There's nothing quite like it.
If you own a Playstation 2, there's a good chance you've heard about Shadow of the Colossus. It's not the longest game, but what's there is an adventure you won't soon forget. I actually completed the game in just over 7 hours, there's not much replay value. But the sheer thrill of defeating the creature called Colossi is so extremely satisfying you'll want to find the next one right away. What keeps the game from getting repetitive is that each and every Colossi requires a different strategy.
You play as a young boy named Wander. In order to cure his girlfriend from a coma, he travels to a cursed and deserted land and speak to a some sort of God. He tells you to help him defeat 16 giant Colossi that wander the land and he promises to help you.
Your horse, Agro, is your best friend. The game map is really big, and with the horse it's much easier to navigate through it.
In order to find each Colossi you must raise your magic sword into the sun light, and a blue beam shows the direction. But the direction of the beam doesn't necessarily show the right path to it. You always have to go around or through a part of the land and it can be quite a hassle to find the right way. But thanks to the amazing scope of the environments and stellar art style you at least have something pretty to look at while trying to find the way. My only complaint is that the world sometimes feels very empty, simply because there is no wildlife. Except for the occasional lizard. There's also a fair share of platforming and finding your way over obstacles, which is a nice change of pace.
The next step is to find the Colossi's weakness. Draw your sword in the sunlight and scan the Colossi and you'll find what you're looking for, a weak spot. This is where you'll want to thrust your sword. But that's the easy part. Now for actually getting on the towering beast. As you hang on the Colossi your grip circle will decrease. So be careful not hanging on too long or you'll lose your grip and fall off to a painful landing. At the most part the weak spot is where there is fur, so look around there. A bright blue symbol will indicate the weak spot. Once you're at the weak spot it's time to do some damage. Take out your sword to charge the strike and watch the grip circle.
Once you've defeated the Colossi you'll immediately warp back to the temple in the middle of the map, ready to find the next one.
Climbing and striking your sword isn't the only way to play. You also have a useful bow in your arsenal. The arrows are unlimited, so play around.
Sometimes you'll have to fire some arrows in order to hit a weak spot, or just to get the Colossi's attention.The Colossi are enormous, and I mean extremely huge. And they all look different, with unique attacks and behavior.
There's not much of the story until the very last part of the game which adds some memorable moments. But there was very much room to improve the narrative and the closure of the game should have been a little more set to stone. Fans of ICO will appreciate the small references in the game, though.
The music is brilliant, going from small calm tones when you're traveling on your horse to thrilling and truly epic music when you're fighting. The game has very high production values, and it definitely shows.
Even though the game was painfully short, you'll feel that you've covered alot of ground defeating 16 Colossi, each and every one unique and different. If you can get your hands on this game for a reasonable price, I say definitely go for it. There's nothing quite like it, and I'm eagerly awaiting Team ICO's next project.
