I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o’er vales and
hil- HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!
That’s the sound of
somebody playing Shadow of the Colossus who hasn’t played
Shadow of the Colossus before coming across their first
colossus – and its shadow. When this thing hit on the PS2 some 13
years ago now, it blew peoples’ minds to see such massive creatures
to interact with. In all honesty it’s still pretty bloody cool now.
This new remake – it isn’t a mere remaster - of Team Ico’s
genuine all-time classic sees you back as the boy Wander,
accompanied by your trusty bathmatty puppet with a smart mouth,
Agro. What? Oh yeah, duh, it’s a fat-arsed horse that shares its
name with the puppet that nobody under the age of about 30 knows.
Basically, you have a dead chick, who you’re led to believe can
be revived by taking the lives of 16 colossi. They’re giant
homebodies basically, who only crack it when some little twerp with
a sword ‘n’ bow combo comes plundering in all blades and arrows
blazing, trying to cause death while clambering all over them. Can
you blame them?
Each colossus is basically a puzzle – how do
you climb aboard it, and where are the sensitive bits that you go
all stabby-stabby on to relieve them of their lives? Take down one
and you’ve another to find – well, unless you just took down number
16, natch.
The main issues with the original were the bastard
controls and bastarder camera. Options here improve the former,
while the latter still sent us spare at times. Meanwhile, getting
Agro to go exactly where you want is somewhat akin to the
relationship Yosemite Sam had with his crazy idgit bedraggled
dragon.
Always a visual treat, the
upping of polygons here makes for one truly stunning-looking game.
Despite the niggles mentioned above, Shadow of the Colossus remains
an all-time great. It needs more daffodils though...
