Shadow of the Colosus

I have just completed playing this game, and let me tell you: everything you have heard about it is true. This game is a WORK OF ART.

So, what's this game about? Well, basically, you are on a quest to revive the girl you love. To do this you have to defeat 16 giant enemies known as Colossi. To kill them, you first have to travel to them on your horse, find them, climb on them (yes, they are that big) and stab certain weak spots on their bodies. Sounds shallow? That's part of what makes this game so incredibly great.

The design is incredibly beautiful in it's simplicity. Because the game has you worry about so little (fuck you, sidequests) you have all the time on horseback traveling to think about the game. Why am I doing this, exactly? The colossi are massive and imposing, of course, but they mostly won't attack you unless you attack them first. And even then, given the scale of things, it's more like they want to swat the fly that is you then actually kill you because they hate you. Killing them is always accompanied by dramatic music, and it is actually rather sad to see these magnificent creatures pummel to the ground. Should you really be doing this?

The gameplay is great as well. The horseback rides can get a little long, but the fights with the Colossi are incredible. Their scale alone makes them genuinely terrifying: I was scared shitless of these beasts more then once. You have to find some way to climb them, and this part of the game is probably it's best. Climbing through the fur of one of these gigantic appearances is something you have NEVER experienced yet, and probably never will. The fight to hold on while one of these beings tries to shake you off is indescribable.

This might sound a little too epic. It's not. Everything about this game is epic: the Colossi themselves, the immense land you have to drive through, the art design, the landscapes... Everything adds to the impression that you're really doing that shall be remembered, and in a style that is completely different from the usual epicness (read long texts about big monsters with silly names while the editor makes sure everything is still as much Lord of the Rings as possible).

I could go on for hours about the beauty and brilliance of this game, but I think I got my point across. If you have a playstation 2 or 3, you owe it to yourself to buy, borrow or STEAL it.



YES, IT IS THAT GOOD.

Keep up the good work, Team Ico.

Alias.


For our usual music flick, I give you: The Antlers!