so realistic, I can do whatever here' and just got completely lost in the game? No? Bugger off then, I remember. Pick a game. An epic game. Shadow of the Colossus is like that, and a perfect swansong for the PlayStation 2.