Review for Shadow of the Colossus. Game for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 06/02/2018
In recent years the saying "sometimes they come back" seems more and more a custom, so much so that we could shorten it to "they return": the incarnations of the videogame titles of the past are becoming more and more common. 12 years after its original release, Shadow of the Colussus joins this cycle of rebirth. The title of the maestro Fumito Ueda, spiritual successor of ICO and predecessor of the recent The Last Guardian, returns this time on PlayStation 4, with a totally renewed graphic sector and the old charge of feels and emotions that has always distinguished it, ready to overwhelm us. along with its unique atmosphere.
Big means bad
The incipit of Shadow of the Colossus takes its cue from the classic hero who, driven by love, is ready to make any gesture to save someone's life. Our hero is Wander, a boy who is willing to do anything to bring back to life Mono, his age and most likely his lover. In the company of his faithful and inseparable Agro steed, Wander decides to go to the Forbidden Lands, a cursed land in which great power is said to reside. According to the legends, this source of strength would even be able to bring the dead back to life: precisely for this reason Wander throws himself into the enterprise.
Arriving at the Shrine of Worship, our hero comes into contact with the entity known as Dormin, who is none other than the being who holds the power that the boy needs to bring the breath of life back to Mono. However, everything has a price: Dormin requires the boy to destroy the sixteen idols present in the temple and the only way to do this is to kill the colossus associated with them. Armed with the Ancient Sword and his faithful bow, Wander must then take down the giant beings who roam the Forbidden Lands but the undertaking, as it is possible to suspect, will not be simple and devoid of twists and turns. Although it may seem linear and devoid of substantial events, the plot of Shadow of the Colossus will leave from time to time some clue, veiled, which will let us understand what awaits us once the Sixteen are defeated. The main events will be concentrated at the beginning and at the end of the story, but this does not mean that the title will be boring: the meat on the fire is a lot and so is the entertainment that the title can give.
The higher you climb, the louder your fall will make
To face the enormous creatures that separate us from the finish line, both Agro and the Ancient Sword will play a fundamental role. It will be through the latter that we will find and kill the Colossi. Once out of the Shrine of the Cult, Dormin himself will tell us to use the weapon when the sky is cloudless: the reflection of the sword, in fact, will turn into a beam of light that will indicate the position of the Colossus. It will not be a problem to go around the Forbidden Lands thanks to Agro, with which we will be able to move even for considerable distances without taking too much time: along the way we will also be able to find small temples in which to heal our wounds, praying.
However, controlling Argo will not be the easiest: our mount will not be agile and fast in responding to controls and we will often end up turning more than we actually want or not stopping when we want. In the same way, the management of the camera, when in the saddle of Agro we will look for the reflection of the Ancient Sword, is not without defects: the direction of the sword and the horse will be controlled by the same analog stick, a choice not so comfortable as it creates confusion precisely in the phase of search of the light beam: leaving the control of Agro to the left stick and of the camera to the right would have been the most comfortable and manageable solution, especially in battle.
Once we arrive at the refuge of the chosen Colossus, most of the time, we will also have to face a section of climbing or exploration before reaching the actual battle: these phases, before putting their hand to bow and sword, break the monotony of the ride and create the right expectation before clashes.
The Ancient Sword will not only show us where to go, but also where to strike: the giants have real weaknesses that will be highlighted only through the weapon's light beam. Once the vulnerable points of the Colossus on duty have been discovered, the climb will begin: each of the Sixteen must be beaten according to a very specific method. The Titans of Shadow of the Colossus will not go down with the classic clashes all action and noise, but the player will be required to climb them to reach the points highlighted by the light, keeping an eye on the stamina indicator and their movements to avoid ending up. land with a ruinous fall, or worse falling victim to their lethal attacks.
As the adventure continues, the Colossi will become even harder to deal with, as both the weak points to hit and their vital energy will increase. Taking down one will result in the immediate return to the Shrine of the Cult and the increase of the resistance bar, which will guarantee us a longer hold on the holds or on the fur of the next titan. During the climb, fortunately, the controls are not as clumsy as on the saddle of Agro: here too it happens to run into some strange folds of the models during the movements of the giants, but events of this type are rarer and still manageable.
This new incarnation, however, does not offer any substantial novelty within a gameplay that remains almost identical to that of 12 years ago. Not that a modernization was absolutely necessary, but in our humble opinion it wouldn't have hurt either. The controls have been tweaked but, as you might have guessed, they are still not perfect.
However, everything will take a back seat when we see the giants fall one by one under our blows: the satisfaction of having had the best of huge beasts with their intelligence, discovering from time to time the way to start the climb of victory, will be unique today as then.
It is not Rhodes
What captures and takes the player in Shadow of the Colossus is precisely the setting: if the Forbidden Lands were already a feast for the eyes during the PlayStation 2 era, today on PlayStation 4 they acquire a surprising realism. Completing the game without stopping from time to time to admire the almost touching spectacle that the setting offers would be a waste: the Forbidden Lands are poetic, with a unique style, and deserve to be explored far and wide. The between Wander and Agro is also touching: the owner and the horse, although they cannot understand each other in words, are united by an indissoluble but not invisible bond and which will surely end up moving you.
An applause must certainly also be made to the musical component: the soundtrack of the title fits perfectly with the atmosphere, changing track also depending on the actions we will undertake with Wander. Each colossus has a dedicated track and this will also change during the climb, moving and making our exploits even more epic.
The new role of Shadow of the Colossus enhances even more what were its positive aspects already in the past: the atmosphere in which the title will catapult us, its soundtrack and, of course, the graphic rendering. Getting lost in the Forbidden Lands will not be so rare or unusual: in the company of Agro we will almost feel obliged to admire the setting in all its beauty, as long as we deal with controls that are not exactly perfect. In the same way, even the battles will be able to give unique emotions and stimulating challenges, at the end of which we will feel almost proud for the accomplished feat. Shadow of the Colossus is a poem dropped into the video game, it's a title with a load of timeless emotions, ready to hit us again.
► Shadow of the Colossus is an Adventure type game developed by Bluepoint Games and published by Sony for the PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 06/02/2018
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