Shadow of the Colossus

This game comes from the creators of Ico, which explains the strange, beautiful, hauntingly empty art direction. And, like Ico, this game is far from main stream. In Shadow your quest is to rescue a girl... from death. You're charged with 16 impossible tasks, or one quest that's impossible x16 depending on how you look at it. Each task has you roaming the vast, empty land in search of a colossus.



Yep, the game amounts to a series of boss fights, each one unique and challenging. But you're probably thinking about bosses you've encountered in other games. Think about the largest boss you've ever taken on in another game the imagine something that could step on whatever you were thinking about and you've got some idea about what you're up against. There's a trick to beating each one and the game is all about figuring out what that trick is. There are no items to collect, towns to visit, or people to trade with to slow you down. Just you and your trusty horse obeying a large booming voice in a temple.

The game can be short if you're only out to complete the main quest, but despite a lack of anything traditional to do you'll be missing out on a lot. The game's world is so vast and painstakingly detailed that you'll want to visit all corners of it just to go and look. It's a virtual vacation, evoking emotions of peace and tranquility between fights. And why not go exploring? The girl is dead, she's not going anywhere.

There's a lot of praise to be said for this really unique and beautiful game, but there are some issues. The PS2 can't handle all the beauty the disc throws at it. Despite some clever rendering tricks the developers used the game will suffer some frame rate issues every once in a while, when the action gets really intense. The controls can get a little wonky, too, especially when trying to move from horseback to colossi back, as some stages will have you do. But these don't detract from one of the best games of 2005.

Grade = A-