Still, I think these young ‘uns have been a little tame so far. Or maybe it’s just that they view their gaming through colourfully tinted glasses. Come on, as much as I love these guys like my little brothers, all their games and series so far have been easy targets. Lego, Motorstorm, Sonic and Ninja Gaiden II, Mega Man X? Way too easy! And who the heck has heard of that Sherlock Holmes game? It’s time to show why I’m meant to be running this joint and to shake some foundations.
Think I’m kidding? My first pick is a game that I really do like and there are aspects of it that I truly love. And a lot of those who would likely describe themselves as ‘core’ gamers probably like or even love this game. Sure enough, it has one of the greatest concepts that I've ever encountered and I immensely enjoyed playing through it. Twice. However, I’ve always been a proponent of ‘gameplay is king’ and as much as I loved playing Shadow of the Colossus, I just couldn’t ignore some of the hates. And judging by the sales of the game, I wasn't alone.
Best. Concept. Ever.
Hmm… So we start off by saying what we liked about the game? Gladly. There are so many things to like about Shadow of the Colossus, that I can almost understand why gamers gush and wax lyrical while blatantly ignoring its flaws. It starts at the title. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS. Now that’s a name that oozes awesome through every single tiny orifice and as a long time gamer, is something that will get my attention.
Then you’ve got the minimalist story. In summary, it’s about a dude wants to revive his dead girlfriend. By killing Colossi. Also, in something synonymous with it’s Eastern origins, it’s a story that leaves a lot up to the player to interpret. However, it doesn’t beat you over the head with this and doesn’t come off as pretentious or contrived, unlike another title that will be the subject of this column at a future date.
Your basic objective is to beat sixteen Colossi, each ranging in size and shape, by climbing up and attacking their weak points (for mas… no, I won’t go there). So, the game is essentially sixteen boss battles in a row. And what a set of battles they were! Most games would be lucky if they had two or three great boss battles but the vast majority were great here. Most were incredibly well designed, so that they were as much a puzzle as they were an action experience. Many of these will long live on in memories of those who encountered them.
To top if off, the Colossi not only were great to figure out, but looked phenomenal as well. For a PS2 game, the level of scope and detail was almost beyond comprehension. Sure it was a little grey and dull, but that added to the ambience and feeling of loneliness. To top it off, the orchestrated soundtrack was one of the musical highlights of the last generation.
So with so many awesome things, what could possibly have been wrong?
Am I doing it wrong?
I’m actually quite glad that Shadow of the Colossus doesn’t bog you down with things like tutorials, but a mention of this feature would have helped. A lot. To be honest, I haven’t read the game manual, as my original copy was a manual-less promo. So this might be in the manual for all I know. However, I played through the entire game (twice!) and it wasn’t until I read through a forum casually one day that I found you could collect fruits and lizards to top up your health and stamina…
Why didn’t the game tell me about this? I ran across some of these suckers and thought nothing of them. Oops. But seriously, would anyone have figured this out by themselves? After all, you’re only meant to be slaying Colossi, where was the memo about fruits and lizards? Even if I had the manual, I probably wouldn’t have read it! The reason I hate this is because some extra health and stamina would have really, really helped. I can't remember how many times I just didn't manage to hold on...
OK, maybe that’s not so bad. But there are some things that annoyed me even more.
When art supercedes gameplay
The debate surrounding gaming and art is one for another day, but I tend to subscribe to Hideo Kojima’s theory:
"The thing is, art is something that radiates the artist, the person who creates that piece of art. If 100 people walk by and a single person is captivated by whatever that piece radiates, it's art. But videogames aren't trying to capture one person. A videogame should make sure that all 100 people that play that game should enjoy the service provided by that videogame. It's something of a service. It's not art. But I guess the way of providing service with that videogame is an artistic style, a form of art."
And for me, it’s all in the gameplay. Unfortunately, while Shadow of the Colossus is infinitely more playable that its spiritual predecessor, Ico, both titles prove that while Fumito Ueda and Team ICO are quite excellent artists, their game development is not up to the same lofty standards. In short, the thing that I hate about Shadow of the Colossus is that gameplay is sacrificed for the sake of the art.
Case in point: Agro. It seems that I’m one of the only people who played this game to actually be glad when this stubborn donkey fell to his (admittedly) untimely end. WHAT? Some may ask. Come on just because your horsey was nicely animated and was all the fuss about being your only companion or whatever, doesn’t excuse it from getting stuck on pebbles. Seriously, it’s almost as if the graduate Arts student was given the job of programming the horse. I ran out of fingers and toes counting how many times I was galloping across the countryside only to be ground to a screeching holt by a frickin’ pebble! Geeze.
The horse also leads to my other grievance. Ok, so you can do some truly amazing things. Like the Colossus that searches for you when you’re in the cave and you have to jump on its beard when it bends down. Brilliant idea. Terrible execution. You don’t miss the jump eighteen times because you’re not skilled, but because the camera and mechanics aren’t up to scratch. If failure is my fault, I can deal with it. But not when the game is at fault. Agro-mule is guilty here as well. Even though some of my favourite Colossi involved the horse, damn it was a pain in the arse to execute what I wanted to do sometimes.
However, this isn’t just a matter of art. Some may argue that the direction taken makes the game more realistic and immersive. Huh? This is a game about slaying giant stone monsters, realism is redundant! And I don’t know when developers will figure out that the more realistic you try to make a game, the stupider it looks when it doesn’t come off, a trend that is disturbingly prevalent nowaydays. Quite frankly, Shadow of the Colossus would have been a true gaming masterpiece in my eyes if it didn’t focus so much on its appearance and more on making the game even more playable. For me, gameplay will always be king. No matter how much artsy-fartsy dross, pretty lights or ‘realism’ you cover a game with, unless it’s got the gameplay foundations to back it up, art and emotional attachment will not work for me. Maybe I’m just cynical, but it takes more than a pretty picture to get me waxing lyrical.
The last thing that really bugs me is the reactions that this game seemed to elicit, especially in the media. The whole “Oh my, I just killed this wonderful and mythical creature that was part of the land” grew really thin. Not just in the statement, but the fact that so many seemed to sheepishly follow this as fact. What happened to the good ol’ bravado and back-slapping that is meant to come from defeating the boss? Oh well, to each his own.
While the game’s style and art direction are awesome and its ambitions are great for kicking other developers into action, I really would have loved to see this game on the PS3. Let’s face it, Shadow of the Colossus almost pushes the PS2 to breaking point, and for anyone who has played Lost Planet and fought the moth and worm, they’ll surely testify to this. Maybe The Last Guardian will help make up for it.
Well, that was fun. A sensuous massage would have been my preferrable method of anger outlet, but this will do for now. While Denny or Adam will be back next week, I can assure you that more controversial fun isn't too far away...
And your wish might might come true as well...
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