Story:
The story revolves around Wander, a guy who wants to revive his fallen
girlfriend so he takes an ancient sword with a mysterious power and
heads to a forbidden land with his horse Agro. He reaches a temple where
a mysterious voice directs him to take this sword, travel the lands,
find each colossus and slay them. Much of the story isn't revealed
until right at the end and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.
Throughout most of the game you are left to try and figure out the
story by yourself gathering little clues as you slay each giant that
roams the forbidden lands.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is about climbing each colossus, getting to their weak
point and then stabbing them to death. But this is not as easy as it
sounds. There are quite a few tings you might have to do first before
you can reach a colossus's weak point since not all colossi have
directly reachable weak points. Just getting on the giant isn't enough
because you grip meter will only allow you to hold on for a certain
amount of time so you have to act quick to get to those rest spots in
order to refill it and continue your climb. The game is about fighting
about one colossus after another until all sixteen colossi have been
defeated. There are no other enemies to get in your way and the only
other things you could do is explore the land or search for fruit and
glow tailed lizards which increase your health and grip respectively.
This is not a bad thing however since traveling the land and getting
the fruit and glow tailed lizards can be an adventure on its own but on
the other hand you might just want to get to each epic battle with the
next colossus as soon as you can. Your horse is an important part of
the gameplay since it increases the speed of travel and is also is an
important part in fighting some colossi.
Graphics:
The game has some superb graphics coming from the PS2. The colossi are
very detailed and look realistic and their animation is amazing making
you believe these creatures are there. Wander is also very detailed
with his tabard moving in the wind and when he is climbing a colossi
and the giant is trying to shake him off he holds on for his dear life
and flails around realistically. The world doesn't seem as detailed as
the creatures living within it but seeing as its an open world it can
be expected. Also there are blurs when the camera is moved quickly and
dust flying off the ground when a colossus hit's the ground. The down
side to the great graphics is slight slow downs in some areas but that
doesn't detract from the experience and only emphasizes the scale of it.
Sound:
The sound in Shadow of the Colossus is fantastic. The orchestral score
which plays during the battles with the giants enhances your experience
and makes the battles feel truly epic. The bleak silence of the wind
while your exploring the world shows how alone you are in this land and
showing you how good a friend your horse is and he is the only one to
keep you company during the travel to each colossus. The noise each
colossus makes as it moves emphasizes their size and makes you
intimidated. Wander groans and shouts as he leaps around on each
colossus and when he falls. Agro also makes horse sounds as expected.
Final Thoughts:
Shadow of the Colossus is a great game which you will enjoy and have
fun with. Finding out a way to get on the colossus and get to its weak
spot is a blast and then watching the colossus fall after you defeated
is experience on its own. Sadly the game is only about nine hours long
so it won't last you very long if you play it big chunks. The game does
offer some replay value however since when you beat the game once hard
mode and time trial mode are unlocked. Hard mode is self explanatory
and time trail mode is a mode where you can go to a defeated colossus
and press O to defeat that colossus in a certain amount of time to
unlock extra items which will help you on your second play through.
Overall the game offers a diverse set of gameplay as each colossus is a
level within itself and with higher difficulty and a prospect of new
items with special abilities the game has quite a bit of replay value
for those who seek it.
