Sony's latest PS2 masterpiece, Shadow of the Colossus, is a hit with critics by an overwhelming margin. Previews were intriguing enough to have me considering a purchase this week. So it was with pleasant surprise that I received a demo for the game last week, something OPM subscribers and PlayStation Underground members might already be familiar with.
Here are my impressions from spending an hour with the game. You may or may not agree with them, and that's perfectly fine; everyone has a right to an opinion after all. I just felt that another perspective might be useful in the midst of all the glowing praise given to Ico's rightful heir.
If you'd prefer not to read any more spoilers about either the gameplay or the game, just skip the rest of this post. Otherwise, feel free to dive right in. But just so you know, I have played (and finished) Ico, if that helps any.
The first thing you might notice from the start of the demo is the striking intro that sets the musical and visual
tone, as well as establishes its console roots. If you've played Shadow's PS2-based predecessor, you'll know
what I mean, but there is a distinctive style that the development team has carried over from Ico that remains
both moody (in terms of atmosphere) and full of contrast (in terms of lighting and characterization) even today.
While Colossus is a beautiful game—here come the qualifiers—I must admit that, even during this tone-setting
beginning, I wondered what this game would have looked like on a current-gen Xbox (or even a GameCube for that matter).
The main player character, his horse, and scenes of the distant landscape mixed with fantastic ancient architecture
would have looked better with some additional anti-aliasing and higher polygon counts, something the PS2 admittedly
would have had a harder time with. I'm not trying to rip on the PS2's graphical prowess, but simply stating some of the
thoughts that came to mind while watching the opening cinema.
After the intro, you're thrown into the gameplay with a few short text suggestions. (The cinema dealing with how your dead love ended up on a temple altar of sorts was apparently left out of the demo.) Granted, as long as you know you're supposed to be hunting colossi, it's not too hard to figure out what to do, but the minimalist design philosophy can make even deciding your next step a little frustrating. (Do we stay in the temple, find a secret door, run outside, call to the horse—what?) After running around for a while, I found little of interest indoors and decided to go monster hunting on horseback outside. Riding fast is great, but steering (to the left or right of where your horse is facing) isn't so smooth. Indirectly prodding my horse instead of directly controlling it wasn't very fun to me.
Finding my first colossus was easy enough (heck, there's only one to find in the demo), and then it was time to figure out how to tame the beast, which is where the heart of the game and its gameplay lie: massive, and quite puzzle-like, boss battles. Where the challenges in Ico were spread across large rooms, a windmill, or some other environmental structure, your goal in Colossus is to scale the giant and repeatedly stab its weak points. Granted, actually catching up to one and getting a hold of its fur-n-stone hide can be tricky (what with all that stomping and smashing), but the strategy involved was a lot simpler than I had expected.
It was the trial-and-error execution of this that fell a little bit for me. I actually kept trying to shoot some arrows at certain spots, or boring a light-focused hole into its skin (which helps at first with finding weak spots), but all I really had to do in the end was jump on and stab in all the right places. This was the first boss, of course, so its level of difficulty was probably geared to introduce players as gently as possible to the game's play mechanics and difficulty curve. Nonetheless, a good half hour was spent (once I figured out how to climb the thing) hanging on for dear life, trying to avoid being squashed, and stabbing any soft spots I could find.
The act of climbing on and up may have been made more difficult by the addition of a dedicated button to grab onto
ledges and colossus overgrowth, but the extra degree of control may be helpful with more complicated bosses later on.
The availability of a colossus lock-on button, to aid in circling around to our big buddy's rear, was also nice, but
the disorienting camera caused quite a bit of dizziness after repeatedly switching back and forth from lock-on view to
sword/arrow mode. Granted, the bow and arrow don't need to come into play at all with this opening boss, but aiming can
be quite unsteady in the lock-on mode.
At any rate, beyond technical critiques, what did I think of the game/demo overall? As far as achievement in visuals
is concerned, every PS2 owner would be enriched by at least taking a look at this game. Its vision is clearly realized,
but that may still put some people off to its design ethic: if you didn't care much for platform games or Prince of
Persia-style physical romps before, I can't say that this release will change your mind. It's an epic on a massive
scale, but it will take more than a smidgen of patience to down your first colossus. I considered tossing my controller
more than a few times, especially after getting flattened to death for the sixth time while playing, but there was a
brief payoff when I got to see what happened to my fallen foe.
So what compelled me to finish Ico, PoP, and Kingdom Hearts before that? I was just as
stuck on more than a few places in those games as well, but I wanted to see how their respective stories would end, and
what happened to their great characters. I've read that there's some kind of plot twist near the end of
Shadow, and that the game ends on a bittersweet note. That's fine by me, but would I have the patience to
endure the dozens of beautifully blocky beasts that'd get thrown at me to reach that end?
Playing this demo reminded me of what inspired developers can do on an aging system, but it also reminded me that I'm
not especially fond of platformers. Those are my personal preferences showing up (my biases, if you will), but there's
unfortunately not much I can do to change them. I still feel that Ico is a remarkable game to behold, but I
did end up trading in a copy I bought used for some store credit despite those sentiments. Why? It may have been a
showcase title for the PS2 early on, but would I replay the entire castle (or keep saves before pivotal story moments)
to watch the moments I enjoyed again? I would much prefer a disc filled with mostly the cinema portions of the game,
much like the one bundled with the Xbox version of Shenmue 2. I'm gonna have to pass on Shadow of the
Colossus for now.
Should the right clearance sale come along, though, who knows? I may one day be moved to add a Colossus of a
game to my collection. To the rest of you who can't wait to pick it up, I salute you for your dedication, and I hope
you all enjoy a great game. Check out the 1UP cover story for more.
