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In our ongoing search to find the best games ever created, the titles that help to define this hobby of ours, we separate the merely great from the sublime with our "Masterpiece" designation. With the high-definition update of Shadow of the Colossus
now a reality, it's time to look at what made this game so special.
Shadow of the Colossus is brought up so often in arguments about whether or not games are art that it's hard for people who haven't played it to hear the name without rolling their eyes. It doesn't help that the game's framerate is hard to tolerate, as it was annoying even for the time it was released. The vision of Team Ico exceeded what the PlayStation 2 could reasonably deliver; the love given to the game is due to the haunting world of the game's battles, and the story that made your actions seem more villainous than heroic.
Some people dismiss
Shadow as being a series of boss battles, which is true to an extent, but that's like calling
Lost in Translation a romantic comedy.
All that you love will be carried away
You are a man named Wander riding a horse named Agro—who seems to have a will and mind of its own—and you're trying to resurrect the body of a woman who was killed. The land you travel also seems to be mostly dead, nothing more than fear in a handful of dust, and you'll ride across large expanses of the desolation. By using your sword and the sun, you'll be able to guide yourself to the colossi, the 16 huge, lumbering creatures that seem to be more landscape than sentient beings.
Each of the colossi presents a challenge to destroy, and they're all intricately designed. Pay attention to the little details of the game; there is very little here that doesn't mean something, or that doesn't tie into the larger world in some way. You won't be hit over the head with any detail or revelation; the game's power slowly wraps itself around the player. Even the trickiest battle, destroying the colossus, is not a joyous event. A black substance leaves its body and seems to attack you, and you are given the feeling that you are hastening the destruction of the lands you walk.
There is plant life and even a few animals you'll find in your travels, but everything feels still and at peace. It's hard not to feel like an invader, as if you're kicking over headstones in a cemetery. You are doing all this out of love, and your actions look and seem heroic, but there is a certain saying about the cobblestones on the road to hell.
Everywhere you look is beauty and everything you kill is a desecration. As the game continues, your character begins to show the wear of his actions, and there are constant hints that there is not much of a happy ending to be found here.
One of my favorite novels is a science fiction book called
Heroes Die. In it, someone asks the main character what he would do for his wife. "I would burn the world to save her," he answers. That's a trite answer in a work of fiction, but it quickly turns terrifying when the man in question is standing in an ocean of gasoline while holding a match.
Shadow of the Colossus doesn't just force you to watch a character burning the world, you have to take part in the act. Watching a colossus topple to the ground is a slow, agonizing thing, and it's falling to its death because of what you did.
There is something larger happening here
The ending scenes move the story along, and the story ties into Team Ico's previous game,
Ico, although there is no clear explanation if it's a sequel, a prequel, or it just exists in the same world. It can be argued a few different ways; this is a game that doesn't hold your hand while you look for answers. You give up more than you think in your journey to save the one you love, but your heart will be broken before the last colossus falls.
If you've never played the game before, it may be a good idea to wait for the rerelease with updated graphics; it would be a shame if you quit because of the inconsistent framerate. This is one of the few games that always draws a crowd whenever it's played in my house, it simply draws the eye and keeps your attention even when it appears very little is happening on screen. It is perhaps the ultimate example of "show, don't tell," in the gaming world.
It's hard for any game to live under the sort of hype that
Shadow has been saddled with, and there are many other games that could be used in the debate about games as art just as well, but if you can forget about the pretension and enjoy the game for what it is, you'll find a deep, meaningful journey. This is a game that still stirs passionate debate whenever it comes up in conversation, and that's a rarity in gaming. Giving the game a second chance on the PlayStation 3, especially before Team Ico's
Last Guardian is released, is a wonderful way to extend the reach of both games.
