Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus is a game by Team Ico who previously created the titular Ico game. SotC has a rather unique experience with puzzle solving and action, tied together by one of the most breathtaking presentations ever in the medium. The world of SotC is minimal in its design and yet is perhaps one of the most well realized.

There are no other people, no buildings except for the occasional ruin, and few animals. And yet despite this it feels as if it’s a place that could almost exist, as if it’s a small part in a larger world that has long forgotten about it.

 You play as a young man who has taken his loved one to a temple in hopes of bringing her back to life. The guardians of this temple agree IF you honor one simple offer. Destroy the 16 Colossi that wander the land and your loved one will be revived. So it’s up to you and your horse and it’s off to kill something for which you have little understanding of.

 As was said, SotC gameplay is really nothing more than a collection of boss encounters. There’s no trash between them, just you and the hulks of nature. Each Colossus presents a challenge in which you must discover and exploit so that you may climb upon them to deliver the finishing blow. Sure there’s nothing really more complicated than that, but the experience of battling and slaying these beasts is so remarkable and exciting that you’ll be cheering every time you take one down.

SotC is not without its flaws. When action builds there is a common tendency of frame rate drops. These drops make the puzzle solving difficult and therefore make the battles more difficult as well. Some battles are rather unforgiving, as some will not give you a second chance if you screw up. And finally the save stations tend to be located far away from where the nearest colossus is. Constantly having to restart a battle from these points, gets old very fast.

Despite these problems, Shadow of the Colossus is truly a spectacle, a perfect mesh of story and gameplay. It does so much with so little that it often rivals what bigger Triple-A titles do with their resources. It’s a simple story about love and loss, but manages to become in epic is size and scope. SotC is a relatively old game, but it still resonates within gamers’ minds as a game that took so many risks and manages to land them. It’s a must play for anyone who wants something different from the medium. The fact that so many people use this single game as proof that video games can be legitimate art forms is a testament to how important and special it is.