Shadow of the Colossus!!!!!!!

There are two things I would like to point out before I talk about Shadow of the Colossus. First, this game is somewhat old and I have only recently heard of it (what I heard was nothing but praise). And second, This game was originally on the Play Station 2 but was re-released on the Play Station 3.


LOGO!!!!!!!


Anyway, this is a really good game (I have done and LOT of research on this game. I like researching video games). But there is one thing that is interesting to me. The story slightly reminds me of the tale of Sleeping Beauty (fun fact. This fairy tale, like several others, is of French origin but again like many others was retold by Disney in North America). Anyway here is a basis.


Once upon a time there was this thing (I am not sure what to call it) that supposedly had the power to revive lost souls. That being was remarkably powerful, but sadly that power made this shaman called Lord Emon seal him inside a temple in the middle of nowhere.


Several years later a young man named Wander journeys to said temple and makes a deal with this being. To revive a mysterious woman that Wander probably fell in love with at some point. This being (I forgot his name. It began with the letter "M" but that is all I remember) promised to revive this girl, but only after Wander destroys 16 idols. These idols cannot be directly destroyed so Wander must slay 16 Stone Giants linked to each idol. Destroying the "Colossi" as they are called will also destroy the idols.


This is something I would like to point out about the gameplay.  There are NO standard enemies in the game. The only thing you can fight are the Colossi, who are bosses.



But there is a twist. Each time a Colossus is slain, Wander's appearance slowly deteriorates. Because guess what? The ghost/spirit thing that made a deal with Wander has actually been possessing him. His influence grows with every victory. Boom.


Anyway, Here is something else that is cool. Once the final Colossus (which is a living castle) has been slain, the spirit (let's call him that) "borrows" Wander's body and basically goes full power. Just in time too. Lord Emon (who reveals that the sword Wander used to slay the stone giants was stolen) realizes that Wander made the biggest mistake ever. It also turns out that by destroying the stone idols and their living counterparts, Wander removed the seal keeping this spirit/ghost thing inside the temple. SO what does Emon do? He throws a magical sword into a pool of water, casting a new seal. Before the seal is complete the game is kind enough to let you play around with a mutated Wander for a few seconds. After the seal has been cast Wander's transformation begins to reverse. You are actually in control as Wander struggles against the seal's power. But it's scripted, so you have to let him get absorbed by said spell at some point.



Anyway, this game is very good. Critically acclaimed one might say. The soundtrack is downright amazing. I know because I watched more videos of this game than you can shake a broken laser cannon at. Even though the game has somewhat of a Middle Ages theme............


Anyway here is another thing to note. The only meaningful way to slay (rhyme!) the Colossi is to climb up them and and skewer them in weak spots marked by glowing symbols. While it is somewhat easy to climb up some of the Colossi, you need to solve complex puzzles, such as luring a stone turtle to a geyser and hitting it in the feet with a few arrows (Wander as a bow with arrows!), tricking a stone tiger into falling off a ledge, and grabbing hold of a humanoid giant's beard. That's right. One of the Colossi has a beard.


One last note. This game has a lot of replay value. To start things off you have Hard Mode, which let's you fight (and slay) another 16 Colossi. Then there is Time Attack, which lets you fight the Colossi under a time limit, And a New Game+ feature where your Health and Grip gauges are imported into another play-through. Did I forget to mention there is a Grip gauge? Basically it shows how long you can hold on to a Colossus before being bucked off. It increases in size after every fight. So if you do New Game+ five or so times, you can hold onto a Colossus pretty much infinitely. Oh and to encourage Time Attack mode, they will give you new items to use in future fights such as the  Harpoon of Thunder, which is a long range weapon that does pretty much the same amount of damage to a boss as you would with a skewer. BUT IT CANNOT COMPLETELY SLAY A COLOSSUS UNLESS YOU FOLLOW UP WITH A SKEWER!!!!!!!


This game is very similar to yet another game made by the same team called Ico. Game Informer claims this game has one of the best endings ever seen in interactive entertainment. Both games scored the same rating on the ESRB, who rate video games on a somewhat letter based scale based solely on how family friendly the game in question MIGHT be. Both Shadow of the Colossus and Ico are rated T for Teen. Both games sold countless copies around the world. Both games snagged insanely high scores from Ign and other critics.



Anyway one final thing to note is that there is a horse in the game (see below). Finding the Colossi is a task in itself as the only way to find them is to stand in direct sunlight, and eight beams of sunlight point in the direction of the next Colossi. To shorten this journey Wander can ride on the back of his horse, Agro (Do not ask me why the horse as a bizarre name).


Horseback!!!!!!



Fun Fact. Shadow of the Colossus originally had 24 Colossi in it but that generation of tech wasn't powerful enough to handle 24 Colossi so they had to scrap quite a few of them to get the 16 in the actual game. A few of the scrapped Colossi were prototype versions of the 16 main Colossi. This generation of tech might just be powerful enough to handle 24 Colossi, so it is somewhat of a possibility that if they made a sequel it might have 24. That is assuming they have enough time and money to make a sequel. As far as I know there is no sequel.

But Let's think back a moment. A lot of people weren't expecting Pokemon X and Y or Super Smash Bros 4 or even Skylanders, so the possibility of a sequel is possible and if there is a lot of people will be surprised. Speaking of Skylanders, sometimes I wonder what Spyro is even doing in the Skylanders universe. Ever since Giants Activision and Toys for Bob are acting like Spyro never existed. I need a classic Spyro game. I miss main series Spyro. But let's face the music (so to speak). We all miss Spyro. And we all want Nintendo to make a Star Fox game for the Wii U.


For more info please go to Team Ico Wiki or Ign. because both have videos for every boss in Shadow of the Colossus.


NOTE: I GOT MOST PICTURES FROM GOOGLE. EXCEPT THE LOGO, WHICH I GOT FROM TEAM ICO WIKI.