Shadow of the Colossus (2005)

Although it has its technical flaws and camera issues, this is one of those games that impressed me both artistically and with its gameplay. It's not colorful but it has an appealing color palette that's really appropriate for its world. It instills a sense of mystery and isolation. It somehow manages to be compelling while defying conventional video game design rules.

There are only giant boss fights with no little enemies to stand in your way before them. The only challenge before the bosses is simply finding them in the large open area. The bosses themselves are like puzzles. I still remember being really frustrated by the serpent like boss in the sand only to realize that the camera changes your view when you pull out your bow and arrow while riding on the horse. Before that random discovery I had no idea how to beat it.

The futility in the ending is also very interesting and open-ended. This is an intriguing game in many aspects and is a great example of minimalism in game design.

It's a masterpiece. Storytelling is perfect--maybe the best character development I've ever seen with essentially no dialogue at all. The PS4 remake looks absolutely amazing.

Can't say it's perfect given the often frustrating controls. Controls needed to be much tighter given the time-sensitive platforming at every turn. I ended up getting stuck at certain moments and having to continuously come back and try again, not because I couldn't solve the puzzle but because the buttons and joystick went into business for themselves. Maybe that's by design, which I would respect, but it still makes the experience less enjoyable.

Other than that, absolutely perfect. So glad I finally played it.

I hate the controls. The updated graphics look nice but the character still flails around weirdly.

Also, I'm an incredibly impatient person. Waiting the the colossi to move their slow bodies into the right position for me to kill them is honestly torture. I think I got to colossus #10. I'm not sure if I'll finish this one...though I am curious about how this whole resurrection scheme is going to backfire on the guy.

So, I’ve got some strong feelings about Colossus 16. I won’t go into too much detail yet, as Wander is currently dangling from an arm after I paused the game to put the kids to bed.

I’ll spoil individual mechanics once I’ve completed the game, but the issue making me angry now could boil down to bad lighting. I’ve missed a few key jumps because the lighting of the Colossus is so poor. I can’t think of another time the weather effects caused me to fail like this (even on Colossus 10 in the sandstorm). The cost of failure isn’t brutal, but it’s frustrating to fail and lose ground multiple times because some dark foreground fur is not distinguished from some fur a little ways back.

Maybe I’ll feel differently once I’ve completed it, but now I’m upset the final battle didn’t feel as solid as the others (save for Colossus 11, which has the torch pickup mechanic I still hate).

I’m 2/3 through now and have only run into one annoying (but manageable) mechanic and one mechanic that was implement an extremely unfriendly way. Even when reproducing it, knowing how to do it, I shook my fist at the developer.

Besides those, this game is everything I thought it would be. A friend recommended it years ago on the PS2 and I’ve waited until now to give it a go. It’s beautiful, thrilling, a little tricky, and mildly depressing, which is just how I like them.