Shadow of the Colossus is a game that I distinctly remember being pretty much everywhere when it first came out. I saw it in video game stores, I saw it at Toys R Us, I even saw it in some stores like Walmart and Target. This is actually somewhat impressive, considering the game's "spiritual predecessor" Ico really did not get much publicity at all in North America, and really only amounted to being a cult hit. Back then, I didn't think much of the game. I couldn't even detect what exactly it was about. But, a few months ago I decided to pick up the game and give it a try, and man, I was not disappointed.

THE STORY

The plot of this game honestly isn't anything spectacular. I barely paid attention to it. Some people might even find it hard to understand, but to sum it up in a nutshell, the game features a guy named Wander, who has to take his horse and defeat 16 "colossi" (giant, though occasionally smaller, monsters) in order to revive a girl who is either sleeping or in a coma or something, I never really figured that out. There is slightly more to it, but most of that is revealed in the end and I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't played the game yet.

GAMEPLAY

This game has a very unique style when it comes to gameplay - it's extremely minimalist, and is far different from most other adventure games you'll play. Unlike other adventure games, there are no people to talk to, there are no enemies to fight besides the colossi (who are essentially each their own equivalent to a boss battle), and there actually isn't even much music that plays in the game except during cutscenes and fights with the colossi. Therefore, for the most part the game focuses on atmosphere - a lot of the time you are trotting around on your horse to find the next colossus, with you occasionally having to jump off and fend for yourself. You only need to use your horse in about two, maybe three, of the 16 colossus fights, so most of the time you'll be fighting them alone. The one complaint I have is the controls when gripping/climbing things, particularly parts of the colossus's bodies. Sometimes they just get messed up and you can end up easily falling, sometimes to your death. I can't even tell you how much this annoyed me the first time I played through this game.

SOUND

As I mentioned before, music is not playing when you aren't watching a cutscene or actually fighting a colossus - but when the music IS on, it's pretty awesome. It definitely gives you the feeling of being an epic hero out to slay the beast. I recommend checking out the full soundtrack, it's available to listen to on Youtube. There's some good stuff on it.

DEPTH

Even though you don't really do much in this game besides look for the colossi and fight them, I would not call the game "short". Some of the fights can last a pretty long time, especially the final colossus. It can also take slightly longer if you aim on completing everything and on playing through the time attack modes. The time attack modes definitely add some replay value to this game - I enjoyed fighting some of the colossi again just to see if it would be easier this time around, and if I could build up my strategies a bit.

DIFFICULTY

I wouldn't say this is a particularly difficult game. It can be challenging sometimes, and there are some parts where you might just want to throw your controller (I'm looking at you, Colossus #9), but overall, the game isn't too bad in that aspect. It can be a bit annoying at certain points, but it's not cheap and I think once you get the hang of things you should be able to beat the game quite easily.

Anyway, I love this game, to be totally honest. I've never played any other games like this before, and something tells me there never WILL be a game truly like this one again, which is a shame. I'd really love to see a sequel to this game, because keeping the key mechanics of the game in and adding a bunch of new colossi to fight would definitely be awesome.

I always enjoyed playing this game so much, anyway nice review! Good job!

Some of my favorite PS2 games were
Rule Of Rose where you play as Jenifer and relive your past everything is symbolism and ive beaten it 3 times and still discovering things I didn't notice! for example in one part when shes in the airship its a floating whale in the sky which is symbolism of how she cannot escape and despite the bad gameplay graphics the story and cut scenes are 200%!

FF12 was also a great one with the unique combat system amazing graphics always and also has a good story and a lot to unlock.

Baldurs gate is one of the funnest multiplayer games in my option you start in a town and enter the sewers and do quests that evolve into much more! Granted there are cheat codes but they ruin it!

//. Hack always to expensive for me to ever play but it looks amazing.... hnnng

Valkyrie Profile 2 Is also another great one, its single player but it has a great story about the gods and Valkyries the combat is also very strategic you cant just run face to face with your enemy.

Star Ocean I played this game for about 200hrs; the story is great and there is so much to do! the casino reminds me of ff7 accept with better graphics and that is nothing compared to what it has to offer!

Shadow Hearts - Cut scenes are nice and graphics are OK but this dark rpg is one of my favorites!!! if this game had ps4 graphics it would be possibly one of the greatest horror rpg games of all time. ever.

These are all really great games id recommend in a heartbeat and if I could forget it all and play it again olord I would hahhaa.

NordicWarrior : I think this is a pretty good review, I think you do need a few more details with it, but other than that,, nice work on it