Reviewed by: DNM
Developer: Sony
Publisher: Sony

One of my favourite games of recent years is 'ICO', a game which kept you coming back for more with a heart-rending storyline, a beautiful game world and engaging puzzle elements. It is one of the very few games that has had this 'ere gamer shedding a tear. So it was with great anticipation and expectation that I awaited the UK release of 'Shadow of the Colossus'.

You play the game as a young man called 'Wanda', who has delivered his deceased female companion via horseback to a temple. The temple guardian named Dormin says to you that he can save her, but in order to perform the resurrection Wanda must do battle with sixteen incarnations of the idols you see towering either side of you in the temple. Only once Wanda has defeated all sixteen may his sweetheart be revived. Dormin warns though that such a meddling in life's rich tapestry may come at a price!

Travel across the vast world which houses the Colossi is achieved either on foot or the highly more desirable trusty steed named 'Agro'. Agro can be summoned at any time by calling him if he is near, or a whistle if further away. Controlling the horse is simplicity, a tap of the X button will set Agro off on a walk, a further X tap will get Wanda to kick his heels to force Agro to canter, and then to sprint. Certain Colossi require you to have mastered the art of horseback riding, and this is the only time where you'll find out how fiddly this can be!

Other than the Colossi and your horse, you are pretty much alone in the world, but the battles with the Colossi more than makes up for the solitude. To locate them you have to use your sword held aloft in sunlight, which will shine a beam of light in the direction you have to go. The one thing all Colossi have in common is that you need to locate their weak-spots to take them down, these glow a luminous blue/white when you get near them with your sword equipped. I am not going to go into any great depth about the Colossi themselves, but needless to say every one of them is different to the other and requires differing tactics to overcome. It's working out these strategies that is the real buzz in the game, with lots of satisfying 'aaaahh, so THAT'S how you do it' moments, while other battles you will suss out straight away.

Of course my review wouldn't be complete without mentioning a couple of my favourite Colossus encounters, and for that dear reader I am going to use spoiler tags! Colossus number seven is a giant eel like creature, which you need to somehow jump on board. To mount the colossus requires timing and once on, you need to take out the electrical fins. Watching this guy die was perhaps the most graceful death I've ever seen in a game!!! Colossus number thirteen is perhaps the most frustrating and satisfying of all the encounters, and feels just like being in a movie. The size of this airborne foe is unbelievable!! The idea is to take out the gas bags underneath it (which keeps it afloat) with your bow, so that it lowers its wings which you use to climb up and mount its back. You'll need to do this roughly three times, and will require some nifty horseback work! Classic stuff.

The world you gallop around in is a feast for the eyes, with a very ICO-esque look to it all, with the typically extravagant architecture in abundance. Animation is impressive of Agro, with lots of care and attention obviously taken in making the horse as realistic as possible. On the other hand, Wanda runs like someone doing a rather 'chase me' like effeminate walk!! The Colossi themselves however are absolutely stunning, every single one of them. In some cases, such is the grace in which they move that you find yourself actually regretting having to kill such a beautiful thing, but kill them you must! The other thing that perhaps isn't truly shown in the screenshots is the sheer scale of the beasts. They are quite literally colossal, with the exception of two smaller beasts. All this isn't without its drawbacks though, with all that scenery and animation being displayed the PS2 definitely finds it hard to cope, but never is there a point in the game where the framerate becomes unacceptable. Audio doesn't really play a huge part in proceedings, but the sound of Agro's hooves and atmospheric sounds in general are all done very nicely. Like ICO, the music in the game is of fantastic quality, and changes to match the setting accordingly.

On paper it might not sound like the most enticing of ideas, to ride a horse to face what are in effect sixteen boss encounters, but the execution is heading towards gaming perfection. It isn't without its problems though, Agro can be an absolute bitch to control and when you couple this with the often truly awful choice of camera angles, it can be a painful experience indeed. It's been a long time since a game has nearly caused me to destroy a controller in rage!!

Questions will be raised with regards to longevity, but the game should serve up a good ten or so hours gameplay and once complete Time Attack and Hard modes are unlocked for those wishing to find all the additional secret bits'n'bobs. In all honesty though, just the sheer pleasure of playing through the normal mode of the game is enough for this gamer. You'd be mad to miss out on this piece of gaming history, truly marvellous, utterly beautiful .. Colossal!

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Reviewed on

PlayStation 2