Shadow of the Colossus

Aug. 13, 2008

I've been borrowing this game from a friend for over a year, so I decided it's high time I actually put it into my PS2 and played it. Will it live up to all the hype? (That is, that it's a great game that few played.)

Category

Action Adventure Puzzle

Pros

• This is a game with no filler whatsoever, and that is wonderful. All I did was fight two different bosses, and I somehow don't think I'm going to be taking on a ton of little bad guys anytime soon.
• At first I found it annoying, but later I grew addicted to grabbing onto huge colossi for dear life. I found myself pounding the R1 key when the colossus would start trying to shake me off, I was that involved.
• The glowing target points really help a player figure out what to do next, and the option to throw up your sword for guidance is great.
• It starts off with a very simple story, but it's obvious that there's more to it than first meets the eye. However, the game does a good job of not revealing what it is that is hidden, leaving me curious to find out more.
• I like the puzzle aspect of the colossus, now that I grasp how the basics work, and I'm curious to see the next one.

Cons

• Fifteen minutes until you actually start playing. However, once it gets going you don't seem to run into any more story, so it's just boss fight after boss fight.
• The first boss was very hard for me to defeat at first. At one point I was ready to throw my controller down and stop playing altogether. I persevered and was rewarded for it, but I wasn't expecting the start to be so hard.
• The low frame rate I found to be bothersome. It really interrupted the flow of my game.
• You have to beat a boss in order to save, which means that this game is no good for a quick fix.
• I know this is a ridiculous complaint, but this game should have been using a next-gen system. The game really chugs at times, and I can't help but think that the large, open spaces would be absolutely stunning on a newer console.

Verdict

I plan to continue playing this game. I can totally understand why people would be turned off by it, though. It's not a game that one can casually jump into for a few minutes. Yet at the same time, the system wasn't so needlessly complex that I was overwhelmed, as in Dead Rising. Thus, even though both games take a bit to get you up to speed, I liked this game but was frustrated at Dead Rising.