"Mystical World, Mysterious Characters, Dazzling plot and Gripping Gameplay"

Mystical World, Mysterious Characters, Dazzling plot and Gripping Gameplay

From the developers of the infamous mystical ICO, comes Shadow of the Colossus, a game that is so bizarre, so mysterious and so intriguing that you will either hate it on first site, or fall in love with it to the maximum.
Released in 2005, this game succeeded in hitting high scores in all gaming communities in both Japan and the United States, as well as capturing the hearts and minds of hardcore gamers all over the globe.

Some people might think that Shadow of the Colossus is somehow connected to ICO. The developers have confirmed that, saying that Shadow of the Colossus is ICOs prequel. For those who have played both games, they might be amazed at some point during the game. I personally believe they ARE connected. Shadow of the Colossus probably serves as a prequel to ICO. Having personally played ICO myself, It became clear that Shadow of the Colossus is ICOs prequel.

PLOT :
This is the story of a mysterious young boy who travels in a mysterious world and fights mysterious giant monstrosities called Colossi in order to save his mysterious lovers life.
Little is known about the character you control. A young man, with a mysterious sword and a bow, traveling on his black horse; Agro. With the man is the body of a young lady in a cloak, his love, who is on the verge of death. The traveler crosses plains and deserts and high mountains to end up arriving in a mysterious place called The Temple of Worship. There, he is told that in order to save his love from death and restore her life, he must defeat all 16 idols, incarnated in the forms of sixteen giant monsters called Colossi, scattered all over the territory; The Forbidden Land.

The Forbidden Land itself is a vast area of land that stretches in all the directions. The terrain is changeable; from high mountains to deep lakes and deserts. Across the forbidden land are scattered many ruins of old temples and buildings, which may suggest that this land was one day home to a great civilization that perished for one reason of the other.

From now on your journey starts. A journey of pain, love, despair, hope, life, death and agony. You are required to travel through vast plains, climb mountains and get past different obstacles in order to reach your foes; the Colossi.

Later on you will realize that there is more to the game than just beating colossi. There is some action going on behind the scenes, and by the time you reach the games beautiful ending sequence, you will realize everything about the plot of this game.

GAME PLAY:
What makes this game a unique unforgettable experience is its gameplay. There is no much to say about the gameplay here. You can either travel on foot, or on your horse, which makes traveling faster.
You have two weapons; a sword and a bow. Both weapons will be your companions through out all the game, and you will not receive any new weapons. Your health is represented by a red life meter on the lower right corner of the screen, next to your choice of weapon and your stamina meter. The stamina meter is not a normal looking meter, instead, it is represented by a rosy circle that shrinks when you start loosing stamina and expands when you regain it. Your maximum stamina increases throughout the game.

Basically, you will be using your two weapons to fight the huge monsters, the Colossi.
There are no other enemies to fight but them, and even with that, your weapons are almost useless against these huge ass monsters unless you know where and how to use them.

Beating each colossi is simply about knowing how to climb it. Once you have managed to climb over the colossi, the task becomes trying to find its weak spot. On each colossi there is at least one weak point, marked by a flashy blue sigil. Find that spot, hit it with all your might, and the colossus will be down in no time. Take care, the colossus will want to shake you off with all his power.

There are no other characters you can interact with, nobody to speak with, and nobody to fight, you are all alone in a huge world inhabited by fearsome colossi who are ready to kick your balls once they see you.

Throughout wandering in the forbidden land, you can hunt and eat some of the other creatures inhabiting the land. There are doves, lizards, eagles, and other creatures which you can hunt using your sword or your bow. Eating different stuff has different effects on you, and they might not always be good.

Saving in this game comes through two ways; once you beat a colossus, you are prompted to save and then brought back to the temple. The other way is by using the numerous shrines that are commonly found across the plains. Saving restores your health and stamina meter.

There are other aspects to gameplay. Once you finish the game for the first time, new options are unlocked. You can separately fight each colossus alone in a time attack mode. Try to beat the colossus in the least time and beat your record over and over. This feature becomes really enjoyable as some of the colossi are really interesting to fight again and again, exploring new techniques and new ways by which you can kick their asses.

Another feature is unlocked once you finish the game that is the New Game on Hard Mode. You can replay the game from the start this time with tougher colossi which, for hardcore gamers, mean double the fun. On hard mode, the colossi are harder, your grip strength is lowered and the colossi's weak points are more numerous and harder to reach. This serves as an excellent challenge to those who love to play this game over and over again accumulating gameplay hours on both difficulty levels.

GRAPHICS :
This game's graphics is pretty debatable. The character design is and facial features are not very well represented, but still in good shape nevertheless. The huge world surrounding you is very diverse, and made of amazing textures and smooth graphics. Mountains, rocks, deserts, grass, savannah plains, lakes and ponds and even seas, all beautifully represented and introduced by the game engine. The Colossi are beautifully designed and all in all, the game graphics are above average, scores a 9 on a scale of 10.

SOUND :
The game's soundtrack is very remarkable. It plays only when you are fighting a colossus, and there is more to that. The music played once you meet the colossus is usually soft and slow, and changes rapidly to a faster and more enthusiastic tune once you mange to climb the colossus or find its weak point. The music this game has to offer is very unique and gripping. I'd buy the separate soundtrack CD.

Another worth-of-mentioning aspect about the voice is the language by which the characters speak. Indeed, the number of characters is limited, but they do speak, and though the dialogue is short and simple, it is full of value and meaning. It is based on the heavy Romanization of Japanese. To understand it, they put Japanese into the Latin alphabet and modified it afterwards to get this made-up language. English is not spoken at all in the game. The language is unique and is like nothing you have ever heard before, and it adds a lot to the general mystical atmosphere the game offers.

LONGEVITY :
I played and finished this game from start to end in less than 10 hours. This number could be reduced to less than 5 hours if you know the method by which you can kill each colossus. Generally, this is not a very long game. The length aspect is compensated by the gripping gameplay and the beautifully told story.

REPLAY VALUE :
You will play this game more than once. Just going through it one time is not enough. With the extra hard mode and the time attack mode you get after beating it once, I grant you that you will be coming back to this game times and times again. This is not a game to play once and stuff in your closet with the other games; this is a game that you will play for sometime.

BUY OR RENT??
Rent. Not because this is a bad game, it is not. But because this is a game that you will either love and thank me for telling you about, or you will just hate and curse me in your prayers for giving you the misfortune of having to waste money on it. Seriously, this is not a game for everyone. You cannot have mixed feelings about it; either adore it, or loathe it.
Rent it, check it out, if you like it, go ahead and buy it, if not, return it back and forgot you ever heard about it from an old crook like me.

One last thing before finishing my review. When playing this game, I had to suffer from severe hand and palm aches. This comes from the fact that you will be pressing and holding several buttons for long times, as well as having to grip on the controller very hard for extended periods. If you suffer from any tremors, seizures or any hand or palm problems, you might think twice before buying this game. Your palms and your hands will hurt you for sometime after each session of gameplay.

Some gaming sites put this game under the “puzzle” category, because mainly you need to figure out how to climb the colossus and where to hit it, but I personally think this game should be in a category of its own. A unique experience that blends action, adventure and puzzle gameplay in a non-linear story that will keep you gripped, on the edge of your seat till the credits screen shows up.

It is very true that an excellent game is not made up by graphics or by longevity. Shadow of the Colossus is not a very developed game in terms of graphics or longevity, yet it serves as an excellent game by all standards. An amazing game that any hardcore gamer should have at least played once.

Shadow of the Colossus: An experience you might love or hate, but definitely one you will never forget.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/06