User reviews

This is the most epic game I've ever played, with the possible exception of Half-Life 2. You are a young man who climbs atop the backs of giants and has to bring them down by use of your sword and/or bow & arrow. The first giant is beaten simply by climbing onto him and stabbing marked areas of his body, but other enemies are beaten by interacting with the environment around you, which by the way is one of the most jaw-dropping visual features of this game by far. You ride your horse through grassy fields, barren deserts, vast mountain ranges with waterfalls, you name it. The world is enormous and something you totally would not expect a PS2 to be able to handle (I'm guessing it's pulled off due to the fact that there is no interaction with other characters or enemies at all).

Understandable is the criticism it's received for being, in essence, nothing but a bunch of boss battles. There's no real interaction with anybody else in the game. But most would probably agree that what it lacks in terms of rich gameplay it more than makes up for with the freakin' pretty landscapes and jaw dropping cinematic display.

The 16 giants are something you might see in a Lord of the Rings movie. By land, by air or by sea, you find yourself doing pretty much everything. Grip onto the back of a Boeing-sized Pterodactyl of sorts. Cling to an enormous electric eel as it swims under the water. Ride your horse alongside an enormous galloping bull. Every gamer on the planet needs to at the very least RENT this game. See it before you die or you just might not make it into gaming-heaven. I'm pleading with you here, I don't want anybody at all to miss this.

Oh, and as a music person I must stress the superb soundtrack.

This is such a wonderful game! I found myself in total amazement as I wandered through this massive world. The music is perfect, grand epic themes, yet always somewhat sad and wistful too. Just right for the death of an age. You are on a quest to resurrect a strange and nameless girl who has been sacrificed. The resurrection can only happen in the Forbidden Land at the edge of the earth,and only if an ancient power is restored through a deadly ritual that calls for the blood of the sixteen titans that walk this forsaken place. Your only companion is a massive war-horse, Agro, and an ancient black sword that points the way to terror and glory. I fell in love with this game as soon as it started. There are very few games out there that can come close to this one is sheer grandeur, and I have found none that equal the sense of pure loneliness and isolation in a land of crumbling splendor. I would almost never tell someone to buy an entire console for the sake of one game, but this would be the exception. This one is worth it!

This game is one of the greatest games ever made because of how well it was done.

The game's plot puts you as a wanderer who takes a girl to the forbidden land to give her back her stolen soul. But to do this you must go and slay the Colossus. Who roam in the land. I'm not going to lie to you, this game is hard. For example it took over an hour to beat the last Colossus.

There aren't a lot of creatures in this game. It's you, you're horse Agro, a dead girl, and sixteen Colossus that roam. Another great but interesting thing about this game is how you never really communicate with Agro, but you somehow form a bond with him since he's really all that you have.

The graphics may not be the best and sometimes seem a little glitchy, but Artistically this game is unmatched. It really is fun to explore ruins to a lost civilization and wonder why it is that the world in the game is the way it is...

The music is truly the best soundtrack ever put into a game, it has all real instruments which is great for a video game. This soundtrack sounds that of a film! I praise it!

The overall of this game is incredible and that's why I will always support Shadow of the Colossus.

10/10

No longer are video games the time-killers numbing the minds of our world's adolescents. Shadow of the Colossus (the English-language release title; the translation of the Japanese would be roughly "Wander and the Colossi") has used beautiful imagery and innovative puzzles on the backs of giants to tell a story worthy of the religious mythologies of an ancient civilization. The technical game-play is stunning in its simplicity, and has truly moved video games to the status of an art form. Fumito Ueda's previous endeavor Ico (to which Shadow of the Colossus is a prequel) is also told in a way that does what was done with comic books in the 1980s; using an unappreciated, stigmatized medium to tell a story that, if told in a cinematic or literary form, would leave the viewing and reading populous speechless. To those of you who do play video games, you simply must play this game. To those of you who don't play video games or have teenage children who play them, buy them a copy and at least watch them play. Most of important to you all, open your minds or you'll most certainly miss out.

So the premise is that you play as a character that goes around and attempts to defeat these sixteen colossi in order to save a girl. And that's all he does? Nothing else? Sounds simple, and yet, there is much substance to be found in Shadow of the Colossus. I know this game is older now, but I just got around to playing it about a month ago. I can safely say that this is the best game that I have played all year and the only one that has made me sit down for up to five or six straight hours. Time absolutely flew out the window, that's how captivated and intrigued I was.

You play as Wander, and with your faithful companion and horse Agro, you traverse a vast and beautiful landscape, which is rich with almost every kind of landscape you can think of, and buildings that are marvels of architecture. There are times when all you do is ride for about ten to fifteen minutes, just trying to get to one place. Sounds boring, and believe me, I thought it would be, but it isn't one bit. You'll find yourself just looking around as the scenery changes and even stopping a few times to take a good look around at the marvelous land.

But like I said, the whole objective is seeking out and defeating these sixteen colossi, and that is where the true fun begins. Some are giants (and by giant, I mean like you can barely see their head if you're looking up), some take to the air and some to the sea. No matter the shape and size of the magnificent beast, each one of the battles is breathtaking, and I found myself fighting some of them for an excess of a half hour. It brings the term 'battle' to a whole new level that a video game rarely sees. And because of the story, you'll actually find yourself feeling bad for some of these colossi.

All in all, like I said, the game is incredible. To paraphrase something that another user said, 'if you're a video game fan, you absolutely have to play this game. and if you don't play games, you should still play this game.' It's just an experience that you may not find in a game for a long time.

I can't even begin to explain how amazing this game is, it is beyond words, beyond actions, to explain the precious contents hidden in the case of one of the best games ever made in the entire world.

In all of my years of life, I have not met one person, one living soul that has not liked this game after watching it or playing it themselves.

Yet it all began with me watching my 2 cousins playing it, until I despised it for the playing style and how short it was. It was probably because I was in the middle of my Final Fantasy 8 file and was used to long games. Until I went to their house about a year later and was bored, and decided to play the game to actually feel how it was to play.

I must say it had to be love, I would not put down the controller for anything, not even to watch Full Metal Alchemist at 10:00, I was too concentrated of at the greatness of the game, and the contents it held.

Until I demanded that I borrow the game, I printed out one of the online guides, and played the game all day. For 2 days straight I beat it, after getting about every single fruit and WT lizard that the world could hold, and watched the touching ending that like gasping for breath, and trying to hold back my tears.

But it didn't end there, I did everything there was to do, completed all the time attacks in easy and hard mode, and confirmed the 17th colossi rumor (and btw, it's not real.) It didn't end there either, my cousins were so happy with me that they wanted to borrow my file and show everyone how good I was at the game.

My favorite colossi has to be no.7, the electric eel. I love the water graphics in the game, and the way it moves and how you have to catch onto it's tail. I also love the idea of insignias and the way they look, and how you have to spend breath-taking hours trying to find them, and the colossi acting like a complete idiot trying to shake you off.

But the best thing about this game, is the will and freedom to explore this large and vast land, which takes about 5 hours to cover the entire area, and takes a long time to find all the fruit trees and all the save altars on the way. I would say about half of the area is used for the colossi, the other half is for exploring with your only friend and companion, Agro, the black horse. Be glad that he is with you, for if you would have to travel this land on foot, it would take you about a hour to walk from the top of the map to the bottom, not even thinking about left and right.

This game definitely deserves more praise than people have given it, for it is the best game in the world and got voted 4th on ign.com, (damn that God of War..... DAMN YOU!), but everyone knows, and I know it should of gotten first. So if you find this game sitting alone in EB Games or a movies store, give it a try. You might not like it at first but you will get hooked, like me.

This was a good game, nice graphics and an interesting tale. Maybe it could have used a bit more here or there to spruce it up...maybe a few more characters or something as the game could use some more back story and character development. The game has a young man bringing his deceased loved one to a forbidden valley temple where he is confronted by a voice that tells him of a way to perhaps revive his beloved. He must go out and slay huge beasts which in turn destroys statues that seal this beings powers. So there you have it, you along with your trusty horse must seek out and slay the colossi inhabiting this mysterious valley land. Using the sun to guide you, you track them down using clues given you by the mysterious voice and once you find them you must find a way to climb them so you can find the weak point and bring them down. The fighting is great as it took a bit to figure out what to do here and there, however for the most part I was able to find a way to kill the Colossus without any aid. There were a couple, though, I had to search for the way to kill them on the web. Like I said add some more elements in the valley and this would be really great, because for the most part when searching for the colossi you are simply riding your horse here and there. Still good, but sad.

There are only a few things to say about this game. It is one of the most interesting, well done, fun and challenging games ever made ...hands down. A solid 10.

Play it!

From the moment the game begins you can tell Shadow of the Colossus isn't going to be like most games you've played. A sweeping orchestra playing a beautiful theme as a lonely figure of a young man carrying something on a horse through a stormy mountainside serves as the prologue. When he finally reaches his destination, a large stone gate, you get to see the area where the game takes place. A large open space; filled with deserts, forests, hillsides and many other strange and wonderful landscapes and ruins. In the middle lies a large temple, stretching higher than the tallest building you can think of. And that's just the opening cutscene.

The story of Shadow of the Colossus is shrouded in mystery. A young man named Wander has come to this area that has been described as a holy place by his elders and thus forbidden. The reason he enters this sacred land is because he has heard rumors that a God lives there that can revive the dead. The person in question is a young woman around Wander's age named Mono. Upon entering the temple he meets the God Dormin who has been sealed in the temple as a shapeless spirit. He tells Wander that while he cannot bring the girl back there is a way it could be done. But it requires slaying 16 giants called Colossi, and at a terrible price to Wander himself.

The rest of the story is simple from there. You merely seek out each of the Colossi one by one and eliminate them. However, this seemingly simple task gets progressively harder as the game goes on and Wander himself goes through a noticeable physical change for the worse as each fight concludes.

The gameplay is fairly simple. Shadow of the Colossus is equal parts an exploration and puzzle game. The exploration comes between battles with the Colossi, where you are free to explore the vast open world before you track down a Colossus. You can do this by riding on your horse named Agro. Agro is the fastest way to get around the map and is critical in some of the battles with the Colossi. When you encounter the Colossus itself it merely comes down to finding out how to climb it and find its weakspot. You are armed with a bow and arrow (which cannot kill the Colossi and is mainly used as a tool to gain there attention and gather fruit from the trees in the land) and an ancient sword which is the only thing that can kill the Colossi.

Each of the Colossi themselves are all different from each other in terms of how to defeat them. They can range from aggressive to peaceful and they all take quick thinking and action to defeat them. They are also the only enemies you encounter in the game, leaving the rest of the world largely uninhabited save for lizards scattered around the area. This makes the traveling to the Colossi all the more intimidating and foreboding for the battle to come.

The soundtrack in the game is one of the best soundtracks ever composed. It perfectly accompanies every part and emotion of the game. For peaceful moments, gentle harps or flutes are played and gives you a sense of wonder for the world created around you. For the battles of the Colossi you have large sounding drums and fast paced instruments that give you a sense of intensity as you fight the Colossi. However for each end of the battle, what you would normally expect as triumphant music is replaced by soft violins and a choir. Bringing up the question if killing these creatures is really the right thing to do. The music used for the final Colossus stands as the most memorable final boss music I've ever heard and I won't dare spoil it here. Neither will I spoil the appearance of the final Colossi itself, which is arguably the most frightening of them all.

Shortly put, this game is amazing. Every little detail in this game is just gorgeous. The graphics are spectacular from the characters to the setting to even the little creatures that inhabit the world. This game is just too good for words. It's really a game that must be experienced rather than told about. If you haven't played this game or have just found out about its existence I strongly recommend you purchasing it (it's available along with its predecessor Ico on the PS3 as a collection). It not only stands as one of the best games ever made but also one of the greatest stories ever told. This game is a magnificent piece of art that should never be forgotten.

When I first saw Shadow of the Collosus, my brother had borrowed it from a friend. My brother was battling one of the Collosi and I could not find it in me to tear my eyes away from the screen. It was absolutely HUGE! Inevetibly, my brother bought the game but I was left out as I did not own a PS2 at the time. I have, however, finally been able to play this truly unique game.

When I began play, I immediately noticed one thing. No loading screens as you roam throughout the expanse of this huge world! I had NEVER seen this before. Even the Final Fantasy games, which I consider to be some of the best games ever made, have dozens upon dozens of loading screens, and the area they cover is minuscule in comparison! Next, I noticed how every single part of this game looked like a painting in the making. There was even a time when I HAD to stop while entering a canyon with stormy clouds above. It was simply beautiful.

Also, most of the colossi in this game are simply amazing. My first thought was, "How in the world am I going to be able to beat that!? It's huge!" Finally, my complaints, which are few compared to many other games. (1) Some of this game is fairly choppy. Just watch your character as he runs. It is most likely a side effect of having no loading screens but it still bothered me. (2) Once you are able to get on a Colossi, it is you vs. your grip, rather than the Colossi itself. You would think that they would make a grab at you or something! (3) The camera in this game could drive you absolutely mad! I know that if you hold the right stick in the same position the camera will remain fixed, but try doing that while also holding on to the triangle button, it's nearly impossible! When all is said and done, though, this is definitely a fun game and worth playing through twice, if not several more times afterward. I would not be opposed to a second game as well, especially if the three flaws I stated are fixed.

The plot may seem a little slow to start, but it definitely picks up and is worth the time. I bought this on a whim, seeking a Zelda-esquire game, but it was hardly comparable to the Zelda franchise. SotC is extremely unique in that all you do is search for 16 colossi to fight them. I initially was bored with this game, but after the third colossus I started to really get into it. The graphics are beautiful (the entire landscape and each colossus looks amazing) and the soundtrack is truly epic. I have never heard such excellently orchestrated music for a video game before. Ever.

This game also evokes a ton of emotions from the player, and you would have to play to see what I mean. I also loved the bond with your horse, Agro. This game is such a masterpiece. My favorite game this year.

This video game is a masterpiece of minimalism, honing in on fine details to achieve a consistent artistic style. The fantasy setting is bare and barren, bringing to mind the ruins of ancient civilisations. The storyline leaves a lot to the imagination with many hints of a magical time gone by. The design of the colossi are gorgeous and complex, and they feel like real beings with a composition that sparks speculation - the mixture of fur, stone and architecture has an otherworldly feel to it. The design of the architecture also feels like a long lost civilisation has been abandoned in a cursed land. The soundtrack is rousing and deep. The gameplay is intense and fills the player with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. This whole setting has a deep, immersive mythological feel to it. My only gripes are Agro's controls and the lack of replay value.

When team ico, created ICO. They went for very minimalist gameplay and just holding a girl's hands and going through big castle.

And they did the same thing here but instead of holding girl's hand, you're defeating giant things with what in their size is a tooth stick.

It has a beautiful and unique look on the PS2 it is Bloom to Hell and back. But it has a nice shading to it and almost look like black ink at some of the character models and landscapes.

It's just such a good idea 16 Colossus and you have to defeat them. They feel more like puzzles, You have to find out how to get to the weak spot and then the fight For Your Life Begin you have to hold fast and poke them to death.

Variety is the spice of Life, which is why each Colossus has its own unique pattern movement and size. It is so fun and unique when you played for the first time because you don't know what you're gonna get.

The atmosphere is so lonely in this land, with you, horse, girl and the Colossus. The story is open enough so you can find your own conclusion to what the relationship between the girl and the main character is. But it is an interesting journey that you can think about.

And the music is implemented so well. There are no music in the overworld, then slow build up when you get to the colossa, and then the most heroic music you can imagine, a fight to the death and you're feel it, and then the Melancholy of Victory.

And if you can get the PS3 version then it will run better. Because on the PS2 it will constantly die and be barely playable.

One of the PS2 swansong, what a memorable song that would be remembered to the last days of gaming.

This game was released to such astonishing praise, and rightfully so, that I don't think there has been and game more universally loved since.

7 years on I picked the game up again to see how it aged and let me tell you, It is still as original, intense and beautiful as it was in 2005. I am happy at calling this game a classic without any shadow of a doubt, It's an absolute masterpiece and nothing else has ever captured the exhilaration of this game. The only way in which I could describe this experience is by saying it's like if Philip glass, Kurosawa and Godzilla decided to make a game in the middle of the Battle of Pelennor fields scene form LOTR.

You can already see that this game is amazing by everyone else's reviews but let me just discuss some of the few negative points about the game as there seems to be a complete lack of negative feedback.

1. The camera can sometimes be a little frantic and hard to control on those later colossi fights (especially the last) meaning you may have to resort to huge leaps of faith when trying to point the camera in the direction you're jumping. Just to reiterate, this is only a problem with a couple of the colossi and is not really a game breaking problem.

2.The recovery speed when knocked down. Sometimes a colossi will hit you especially hard and send you flying about 10 feet and leave you sprawled on the ground, the time it takes you to stand up again is around 5 seconds which might not seem much but completely breaks the fast paced flow of the action and is especially irritating when it happens multiple time in a row. Though this is only really an issue for the 11th colossi (the worst boss in the game).

3.The last boss Malus. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic last battle but there are a couple of controller smashing niggles about him. Firstly, throughout the game every single colossi has subtle points on it's body which, when attacked, open a new path to get to the main weakness (from what I recall). The same goes for Malus but when you're almost at the top of him the game suddenly stops giving these subtle hints, leaving you for a lost at what to do. This isn't necessarily a problem but the fact that this hasn't happened before this point means you are just not ready for this like being thrown in an Olympic swimming pool after only practising in a paddling pool. This leaves you taking drastic jumps in order to find your way further up the colossus, which normally results in you plummeting to the ground meaning you have to start your 5 minute climb all over again.

I spent along time coming up with those negative points ad they are honestly all I can think of. This is still probably the best game on Ps2 and one of the best games ever made. These flaws a re almost irrelevant when studying the game as a whole because of how awe-inspiringly beautiful and fantastically enjoyable of an experience it is. I would give this game a 9.5 because of these little gripes but everything positive I haven't mentioned have all been said before. This game is an essential purchase.

Alright, I just found this game rather bad, and I'm only posting this because I was surprised not to find any other bad comment. And I can't be the only one who doesn't like this game.

First of all, graphics and music are fine, but unless they're awful, I hardly care about these when I'm playing a game. The scenarios and music get old after 5 minutes, and you have to stay there for like 10 hours.

Some people say no enemies beside Colossus makes this unique, I say it makes it boring and it's just the result of a lazy/cheap design. Even the Colossus are basically all the same, and really easy to defeat. I can't think of a way to make this killing Colossus more diverse, but I just believe it's a bad idea to make a game just about that. Oh wait... is not about that, is about looking for them, yes! For every enemy, you will spend about half hour looking for it, and 3-5 minutes to defeat it. Every part of this quest is plain boring and repetitive.

I'm the kind of guy who gets really fanatic with any game and goes around it multiple times, I can't get enough of video games, I never get bored. I must say I couldn't finish this game once. It is the only one game I own, I'm not playing and I haven't finished. And it's 1/10th time consuming of the average game I play... is that boring.

And also, the horse is really stupid.

When I saw this game being played in the movie "Reign Over Me" I just had to see for myself what kind of a game this was. Of course I had heard about it before but for some reason it didn't impress me that much to buy and play the game. Now having it played and still playing it from time to time I must say that "Shadow of the Colossus" is a must own game. All this game does is breath ambiance. When you step into this world you really feel isolated and confused since the plot is not explained at all. While I hate abstract concepts in movies and games in this particular case it does work. Accompanied by your trusty horse it is you against the biggest creatures you can imagine. The horse is even essential in some missions. In short he is your best friend and you care for him. Fighting the monsters at first can be intimidating since hardly any explanations are given apart for some hints while you try to figure out your strategy. But soon after you get the idea it isn't that hard. Controlling you character and the horse does take some time getting used to but after defeating your first boss you will get the hang of it. After you have slain your first monster you will feel glad and sad at the same time. Defeating this huge monster will give you a big sense of accomplishment. But you will also feel that there is something tragic about his death. I have slain monsters in several other games but not once did I feel sad about killing these creatures. "Shadow of the Colossus" is actually one tragic event to another tragic event in order to achieve a beautiful goal which gets clear in the intro of the game.And that is real rare to see in a game. Does this game have a satisfying ending? To me it did,but it depends on your interpretation of the end sequence. Since it is not spelled out. To me this game is a work of art!