Shadow of the Colossus

(Sorry for the late post have been having loggin issues)

During our play session last week I sampled an old ps2 classic video game Shadow of the Colossus by team ICO released in 2005. A video game that thrives off maintaining a huge atmosphere, a great sense of exploration, a beautifully eerie soundtrack, and 16 truly memorable boss battles, this game is cited by many publications to be a high achievement and by some the greatest videgame of all time. What sets this game apart from many others is mainly the atmosphere and visual appeal it creates putting you in a world you know very little about and bringing more questions than it answers, sure there's a story that has a beginning and an end but the journey throughout is the real meat of this game.

As far as the plot goes it relatively simple and as mentioned before has many aspects to it that remain unanswered the entire game, but basically you control a nameless protagonist who enters a sacred forbidden land in an attempt to resurrect his deceased girlfriend (I believe), a voice from the sky tells him that he can do so if he slays 16 Colossi scattered across this ancient land using a magical sword he possesses. And from that point the whole game centers around you and your horse traversing this utterly enormous landscape in search of each Colossi.

In terms of gameplay it basically jots down to two things; finding each Colossus, and once you do, figuring out how to defeat them. Each of these segments is a whole breathtaking experience in and of itself. The world is so massive and visually stunning that I'd sometimes get so lost in the scenery i'd forget what I was supposed to be doing, one minute i'd be in a shrine deep beneath the earth, the next i'd be in a massive desert, or in the ruins of some lost ancient civilization. Another thing setting this game apart from many others is it's lack of any recurring or re-spawning enemies, no level grinding or developing your skills, it's essentially just sixteen boss battles, which brings us to our next topic, the Colossi them themselves. Theses creatures are essentially large stone giants usually animal like that range from the size of perhaps a large vehicle, to some that completely tower over you, to some that are as tall as skyscrapers. Defeating them is not as simple as one would expect, it requires the players to think of ways to utilize either the environment or simply to traverse these massive giants and scope out their weaknesses. It may sound simple, but it can be surprisingly difficult and complex finding ways to topple these titans, but once you do it's just all that more rewarding.

This game has also been brought up numerous times when posing the age long question; Are video games art? This game is cited very often whenever I hear or read about this topic. Now first off if we were to go by the standard Webster's definition of the word art,(the conscious use of skill and creative imagination)  then yes this game qualifies (as well as that lousy picture of a horse you may have drew in first grade). It's definitely creative and full of vivid imagination, but what I think most people refer to when bringing this up is more along the lines of; Are video games HIGH ART. In this case there's much more to be argued. Basically it means will this game still be remembered and acknowledged decades, even centuries down the road for it's artistic quality as a game. While there's absolutely no way to be certain, I personally think that this game as well as a few others have the potential to be so. Overall though, if anyone hasn't had the opportunity to experience this game I highly recommend you do so, it's one the few games out there that blends numerous elements together so seamlessly and is still to this day one of my favorite games of all time. Shadow of the Colossus is available for the PlayStation 2 gaming system as well as the PS3 in HD tagged along with team ICO's preceding game Ico, but going into that game would constitute another few paragraphs that I don't feel like writing. Until next blog.