Shadow of the Colossus

Review - A colossal achievement...

It would be easy for me to call Shadow of the Colossus one of the most overrated games in the history of gaming, because frankly, in certain ways it is. It would also be so easy for me to fall head over heels for the romantic shell that surrounds the entire experience and join in the chorus of praise that has risen from the collective gaming press across the globe. For me, Shadow of the Colossus is a complicated love story - in certain ways I love it more than any game I've ever played, in certain ways it left me frustrated and annoyed beyond belief.

So, in order to make any sense of the game one must seperate the gameplay from the storyline. In normal cases, that is quite easy - as in Psychonauts, where the gameplay is horrible but the plot is so wonderfully written. In the case of Shadow of the Colossus, though, it doesn't end there.

Alright, let's start from the beginning. The young man Wander (or Wanda, or whatever he is really called - there seem to be varying theories here) has lost his loved one, Mono. Griefstruck, he steals an ancient sword and heads for the Forbidden Land, where the god Dormin resides. This Dormin has the ability to raise people from the dead, but before Mono can be brought back to life, Wander needs to kill the sixteen colossi who live in the valley. Wander is warned though - there might be a terrible price to pay for the acts he is about to commit...

There are only 16 enemies in the game - the colossi - and in order to destroy them Wander must employ all his cunning and stamina. Some of them are huge, towering, human-shaped creatures, others resemble some form of ancient animal, long extinct. They are carefully designed, no detail is too small, and I am struck by a huge respect for these monsters, built of flesh, hair and stone. They look and feel eternal, as if they have roamed the lands for thousands of years. And now I have arrived, sword in hand, looking to bring them down for my own selfish purposes. When you have climbed your first colossus and stabbed it in the magical seal that holds it together, it is hard not to feel pity for it as it crashes to the ground. After all, it hasn't wronged anybody - nor is it to blame for your lover's untimely death. But the deed must be done.

The game is without a doubt a technical landmark in the history of the Playstation 2. The colossi are bigger than anything you have ever seen in this console generation and even though there might be an occasional frame-drop, the game runs incredibly smoothly. The design - especially noticeable in the architecture and the slightly blurred filter that has been applied to everything - undoubtedly links it together with ICO, which is far from a bad thing. Until Shadow of the Colossus was released, ICO was one of the most beautiful games I had ever played. Together, they give all other game designers a run for their hard earned money. And when you crawl around on the back of one of the flying colossi, or are holding on as the towering creatures is desperately trying to shake you off, you can almost feel the wind in your hair and the inevitable rush in your gut. Even though they are something out of legend, Fumito Ueda and his magical crew really has managed to make every colossus feel both alive and believable. If Mount Fuji came alive tomorrow, this is what it would look like.

Last time I felt something remotely like this, I was playing ICO. That was four years ago.

I could've ended the review there - I've seen a whole bunch that do. But somewhere along the line, the gameplay itself must be put into question. Because on many levels, it is quite flawed. The camera can be a total bitch and the controls are far from as smooth and lucid as I would've hoped. In order for Shadow of the Colossus to be completely perfect, these problems would have had to be taken care of. Everybody hates failing at something - I hate failing when I know it wasn't really my fault. Most of the time this isn't an issue, but as the game progresses and the colossi becomes increasingly complicated to destroy, the feeling of frustration sets in more and more often. Also, most of the colossi are built on the good old boss-principle - if you mess up, you have to start over from the beginning. Over and over and over again...

In most games, this isn't a problem as such - the bosses are more or less meant to be frustrating obstacles before you can progress to the next level. In the case of this game, on the other hand, the bosses are the game itself. There is no break between them, except the calm periods when you ride across the plains looking for the next one. At times, you go from frustrating bossfight to frustrating bossfight, without having some smaller enemies to let out some steam on. And that can ruin the feeling I explain above - I don't think it was Fumito Ueda's original plan that I would be screaming "Die! Die! Die!" at the TV as I finally vanquish one of my foes. Actually, I feel kind of guilty for being happy about killing them. I pride myself on being something of an intellectual gamer and here I am acting like a twelve year-old playing Counter-Strike. The game might be short as it is - it took me about nine hours to finish - but I am wondering if it might have been better off if it had settled on even fewer colossi. Especially the smaller, faster ones could have been removed, making the final product tighter and me less prone to angry fits.

In hindsight, Shadow of the Colossus might be flawed. But it is one of the most beautiful games I have ever encountered. The story is so simple, the gameplay so stripped bare, that it is hard not to remember it as perfect. And there are few things that beat the dramatic feeling of riding my horse across the vast plains, sword in hand, looking for the next godlike creature to destroy. Not only that, but the ending will leave you with quite a few unanswered questions. Fumito Ueda has a chance that many game designers can only dream of - the opportunity to create a rich mythology of stories and legends that could rival that of ancient Greece. He is, undoubtedly, the greatest storyteller in the industry today.

To put it simply - Shadow of the Colossus is a unique experience, that no one should be unlucky enough to miss.

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