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First up, I am a great fan of SONY games, I mean they have produced games like GOD OF WAR and others of which I am a die hard fan, that’s why when I saw SHADOW OF COLOSSUS on the stands, I hoped for a different gaming experience that SONY throws at you from time to time. The game interestingly offers a completely different take on game play, but alas it doesn’t ring a bell with me. The game offers great scenes, huge sprawling landscapes, and an Oriental love story, yet it misses the most important part of a good game, and that’s holding a player’s interest.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnPRiX0fe8A&w=420&h=315]

The story of a game is essentially a love story; the hero of the game brings his dead lover to a temple in a forbidden place, and pleads to its god to bring her back to life. The god DORMIN who talks in two voices at the same time (a male and a female) tells the hero to kill 16 Colossi roaming the forbidden land, and thus destroying the 16 statues in that temple. The hero accepts, and sets out on the mission hunting down the colossi one by one, his only aides his horse Argo (which is a big help mind you), a bow with infinite arrows, and a sword referred to as the sword of light which seemingly is the only thing that can kill the colossi. Add to this the fact that the sword has been stolen by the hero from a temple, whose protectors are out to get him, and you have the basic idea of the game as it starts.

So what’s the drawback in such an intriguing story line, it’s the fact that it doesn’t move forward until you are almost done with the game. In fact the only relevant cut scenes in the whole game are that in the beginning and in the end, during the game the story revealed is next to nothing. The only cut scenes that you do see are the ones when a Colossus steps forward, when he is falling or when DORMIN tells you about your next foe (which becomes increasingly frustrating as time goes on). There is nothing else, and I mean nothing.

StoryLine- 3/10

The flow of the story is not the only thing that I found lacking in the game. The game asks you to locate each of the 16 Colossi one by one in the vast landscape, which you traverse with the help of your horse, after locating the Colossus you have to find a way to get to his vital points which are located on various parts of his body, and then stab it with your sword. If you’re unable to find a way to down the Colossus DORMIN will give you hints as to how to beat him, but even that is not definitive and you really have to put your mind to work while bringing them down.

Its amazingly interesting to bring down a Colossus and you really enjoy yourself while thinking of a way to climb, and kill those huge monsters, but this only lasts a while and after that its back to riding on your horse and locating the next one, which consumes most of the time of your game play, the sword is suppose to point out your way but its far from perfect and the searching is never straightforward. Additionally there are no henchmen in this game, none what so ever, you don’t have to fight a single guy while looking for the Colossus. Many of you may ask what the problem with that is, and let me ask you what fun it is to ride a horse through an amazingly huge terrain trying to find the right spot with only geography as your enemy (which is a pain in itself), I mean look at GOD OF WAR, look at DEVIL MAY CRY, look at HALO, the gamer loves to fight off hundreds of henchmen before he takes on the BIG BOSS himself. This feature is totally missing in this game, introducing different game play is okay but for me it made the game boring.

Gameplay- 5/10

Coming to the technical aspect of the game, the graphics are worth a mention, and voice over done wherever are well orchestrated , the map is beautifully made and is free to roam, whether by foot, on the horse or by swimming. It is also well made with a gentle combination of valleys, mountains, grasslands, lakes, deserts, caves and ruined cities. These are the aspects that you expect SONY to be good at, and they do not disappoint at all. All the movements, the A.I. of the Colossus, the collision detection of the horse and other physical movements experienced in the game, are totally acceptable and you cannot have a complain with them, as is the case with most SONY games.

Graphics+Sounds- 7/10

The Colossi also are very diverse, ranging from aquatic to Ariel and of course terrestrial. They also have different weakness which is a pleasure to find and exploit. No two Colossi are same and the same strategy never holds, so you really have to wreck your brains while beating them, especially after number 7. In fact I found this to be the only saving grace in the whole game, usually it’s the BOSS battle that frustrates you no end, and in this case however it’s the BOSS or the COLOSSI battle that you look forward to.

You can also play against the Colossi again in a time attack mode, once you have beaten the game, winning new kinds of weapons and other bonuses, but the game tired me out so much that I didn’t find myself up for it.

All in all, the game can essentially be viewed as puzzle solving game with the basic concept of SEARCH AND DESTROY; only in this case the searching part is amazingly boring. The story line of the game is also not impressive and by the end you really are felt wanting (the ending is a big let down too, but true to Oriental love stories). The game shines in moments, specifically 16 moments but otherwise there is nothing much to write home about. Play it if you like huge maps and no henchmen.

Mojo- 4/10

Shadow Of The Colossus Box Art
Source: www.wikipedia.com

Kabelled Score- 4/10

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