How far would you go to save the woman that you loved? What if she was already dead, and the only way to revive her involved invading sacred lands to perform a forbidden ritual?
In “Shadow of the Colossus,” that is exactly what happens.
Before the start screen even comes up, we follow the main character, whose name remains unknown through the story, leading his horse with the body of a dead woman for whom he deeply cares.
When he arrives at the sacred lands, he places her body on the altar of the sanctuary, where he hears a booming voice from the heavens telling him to dispose of the colossus in the lands, and she will be brought back to life.
Throughout this game we fight with a limited amount of health that recovers on its own over time, a sword, a bow with limitless arrows, and a horse for transportation.
Only one colossus is in existence at a time, which means that until you beat one there won’t be another to face. This can occasionally be a problem, if you are having trouble with any one of the colossi.
Each colossus varies in size and shape from the next. There are large bipedal ones that carry weapons and are the size of skyscrapers. There are also animal-like ones that will trounce, throttle, and fling you using their bodies. The animal ones range from about the size of an elephant to as big as a large triple floored warehouse. They also live in different environments, including valleys, lakes, and even the skies.
Aside from their bodies, some of the colossi have natural defenses, some of which can be on the body, such as back mounted electrodes. Others can fire projectiles that are deadly in succession. One even launches blasts of poisonous gas. This makes tangling them that much harder.
Each colossus is, in theory, a puzzle that must be solved in order to kill it. There are many spots on a colossus that are climbable, and just as many that can’t be climbed. Each also has at least one weak point that must be stabbed several times in order to kill it. Don’t think that they will take this standing still though. Each one will be trying to kill you as you attempt to kill it.
Some of the imaginative new features of this game include the beautiful landscapes, the ability to kill smaller animals to regain some health, and the grip/breath meter. Because no one can hang on to a flailing limb of a giant or hold his or her breath forever, the designers at Sony generated a grip/breath meter that slowly decreases as a colossus moves, flails, or thrashes its body. However, the breath meter only comes into play against two of the colossi, both of which live in a water environment.
I’d rate this game a ten out of ten, because of its sheer beauty and the realism in the physical attributes. If any players of this game wish for helpful tips, feel free to contact me at ztester@fuse.net.