"Masterful. Everyone must play this game."

Where do I start? Back in 2001 I read about a game coming out called Ico. This was truly the first glimpse of what is in 10+ years going to be the best mind in video games. The name is Fumito Ueda. This genius first was an artist on Enemy Zero, then set out to make his own team of talented developers. His first game, Ico was slated for the Playstation 1, but was later brought to the Playstation 2 because of Fumito not liking the progress. Ico was a cult hit. It completely strayed from the ordinary. Sadly, Ico wasn't exactly a system seller. Ico never made it to greatest hits. Of course Ico wasn't a failure, it got astonishing reviews and was beloved among the fans that got the chance of getting their hands on it. Years after Ico, I hear about Fumito Ueda's new game. It was first slated as Wander and the Colossus but later was named Shadow of the Colossus. Shadow of the Colossus came out on October 18th, 2005. Gamers then got to experience quite possibly the most innovative game of all time. Unlike Ico, Shadow of the Colossus sold great and is now a Greatest Hits game. Now I will go into more detail about the masterpiece that is Shadow of the Colossus.

Story - 10/10

I pity the people that say Shadow of the Colossus has no story. I have absolute pity for them. Does a story turn bad if it has loose ends? No, if you have an imagination, the story in this game is a true 10. I will not spoil anything, only the introduction. You are Wander, you set off to a land called the Forbidden Lands for one important reason. Mono, a girl that you are somehow linked to died because of her cursed fate. Wander heard of a place called the Forbidden Lands, though. In this place it is rumored that the dead can be brought back to life. So Wander sets out to the Forbidden Lands with his horse Agro and Mono's dead body. Upon arrival he meets Dormin. He is basically the holder of the temple that is located in the Forbidden Lands. Dormin says that yes, it is possible to revive Mono and bring her back to life, yet there is a big challenge in your way. Make that 16 big challenges. Wander must slay 16 colossus and Mono will be revived. Dormin warns Wander that the price he may pay for this ritual will be big. Wander agrees and therefore his grueling quest begins. I will not go past the introduction because everything past the introduction is for you to discover when you play the game. I will say that the story in Shadow of the Colossus is really love or hate. I loved it.

Graphics - 10/10

Now, might I remind you this is a Playstation 2 game, not a Playstation 3 game. It literally pushed the Playstation 2 to the absolute limit. It got all it possible could get out of the trusty Playstation 2 and the graphics were definitely a success. All of the cutscenes are in-game. There are no cinematics. The cutscenes still looks great, as the whole game looks great itself. I think the main reason everything has so much detail is that there aren't any normal enemies, only 16 bosses. No NPC's either unless you consider Mono and Dormin NPC's. It's Wander, Agro, and the colossus. Each colossus is incredibly detailed and really got me in awe. I've never seen anything that really made my jaw drop. The colossus definitely made my jaw drop because of the outstanding detail. The environments look great too. The amount of effort Fumito Ueda and his team put into polishing this game is amazing. If there was other enemies besides the 16 colossus it would've taken away a lot of what made the colossus truly amazing to look at. So please think of that next time you say that this game is bad for not having normal enemies and only having 16 colossi. If this was a Playstation 3 game it would likely get a 7 in this area, but this truly pushes the Playstation 2 to the limit and it looks great and I appreciate all the hard work the developers put into making it look so great on the Playstation 2.

Gameplay - 9.5/10

The main gameplay in Shadow of the Colossus is a hold and attack type gameplay. The colossi have fur and you need to find someway to get to the fur to find their weak points. Meaning you have to hold on and when you find a weakpoint charge up your stamina meter and attack for damage. The camera caused minor problems. Nothing too bad. That is the main reason it didn't get a 10, along with Agro controls being a bit buggy. Each of the 16 colossus in Shadow of the Colossus are completely unique and are extremely fun to figure out how to kill. That's what makes the gameplay shine. There is a unique way to kill each colossus and can be pretty hard to figure out sometimes. Like I expressed earlier, there are no other enemies in the game besides the 16 colossus. That is not a bad thing. The game takes around 15 hours your first time without using a guide. If you are using a guide than it will not take as long as 15 hours. But there are 4 modes of gameplay which I will get into in the next section. When you're not killing colossus you can do basically whatever you like in the huge land. The gameplay in Shadow of the Colossus is truly great. The only minor flaws are the camera and the Agro controls can be a bit buggy at times. I love what they did with the innovative ways to kill the colossus.

Replay Value - 9.5/10

Some people actually have said that Shadow of the Colossus has no replay value. That is extremely far from the truth. There is so much to do in this game. You start out on normal mode. That is around 15 hours without a guide. After that you have the choice of either doing normal time attack mode or hard mode. Time attack gives you prizes for every 2 colossus. Each prize is very cool and extremely fun to use. Hard mode means you have less life and stamina and some of the colossus have extra weak points. Once you beat hard mode you get hard time attack mode. Let's just say the last item you get in hard time attack mode is awesome. Especially if you have played Fumito Ueda's first game, Ico. When you are not doing all of that you can search the forbidden lands for extra save spots, fruit, and white-tailed lizards. Fruit gives you more health and white-tailed lizards give you more stamina. Also you can get different colored Agro's in the game. I'm not going to go in to detail because I don't want to spoil what they look like but it's very cool, along with all the other very cool items in normal time attack and hard time attack mode. Wait there's more? Yes there's more after every play through you keep getting more stamina and health. After about four plays through you will be maxed out on stamina and health making you extremely powerful. Last but not least, there is a secret area to go to in the game. I will not spoil this place, but let's just say it's awesome. Sadly, there is no rumored “17th” colossus in the game. That was a rumor when it came out and still gets brought up sometimes today. I've spent 180 hours on Shadow of the Colossus. I consider myself getting everything out of it by now. You will definately get a lot out of this game.

Story - 10/10
Graphics - 10/10
Gameplay - 9.5/10
Replay Value - 9.5/10

Overall - 10/10

It averages to somewhere around 9.7/10. But due to the Gamefaqs rating scale I had to rate it either a nine or a ten and I easily chose the ten. Shadow of the Colossus is a big step for art in games. It truly is an amazing piece of art and a masterful game along with that. You need to play Shadow of the Colossus, like I said in the beginning of my review, Fumito Ueda will probably be the most popular game designer in about 10 years. Ico was great, but didn't sell well. Shadow of the Colossus was amazing and sold well also, just think of what his new PS3 game will do. I got this game back in 2005 when it came out and still play it and always will. The innovation in Shadow of the Colossus is truly spectacular. If you consider yourself a gamer, in any aspect, this is truly a must buy. Even if you don't consider yourself a gamer and own a Playstation 2, I recommend it. Basically I recommend Shadow of the Colossus for anyone who can appreciate a video game. Let's all hope that Fumito Ueda's next game shines as much as this one did. Please, buy Shadow of the Colossus.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/07