Shadow of the Colossus

"Calling it art doesn't justify its shoddy design..."

I have a feeling that the words of Roger Ebert will long echo in the minds of gamers and developers worldwide. His comments on the nature of video games as being art (or more accurately, not) sparked a firestorm of controversy that continues to burn across the forums of every gaming site on the internet. But time and again it seems as if this is the game that is praised as the one which can utterly refute Ebert's comments. While the definition of art varies from person to person, one thing is sure; calling something art doesn't justify shoddy design.

STORY
At the start of the game, you'll witness a young man bringing a dead woman to a desolate temple. Once there he makes a bargain with a disembodied voice (presumably a god of some sort) to bring her back to life. The voice agrees, on one condition – This man has to kill sixteen wandering colossi. Towards the end of the game a few new developments and twists reveal themselves, but these only serve to confuse the inadequate plot even further and left me with the feeling that I had just wasted seven hours of my life on an utterly brainless expedition.

I don't doubt that the plot was left intentionally vague so as to keep an overall aura of mystique about the game. There are certain games that can pull this off admirably, but this isn't one of them. The main problem the ambiguity brings to the table is that I never felt as if I really had a reason to keep going, other than my own desire to finish the game.

GRAPHICS
It is immediately clear that sacrifices were made in some areas in order for others to excel. For instance, although the open world you'll be moving through has a number of varied environments, from barren deserts to open plains to dense forests, none of them possess any real visual flair. Texture work leaves much to be desired and there is rarely anything to break up the monotony of the world. However, this lends considerable weight to the overall feeling of desolation to the game, so it is possible that some of this was done intentionally.

The Colossi themselves are where the game really shines. To call them impressive would be an insult to the sheer grandeur of their presence. They are intricately detailed beings made up of stone and fur which have been rendered so meticulously that they are simultaneously awesome and frightening to come up against.

SOUND
Like a number of other high-concept Japanese titles of late (Killer7, Okami) there are no actual voice acting in this game. Instead, the developers have opted to use a made up gibberish language that is excessively grating on the ears. Thankfully there isn't much of it but once it kicks in I found myself hitting the mute button on my remote.

The game is also strangely silent while wandering through the world. Once again, this adds to the oppressive atmosphere of the game but it hardly helps with the already monotonous sequences of riding around looking for something to kill. It is only when you come up against a Colossus that there is any music, but once it kicks in it is appropriately grandiose and epic.

GAMEPLAY
Shadow of the Colossus is an amazingly simple game, which is actually one of its strengths rather than weaknesses. In a nutshell, all you'll be doing is riding around the world on your way to kill the next Colossus armed with only a bow and sword. In this respect, the game is nothing more than a string of sixteen boss battles.

The world itself is actually quite large and needlessly so. There are vast stretches of nothingness, filled with nothing to do. There are no side-quests to take up and no other events to distract you from the task at hand. I can respect the decision to keep the focus tight on business, but it doesn't help that I spent the better part of my seven hours in the game trying to find my next target. The problem is that you know exactly where the next fight is but you have to figure out a way to get there. The world is filled with impassable valleys and sheer cliffs that have to be negotiated in order to find any given Colossus. This comes off as a cheap ploy to artificially lengthen the game to an acceptable length. Had this not been done, it would have been easy to breeze through in as few as four hours.

Thankfully (or perhaps not) you do have a way to move around besides walking. The main character's horse, Agro serves as a faithful companion who will do everything in its part to help you out. But more often than not, it just serves as a hindrance because it is a downright pain to use. To make it run you have to constantly tap the X button, if you want it to slow down or stop you have to pull back the left analog stick. While this may be in service to realism, it ends up being a constant source of irritation. It also manages to be one of the worst controlling horses I've ever dealt with in a game, as it seems to do what it pleases as often as it heeds your commands. It constantly veers off-course and typically ends up smacking into some environmental object, bringing itself to a complete halt.

Once you actually arrive where you're going the next task becomes to actually kill the Colossus. As most of the Colossi are gigantic (we're talking skyscraper sized) it becomes an interesting job just to figure out the best way to go about taking them down. Fortunately, every Colossus has a weak point in the forming of a glowing arcane symbol. Stab it with a sword and you hurt it; stab it enough and it will die. But it isn't as easy as that. The weak points on most of the Colossi aren't easy to reach places. In order to get there, a fair amount of a platforming is required. By jumping around and grabbing onto fur or bony ridges on the Colossus, you can safely work your way up its body.

The platforming is handled quite differently than any other game. While you'll often be doing the typical jumping from place to place, the thing that makes it so unique is the grip mechanic. By pressing the R1 button the character will grab onto anything that presents itself. From there, you'll have to press the triangle button to pull yourself up or launch yourself to another area. The longer you hold triangle, the stronger the action will be. This whole mechanic is governed by the grip meter, a pink circle on the lower right of the screen. As you hold onto things, the meter dwindles. If it runs out completely the character will fall. This doesn't really come into play until trying to plunge a sword into the weak point of a thrashing Colossus, and thankfully it never becomes too much of a hindrance.

The camera is where the game truly breaks down. To be quite honest, it is hard to express just why the camera is so bad. Somehow it always manages to be a nagging problem, one that is rarely blatantly overbearing, but one that is always present like a fly buzzing around in your peripheral vision. At times it is merely hard to get under control and at others it seems to move of its own volition, swinging out for no apparent reason. It does occasionally become a real problem when fighting the Colossi as it makes major jumps that leave you completely blind to what is going on. As it can happen anytime, be it when you're about to strike or just make a jump from one area to the next, it can lead to a badly botched maneuver, thereby causing you to have to go about the whole process again.

THE VERDICT
Shadow of the Colossus was obviously designed from the ground up to be a high-concept game. However the storyline ambiguity, mindless wandering and overall clumsy design make this about as artistic as a black and white photo of a dog turd. If I wanted to convince Roger Ebert that video games were art, this is most certainly NOT the game I would use to back up that argument.

HIGHS
- The Colossi are downright amazing
- Unique grip mechanic

LOWS
- Camera
- Imprecise controls
- Near non-existent story
- Stupid horse

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/08, Updated 10/06/08

Game Release: Shadow of the Colossus (US, 10/18/05)