Shadow Of the Colossus is the long awaited follow up to ICO, an early title for the PS2. It seems only fitting that Shadow is one of the last dedicated games to come out for the PS2. Having never played ICO, I can safely say that Shadow felt like a stand alone game, and from what I’ve heard, the game doesn’t seem to be all too much in the way of a traditional sequel. My good friend Corey would still like to point out that this is NOT a sequel, but this is my review. That being said, let’s move onto the review.
If there was only one game to get for the PS2, Shadow would be it. This is by far one of the best games. Even when you’re getting your butt kicked, you don’t care. You play as this dude with a horse that must take down colossi in order to save your girl. Simple plot; great execution. Each level is essentially a boss fight. There’s nothing else in the way to throw you off. You get the task of a certain Colossus and you go in and take it down. Each boss is unique and some require standing on your horse in mid stride and taking a leap onto a flying Colossus. Being a puny human, it sometimes will take a while to climb and scale these huge monsters and trust me, it’s awesome. The artists did a phenomenal job on the beasts. Some of these colossi are enormous, so taking down something that big is certainly worth the time. You need to find the blue glowing symbol and stab it. IN the first fight I didn’t realize that, and I spent most the time stabbing the Colossus’ ankle. It was mildly embarrassing when I found the blue seal but I’d chalk that to a small learning curve. The camera can lock on to the seals, but when the beast is huge, it’ll be hard to see the seal.
Of course, like every game there’s a downside – but it’s hard to find one here. The plot doesn’t come in until the very end of the game. This isn’t so much a bad thing, but rather uncommon. This means you spend the entire game taking down colossi and you have no real reason outside of saving your girl. There’s also a bit of downtime. Getting from starting point to each colossus sometimes seemed pointlessly roundabout. As mentioned, there’s nothing in the way, no smaller monsters to fight or treasure chests to open, so riding a horse for about 5-10 minutes seemed excessive. I could only imagine the land is supposed to be big enough for this many colossi, so they need their space. Another point is that this game should have maybe been done on the PS3 or maybe Xbox 360. At times you feel like the models are beautifully done, yet the poly count gets in the way. A game like this doesn’t need limits. I should point out that this is one of the few PS2 games that has an option for progressive scan. If you have the PS3, you’re all set! The only other remotely negative aspect is that it would be nice to do a co-op colossus take down. I’ve heard that this is planned in the sequel, but then Shadow was in the works for a very long time. Don’t hold your breath.
Overall I fully endorse this game. I showed this game to my Dad. My Dad has admitted to me that at times Pac-Man is too hard for him. He grew up on the pinball era and although some of those machines are pretty complicated (I’ve restored a few) you can’t argue the pinball having complex plots and fighting systems. When he watched me play Shadow, he was floored. He couldn’t believe the complexity of the colossi and when I beat the game, he wanted me to start the game over again. I can see how beating the same colossi could get boring on a second playthrough, but I still consider the replay value to be pretty high. This is a game that I consider a must for your PS2 collection. All you have to do is get to the first colossus to realize the enormity of this game. Get this game. You can thank me later.