![]() It’s just you, your horse, the journey, and the colossi. There are zero other enemies to fight in its nearly desolate wasteland, no one to talk to, not much in the way of architecture, and very few other goals to accomplish. Ueda’s ethos is “design by subtraction,” and this is the ultimate expression of it so far: This game is about tracking down and killing 16 monsters, and that’s just about it. It’s a great introduction to the works of Ueda for those who might have missed them (or started with 2016’s The Last Guardian), but also a fond reminiscence for those who played it in 2005. It’s not a reimagining of the original, it’s a faithful recreation of it, only with modern-day graphics and sound and a variety of quality-of-life improvements. But as the years go by, it’s more and more difficult to get people to fire up a PlayStation 2, or even a PlayStation 3 for the 2011 HD remaster.įortunately, there’s now another option, and it’s also something that even those who’ve nearly worn holes in their PS2 discs should experience: Shadow of the Colossus for PlayStation 4, a bottom-up remake of the game done with exceptional care and respect for the original. Shadow of the Colossus is a game you want everyone to experience. The framerate and control scheme were still imperfect, but the final product - when enjoyed in the comfort of one’s own home and at one’s own pace - was such an astonishing, emotional, unexpected, thrilling journey that it overcame its technical handicaps. It’s strange in retrospect to have had those feelings about a game that is now considered to be a masterpiece. It didn’t seem like the game was coming together well. I had a frustrating time with it, and as the show went on I heard that feeling echoed by other players as well. The framerate of the E3 version was choppy and rough, and the weird control scheme had a learning curve that was not suited to a 10-minute trial version on a cacophonous trade show floor. The pitch was undeniably cool: Seek out massive beasts that roamed a desolate land, climb their dizzyingly tall bodies by clinging to their furry hides, and kill them.īut Shadow of the Colossus did not demo well. I was a big fan of its predecessor, Ico, and when the doors opened at E3 2005 I beelined for the Sony booth to get a first taste of this intriguing and unexpected follow-up to the original brilliant, understated, emotional puzzle-adventure from Sony’s Japan studio, led by designer Fumito Ueda. It’s strange to think about it now, 12 years later, but there was a time when I wondered if Shadow of the Colossus was going to be any good.
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