Roar of the Earth

Do come in,

I love Shadow of the Colossus; it is probably one of my favorite games on the PS2. However, I don't feel like doing a full review at the moment, so I am here to tell you what I think could be done to make the game even better. Exciting, no? Who doesn't love to listen to someone complaining?

The easiest aspect of the game to fix is the HUD. Fumito Ueda and his wonderful team at Sony were wise enough to keep it off screen when none of the information provided was relevant. Even when it is shown, it is fairly minimal, just your stamina, health, equipped weapon and occaisionally a colossus' remaining life. I believe that most, if not all, of these are unnecessary and only take away from the onscreen majesty. Do you really need a little icon telling you if you have a bow or a sword out? It is pretty obvious by cursory glance at Wander which he is currently wielding. Furthermore, is the option of having nothing equipped necessary? Only two situations come to mind when it is used: during the eleventh colossus and picking up upgrades. It seems pointless to have to switch to "empty handed" to pick objects and I feel this ability could easily be integrated into either of the other weapons. I know there are other items available, but because they are accessible only after beating the game, it can be assumed the player is sufficiently experienced not to be confused. Second, the boss' health meter. I found this to get in the way of the experience; rather than an intense struggle to the death, the display always informed me how close the colossus was to death. I knew I had the battle in the bag as my sword was raising and I was celebrating victory in my mind. To me, the best boss battles are down to the wire, where it could be you or it at any moment. For a game based around these encounters, this was most disappointing. It has a much better feature already built in with the glowing weak points; when it stops shining you know you cannot strike there anymore. It does not clutter the screen and helps immerse the player, without giving them too clear an idea of their progress. Personally, I would rather see the player health bar go too. If Wander's animation and other other visual clues were used to convey his status, it would go a long way towards improving the player's link with their avatar. At the very least, it could be integrated into the stamina circle, using a color based system to indicate remaining life. As the color becomes progressively redder, you are closer to death. Lastly, the stamina circle is probably the most important visual cue, but I would like to see that integrated into the animation as well. For instance, the more Wander flails when shaken, the less stamina you have remaining. I realize this kind of reliance on player observation and intelligence is something developers are loathe to implement, but a boy can dream, can't he? Elimination of the HUD is something I think most games should strive for, but it bothers me a lot in SotC because they are so close to that ideal.

Shadow is a beautiful game. There is no denying this fact. The artistry present is phenomenal, to the point where the vast and barren world becomes almost a character unto itself. The sense of scale is incredible and the use of motion blur is stunning; there were moments playing where I would have believed it to be a next-gen title had I not known better. The problem the game runs into then is that too often it painfully obvious that the game is too ambitious for the hardware and the poor machine just cannot keep up. The frame-rate suffers most of the time; once you get used to it, it's not too distracting but it does take away from what should be a seamless experience. Speaking of seams, the game has a pop-up problem. The draw distance is huge, but you will still run into occasions of "Hey, that mountain was not there before." As you approach a cliff face, you can watch the detail being rendered. Given the scale of the game, this is somewhat forgivable, though I can't help but wonder how good this would have looked if they had waited to make it on the PS3.

The hint system could use an overhaul. Personally, I would like the option of turning it off altogether, but that might just be me. The hints I did get were generally either so cryptic they were useless, or told me things I knew already. During the longer battles, having a hint repeated every three minutes got old quickly.

I wish the game was harder too. Staying on a colossus is for the most part not difficult or engaging enough. If you are standing on one and it begins to shake, you have plenty of time to jam on R1 as Wander is going through his exaggerated "I'm falling" animation and to be saved. The animation is not the problem; it's a great example of how developers can integrate visual cues seamlessly. Rather, there is little skill or danger involved when the colossus moves vigorously. If the player had to move the control stick in the same direction as the boss' movement or face a greater stamina loss, or something like that, it would make the battles much more interactive. As it stands now, all you do is hold onto the shoulder button and wait for it to stop.

The game lacks difficulty in the damage dealt too. I don't mind the regenerating health so much as how little threat the bosses pose to you. I was flung from the top of the tallest colossus, then had to be shot twice before I died. While the game does a good job in some regards of reinforcing the David vs Goliath theme, such as the prolonged recovery animation, the colossi were not usually intimidating enough. When I am stepped on by a small mountain, I think it should end my life.

The camera mostly sucks; you can tell by how much control you are given over it: a stick and three shoulder buttons. It often goes nuts during battles forcing you to wait to act. Don't get me wrong, you get many unbelievably epic visual moments throughout the game, but a smarter camera would definitely help take the burden off the player for such things. Wouldn't it be cool if it automatically pulled way back when you are running along the back of the second colossus to show the scale? Or when the fifth is doing all its crazy aerial maneuvers? Or if it automatically gave you the side view when you are trying to get on the thirteenth?

While trying to find the seventh colossus, I got lost and stumbled upon a ruin and spent the next half hour exploring it. I loved climbing over the dilapidated structure, seeing where I could get to and wondering about who had left it there. I was disappointed not to actually find anything and even more disappointed to find out it was the location of the fourteenth beast. The game is ripe for exploration; I spent countless hours just roaming the country side. Though I was rewarded by the beautiful landscape, there was really nothing else to find, no caves to wander into with some treasure waiting inside. Everything I found was just a place to fight. Then again, I really have no idea what kind of bonus would be fitting for intrepid tomb raiders in the context of the game. Concept art maybe?

I wish the temple of worship had been the last colossus. That would have been awesome.

I had a bit of trouble knowing when my stab had been started, a little rumble cue would be nice. Sorry PS3 early adopters.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the music in this game.

Wow, that was much lengthier than I had anticipated. Imagine how long this would have been if it was a full review. Do I seem overly harsh? It is a fantastic game that I would recommend to most anyone, but it falls just short of super greatness.

AGRO!,
Wander