Shadow of the Colossus (2018)

4.5/5

This is the PS4 remake from Bluepoint Games of the classic PS2 title. The original is one of my all time favorite games so I was hesitant to try this out for quite a few years. Thankfully Bluepoint took extreme care to honor the original and faithfully remake it. Playing this 7 years after launch it still looks incredible, with all the graphics and animations looking like what I imagined they looked like in my head way back when playing the original. This isn't just an HD update like the ps3 collection was when it included ICO. This is a build code and assets from the ground up remake. I'm happy this exists as it makes the game easier to play on modern hardware and introduces this masterpiece to a lot more people who may have missed it on original release.

Bluepoint included an updated control scheme to try to modernize the game a bit, but unfortunately I had played the original too many times that I could not get used to the new control scheme. Thankfully, you can use the original controls as well. Even with the modern controls, the physics will surely frustrate gamers new to this. Even the very first Colossi, you have to get to it's arena by climbing vines from the ground. I knew exactly where to go to get up, but the game still seems to decide when it wants to let you climb up that spot. The graphics and physics though can also lead to funny moments when you get absolutely launched comically through the air, or for speedrunners to find the exact ways to cheat the system and use these controls and physics to their advantage.

The soundtrack has been modified from the original release, but mostly with small changes. A few songs sound a bit more grandiose with extra layers seemingly added, but there are a few tracks that have been altered and I think sound worse because of it. The original soundtrack still holds up incredibly well today, so I think I would have preferred maybe just a slight remix with different levels to have it sound better on modern speakers. It still sounds great though even in this iteration.

This review is mostly comparing the remake to the original, but looking at this as a review of the game itself you absolutely cannot go wrong with picking this game up. It's still an absolute masterpiece of a game and one of the best examples of games as an art. The story is vague and ambiguous, with a world that yearns to be explored!

Played on a ps5 via ps plus

This game is regarded as a masterpiece, a metacritic mustplay with a 91 score and the 4th best game on ps4 for 2018 (metacritic)

I really can't see it...

Story : 3/10 It fits on a post it note and the characters are bland and lack any depth.

We don't play it for the story

World : 5/10 Big and beautiful but ultimately empty.

The game is so empty that when i saw a fish in a pond, i was more impressed than seeing a colossus.

Gameplay 6/10 The entire game is based around solving a puzzle 16 times.

The puzzle consists of finding a colossus by following a ray of light, fighting the colosssus by finding a way to climb it then stick it with your sword while trying to not fall down X 16t times.

Yes, fighting the colossi is fun and interesting the first few times especially the flying types but not 16 times and your abilities don't evolve at all, you just get more health and stamina and that's all. The things you can do at the start are the same you can do at the end.

Besides the awe of climbing a colossus, there's absolutely nothing to write home about

Conclusion : This game is supposed to make you interact on an emotional level with the main hero and it failed to make me interact with it. The story is basically inexistent, the characters say a few words the entire game so there's no development of the characters. The world is a beautiful but empty place and the colossi are beautiful and interesting to fight but after a while it becomes a chore.

PS. This is an old remastered game so i didn't bother to talk about controls, they are clunky and you need some time to get used to them, controlling your horse is really difficult if you're not in a wide open place.

I would have been dissapointed if i had bought this game as it seems more to me as a techno demo than a complete video game.

Conclusion : Play it if you have nothing better to do and if you get it on a discount, if you don't - you won't miss out on anything.