I recently replayed this in the PS3 HD Collection bundled with "Ico" and the thoughts are about the game now and how it also was when released in 2005 on the PS2. This is not a technical review with information about framerate drops etc, but a review on the basis of its overall effect on the player. Well, me.
From a gaming perspective, this is actually a game made up entirely of boss battles - there is no other part to the game and so could be considered retro in design. In 2005, as we moved on from the 80s and 90s gaming of levels and bosses into coherent worlds, constantly streamed, it was odd to play this. It was unashamedly a game structure that harked backwards with finite challenges and linear progression which appeals to me but not everyone. If you get stuck, you can't go and try something else, level 3 can only be started or seen when level 2 is done. You can't go around finding (particularly effective) power-ups or better weapons - it is you and me against the world now.
There is also something to be said about the camera - which is under your control but not perfectly ( a little like your horse in fact). The camera will move of its own accord and you can also move it but it will regularly override your input. I would say that tension, more than anything else (except maybe the pernicious influence of the Nintendo DS) is what has seen a divergence of Japanese game design from Western markets. Traditionally, I would say that Japanese game design veers much more towards the curated experience and the camera angles decided on by the development team are the ones you will see.
Other than those bosses there are 4 other "characters" :-
the protagonist ("Wanda");
the "love" (ambiguous, but called "mono" - which actually means "thing" in Japanese - not sure that is relevant) that lies there to be saved - she is unconscious;
the "transport"(a horse called "Agro");
the voice (gives orders for where to go next, and advice mid-battle - interestingly ungendered or dual-gendered).
Although it is all fairly ambiguous, the voice tells you that you must defeat the colossi in order to reanimate Mono. She lies within a grand looking building that looks suitably awe-inspiring and religious and is bathed in sweet sunlight. The lighting is very rich and spills into all the models throughout lending a dreamy quality that is unmistakably of team ico. And from that light, a voice tells you that there is a chance of saving her, a chance that will see you sacrifice something, but it is not clear what it is that you will lose. You are then directed to a colossus by an otherworldly light trail. The power of the sun is collected (the light haze is taken from the sky) and pointed to the "battleground".
The first time you meet a colossus is when you realise that they are appropriately named and you attack it. I have chosen the sentence structure there - you attack it. Not defensively, not a counter-attack, not to rescue a distressed damsel, just because you were told to. The colossi do not all have the same character, some are aggressive, some docile but I guess they are all defensive as you seek them out to destroy them. The first one you meet is large enough that you need to climb it and stab it at appropriate places but the final spot is right in the skull. As you are actually on the beast, when it feels pain, it will try and shake you off so you have to hold on as it struggles - as you kill it you must hold on. This has the strange sensation of making you feel the pain yourself a little bit and really trying hard to hold on - the camera does its best to show you the pain as this creature writhes around in agony.
An agonising death.
An agonising death caused by you and for what?
After that death, which the camera and art direction show you in the right way, you end up back at the voice. There are some lovely, subtle touches added to the world upon each defeat that show the depth of thought put into the game. I particularly like the fact that you can travel back to see the fallen colossus and it becomes part of the landscape (this is not a subtle touch).
A desolate, sparse and richly detailed wasteland. It is never really clear what that detail is, a few bits of rock here and there, some strange abandoned buildings but it really shows the value of coherent art design - as the whole world does - and this is where the emotion comes in. The whole things is set up so ambiguously that you are never really sure that you are doing the right thing and prompts questioning and soul searching that was definitely atypical. There must have been some form of civilisation but where did it go?
And I think that is the beauty of the game - that feeling of being a little lost and confused within a world that you have no recollection of, but may be part of you. There are some unnecessary links to Ico but it is not actually connected (I think of the films "Prometheus" and "Alien").
I had never played a game like it at the time and have yet to play a game that feels as rich as this since though some have leaned towards it in terms of atmosphere - "Journey" especially. It is incredibly rare to play a game so coherently put together with a real vision of its purpose and for that then to be married with excellent game mechanics that this has to be one of my favourite games of all time. A real highlight of, not only the genre, but the whole concept of gaming.
***Very mild spoilers of the first half an hour***
Emotion is not usually one of the first things mentioned when talking about games - let's be honest, it is not one of the first things most people mention for any form of entertainment - it is, however, the first thing that comes to mind for this.
Shadow Of The Colossus is atypical in most respects but also very much of its time - its time actually being 2005. It is also full of contradictions.
From a gaming perspective, this is actually a game made up entirely of boss battles - there is no other part to the game and so could be considered retro in design. In 2005, as we moved on from the 80s and 90s gaming of levels and bosses into coherent worlds, constantly streamed, it was odd to play this. It was unashamedly a game structure that harked backwards with finite challenges and linear progression which appeals to me but not everyone. If you get stuck, you can't go and try something else, level 3 can only be started or seen when level 2 is done. You can't go around finding (particularly effective) power-ups or better weapons - it is you and me against the world now.
There is also something to be said about the camera - which is under your control but not perfectly ( a little like your horse in fact). The camera will move of its own accord and you can also move it but it will regularly override your input. I would say that tension, more than anything else (except maybe the pernicious influence of the Nintendo DS) is what has seen a divergence of Japanese game design from Western markets. Traditionally, I would say that Japanese game design veers much more towards the curated experience and the camera angles decided on by the development team are the ones you will see.
Other than those bosses there are 4 other "characters" :-
the protagonist ("Wanda");
the "love" (ambiguous, but called "mono" - which actually means "thing" in Japanese - not sure that is relevant) that lies there to be saved - she is unconscious;
the "transport"(a horse called "Agro");
the voice (gives orders for where to go next, and advice mid-battle - interestingly ungendered or dual-gendered).
Although it is all fairly ambiguous, the voice tells you that you must defeat the colossi in order to reanimate Mono. She lies within a grand looking building that looks suitably awe-inspiring and religious and is bathed in sweet sunlight. The lighting is very rich and spills into all the models throughout lending a dreamy quality that is unmistakably of team ico. And from that light, a voice tells you that there is a chance of saving her, a chance that will see you sacrifice something, but it is not clear what it is that you will lose. You are then directed to a colossus by an otherworldly light trail. The power of the sun is collected (the light haze is taken from the sky) and pointed to the "battleground".
The first time you meet a colossus is when you realise that they are appropriately named and you attack it. I have chosen the sentence structure there - you attack it. Not defensively, not a counter-attack, not to rescue a distressed damsel, just because you were told to. The colossi do not all have the same character, some are aggressive, some docile but I guess they are all defensive as you seek them out to destroy them. The first one you meet is large enough that you need to climb it and stab it at appropriate places but the final spot is right in the skull. As you are actually on the beast, when it feels pain, it will try and shake you off so you have to hold on as it struggles - as you kill it you must hold on. This has the strange sensation of making you feel the pain yourself a little bit and really trying hard to hold on - the camera does its best to show you the pain as this creature writhes around in agony.
An agonising death.
An agonising death caused by you and for what?
After that death, which the camera and art direction show you in the right way, you end up back at the voice. There are some lovely, subtle touches added to the world upon each defeat that show the depth of thought put into the game. I particularly like the fact that you can travel back to see the fallen colossus and it becomes part of the landscape (this is not a subtle touch).
Between bosses (seems odd to call your only enemies this - but they are essentially controlling their space), you must travel to the bosses and this is usually just a case of traversing fairly large distances across varied terrain - it takes time but is very rarely a challenge. Generally, the large distances are ridden on horseback and you then take the colossus on alone (some are with Agro, but usually not). In between, there are some save points and the map clears but it is usually a wasteland. Although the battles are accompanied by music (and again, it is excellently put together with the right mix of hope, fear and desperation that the game needs) There is no music as you ride, just the sound of the elements and the emptiness of nature. A vast space and you are hemmed in by water on one side and mountains on the other so it is essentially "open-world" but there is not anything to *do* except ride around and soak it in. And why would you? Ride around a wasteland?
A desolate, sparse and richly detailed wasteland. It is never really clear what that detail is, a few bits of rock here and there, some strange abandoned buildings but it really shows the value of coherent art design - as the whole world does - and this is where the emotion comes in. The whole things is set up so ambiguously that you are never really sure that you are doing the right thing and prompts questioning and soul searching that was definitely atypical. There must have been some form of civilisation but where did it go?
And I think that is the beauty of the game - that feeling of being a little lost and confused within a world that you have no recollection of, but may be part of you. There are some unnecessary links to Ico but it is not actually connected (I think of the films "Prometheus" and "Alien").
I had never played a game like it at the time and have yet to play a game that feels as rich as this since though some have leaned towards it in terms of atmosphere - "Journey" especially. It is incredibly rare to play a game so coherently put together with a real vision of its purpose and for that then to be married with excellent game mechanics that this has to be one of my favourite games of all time. A real highlight of, not only the genre, but the whole concept of gaming.
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