Video - Intro A

If one were to try and clumsily approximate the differences between Western and Eastern games creation, it would probably go a lot like this: Western games attempt to offer the player total freedom within a certain game world; a virtual sandbox if you will. Eastern games, on the other hand, direct the player as to where they can go and what they can do. Both sensibilities have their merits and shortfalls, moreover very few games fall neatly into either category.

Shadow of the Colossus is a game created via this Eastern idiom, but it has a rather confusing Western aesthetic - confusing in the sense that it looks open and that you really can go anywhere, but there is no purpose in going anywhere in terms of the gameplay. Unlike Western games, the open landscape in Shadow of the Colossus is a purely aesthetic setting, although a particularly potent one.

Video - Intro B

The player takes control of a young teenage boy by the name of Wanda - a boy who has travelled to literally the ends of his land in the hope of resurrecting his dead beloved. In true naïve protagonist fashion, Wanda unwittingly makes a pact with what appears to be a god called Dormin: slay sixteen giants and your love will be brought back to life.

Each of these sixteen giants are scattered across a huge and empty plain; a cursed land. Using Wanda’s magical sword, a beam of light guides him in the direction of his next prey and his horse, Agro, is his ride to the oncoming - and vertically challenging - encounter. Upon reaching a colossus, you have to find a means to reach a glowing weak spot and stab it repeatedly, accompanied by sprays of sinister black blood.

Video - Intro C

Clinging on to the mammoth grotesque is a skill that has to be developed: a grip meter determines how long you can remain attached to the beast’s hide (a fabulous graphical effect that simulates rough fur), and adjusting your movements, pauses and moments of attack is the hardest element of the game to master. Once the colossus’s health has been depleted, it falls over dead and you are transported back to the shrine where your deceased significant other resides.

It’s a very linear game. Each colossus has to be slain in order and, after each victory, Wanda is then returned to a central shrine where he then departs on his next hunt. The sword negates a lot of exploration, purely because it tells you where to go next. Wanda is also very clumsy to control and his horse isn’t exactly “user friendly” either. To focus on these faults, however, would be to the detriment of the game, and Shadow of the Colossus' impact on the gamer.

Video - Return

Shadow of the Colossus isn’t about story-led exploration, it’s about slaying giants. Each of these giants have unique personalities, reflected in their movement, as well as increasingly complex solutions required in order to bring about their eradication. The sword also doesn’t necessarily place you on the path you need to take - a lot of the time it points to a location that has no obvious means of access, leaving the player to figure the puzzle-based route out for themselves. Wanda isn’t a trained soldier either - he’s a desperately clumsy adolescent blinded by love. The horse? Well, it’s an animal, not a Ferrari. It has a mind of its own and a lot of the time this works to the player’s benefit. For example, negotiating a tricky mountain pass at speed could be a difficult proposition but, thankfully, Agro is capable of taking care of himself and his rider.

The only design fault that Shadow of the Colossus displays is that it’s a subtle game set in a locale that appears overt and obvious to the player's perception: the vast, cursed landscape is there to accentuate Wanda’s (and obviously the player’s) sense of isolation. It’s not there as an overture to freedom, or a prime example of a sandbox adventure: you’re meant to fulfil a gruesomely inevitable task and, as such, the linearity and limited amount of control are wholly intentional.

Video - Wander

There are, unfortunately, technical issues within the game. The PlayStation 2 isn’t really capable of displaying such a huge landscape and colossal opponents comfortably, and the framerate often takes a noticeable hit. Not to mention there are a fair few instances of the game freezing to a white screen as the rest of the game world catches up to load in.

Numerous graphical workarounds hide a lot of these problems, such as motion blurring when the player camera is moved and a final level of detail that is resolved into a flat texture rather than rendered polygons. Even with these, and other, solutions the game is still a little rough around the edges. Stylistically, though, it’s peerless. The design of the landscape, the architecture and especially the colossi are hauntingly beautiful. The orchestral score, by Kow Otani, also fits the setting wonderfully.

Video - Snake

Shadow of the Colossus is a game of unique and serene beauty - to damn it on its technical faults or to misinterpret how the game should play only limits the ability to truly appreciate what it has to offer. Very few games afford the opportunity to gallop across a dreamlike landscape in order to conquer a melancholy giant - it’s a unique experience and one that should be cherished, regardless of its repetition and brevity.