The Video Game Revue

Shadow of the Colossus

I finally finished Shadow of the Colossus last night, at roughly 11 hours of gameplay time. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and the ending was definitely worthwhile. I felt that this was a real "gamer's game" that harkens back to quest games of yore where the game mechanics and puzzle elements are not spelled out for you. Figuring out how to play the game is part of the appeal, as is playing something fresh and original. These are not elements that one commonly finds in games anymore.

It's tempting to say that Shadow of the Colossus is a bit of a Prince of Persia: Sands of Time rip-off, but that simply is not the case. Long before Prince of Persia's 3-D climbing and jumping madness, Ico (by the makers of Shadow of the Colossus) was doing much of the same thing. Perhaps you might say that SotC was influenced by the popularity of Prince of Persia following Ico, but the term "rip-off" is far, far too strong. Besides, the sword fighting aspect of PoP is a large part of it, and SotC doesn't have that kind of bent at all.

Really, the worst that you can say about Shadow of the Colossus is that it pushes the PS2 hardware too far. The frame-rate suffers greatly in some areas of the game, which I hate to see in a console game, because at least with PC games you have the option of playing that game on much better hardware a year or two down the road. I did quickly get used to the choppy gameplay--but then, I've had a lot of practice with that. Ever since the good ol' days of finishing Mechwarrior 2 on a 33 MHz 486 DX (minimum reqs 66 MHz my ass), choppy gameplay hasn't always bothered me as much as it should. I would criticize SotC for having the screen resolution set too high (I'm thinking that it would run much more smoothly at a reduced res), but a lot of the grassy effects that the game uses rely on that high resolution to look just right. I can understand why the developers made the choices that they did.

What you get for giving up the smooth framerate are some truly picturesque visuals. SotC has a heavy artistic bent to it, and a large portion of the game is set up with the sole idea of putting fantasy storyboard-like images on the screen. The "ooh"s and "aah"s didn't let up at all. In fact, the game is artistically impressive on every level: the plot is thick and deliciously understated, and the musical score has a great deal of character and fits the game well. There is an attention to detail throughout that elevates SotC from the status of a cool novelty to a polished gem of a game.

I was so taken in by the magic of Shadow of the Colossus that upon finishing it I immediately launched into a new game of Ico, which I've casually started once or twice but have never made a concentrated effort to finish. Because SotC made that particular art and gameplay style so addictive, Ico has a very gripping appeal for me now that it didn't before. After finishing Ico, I could see myself going back to SotC and tackling it on the "hard" difficulty that is unlocked when one finishes the game. SotC was long enough to be satisfying, but fascinating enough to have replay value. Overall, I consider this to be a "must have" game for dedicated console gamers.

As an aside, it's starting to look quite likely now that I'll crack on Dragon Quest VIII. It sounds like an excellent RPG. I just hope that it doesn't sell too crazily and that it's possible for me to track down a copy without much hassle.

posted by Parappa @ 9:17 AM