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Monday 19 December 2016

Shadow of the Colossus Review: For the Sake of Love


Shadow of the Colossus

   Published and developed by Sony, Shadow of the Colossus was the spiritual successor and believed prequel to the popular Playstation 2 title Ico. Featuring similar graphics and continuing the fictional language used within Ico, Shadow of the Colossus follows a limited storyline - instead, focusing more thoroughly on the open world's luscious design and it's unique gameplay mechanics.

   In the bittersweet style that Ico embodied, Shadow of the Colossus follows Wander as he desperately tries to find a way to bring his deceased love Mono back from the dead. Accompanied by his trusted steed Argo, and armed only with a single sword and a bow and arrow, Wander aims to slay the 16 Colossi as commanded by a mysterious voice within the shrine of worship, in order to bring Mono back into his life.

   Remade for the PS3 in full HD updated graphics and slightly better controls, Shadow of the Colossus has been a game loved by its fans for many years, developing an almost cult-like following.

   Featuring a unique climbing system in order to take on the giant entities known as the Colossi by penetrating their weak spots. Combining this with a stamina system makes it a massively entertaining form of gameplay, and at the same time, the most annoying form of gameplay you could ever possibly imagine. Considering that the Colossi feel the need to shake and move whilst they're being killed, it's very easy to get completely thrown off, or be unable to progress until your stamina runs out and you plummet back to square one without even so much as taking a millimeter off its health bar.

   Still, while this can frustrate you to a state of manic aggression towards anyone who feels the need to talk to you whilst you're trying to take down one of the 16, it still provides the player with a good basis of combat and a rewarding system, with upgrades available to those with the patience and determination to hunt them down. However, at times this does become overpowering and you just want to throw the controller out of the window and never touch the game again.

   Despite personally not being very fond of open-world games that use the open-world as an excuse to just avoid actually having to make a storyline, Shadow of the Colossus does a good job merging the open-world elements with the very limited amount of storyline. As the game progresses you genuinely start to feel worried for the protagonist and the suffering he's going through, whilst also considering whether or not bringing Mono back from the dead is really a good idea. The plot conceals information perfectly, only revealing to you small and easily noticeable hints. Yet Shadow of the Colossus definitely would've been a whole lot better if they'd just programmed more of a story.

   In both, the original Playstation 2 title and the HD remake (despite its slight improvements) Shadow of the Colossus comes short on effective gameplay controls when riding the horse. In fact, in the original, they were quite frankly awful, to the point where it made any Colossus battle that required horseplay a nightmare. At times Argo will literally just ignore commands, and you can aim to turn and instead it just keeps going forward. Especially when you come to an impassable area (i.e. a cliff, a wall) Argo will start walking backward. It then becomes annoyingly difficult to get back on track.

   The mechanic in finding the location of the next Colossus (something I didn't realize as a kid and could not find the second Colossus) is a great addition to the game, using the sword to reflect light from the sun, pointing in straight lines the way in which you need to go it makes for an interesting journey around the world of Shadow of the Colossus that lets you take in the beautiful world, all the while actually progressing further through the game, as opposed to constantly having to choose whether or not to explore the world, or explore the story.

   The main problem with Shadow of the Colossus is subject to opinion. This being the difficulty of some of the bosses. While each one plays uniquely and ensures it's own different boss fight, at times the amount they shake you off becomes too annoying so you just don't want to play anymore. But this is solely a matter of opinion as to some, the difficulty and annoyance are what makes the game worth playing - while to others this difficulty is a straight-up no for them.

   One of the best additions to Shadow of the Colossus has got to be the number of unlockables in the game, post, and pre-game completion. With the fruits to expand your health bar, and the lizard tails to increase your stamina (something which unlocks an even greater secret at the top of the shrine) the game provides you with many incentives to go exploring instead of hunting down one after the other of the Colossi. Post-game there are time-trials for you to complete which then unlock new weapons in addition to your sword and bow and arrow. Adding that little bit of spice to the battles you got used to with new ways to take the Colossi down.

   Overall, Shadow of the Colossus could do with some extra storyline to beef it up but as it stands it's still a great game. With difficult boss fights for those who are into that, and a beautiful world for those who aren't. It's certainly a game that you will remember.

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