Going to start this one off with a good ol' review of a recent release. A fairly obscure and widely unknown masterpiece on the Playstation 2 was Shadow of the Colossus. Many individuals I would mention the game to would simply shrug and state it isn't the latest COWADOOTY and that it's probably crap. Without giving the game a chance, you can never give it the proper honor it deserves. With age the game has sort of faded in the sands of modern times. Until the announcement and release of the HD remake bundled with the game ICO, that I will go over on another day. A visually stunning game on the Ps2, remastered with the new power found in the Ps3 made the daunting game even more vivid. I'll go over design, game play, synopsis, and overall review/rating. 
Synopsis-
The opening story is somewhat obscure in terms of location, time period, and some other small things. You have a cloud of wonder throughout the game, but one solid goal you are fully aware of. In the first opening minutes of gameplay you take an unconcious maiden who has been cursed to an alter in the middle of nowhere. After revealing his ancient sword a booming voice tells the man that he has the ability to unlock the power to possibly to save the maiden. He must simply destroy the 16 statues found in the temple. Ah, but the catch is one cannot simply walk into mord---, one cannot simply break the statues by mortal means; only by slaying the guardian of the land it represents. The voice tells the man that the cost of saving this woman may be of great value. "Anything to save her," like a true hero, well spoken in his demeanor. The voice tells him to go east and after traversing the terrain and getting used to the controls, you reach an open field, and slowly walking by is what obviously the game revolves around: a colossus. You whip out your bow and get his attention as he slowly turns around, a health bar appears that you barely even scratch, and he walks towards you while raising his club - and this is where you know this is going to be an epic adventure.
Design-
The HD remake went very well. No longer are there any horrid blocked movements that were a norm on the PS2 - instead everything is smooth and crisp in this expansive world. The bloom textures in the game are enhanced immensely in the HD version as well, meaning the entire world just has an enhanced surrealism due to the update. The overall world is HUGE, but all the while able to captivate just how big the colossi are. The temple is one of the only main architecture found and it is very detailed in the grooves/designs. The landscape is realistic in design which makes horseback riding the country side en route to your next target peaceful. Nothing really much more to add to it; the game is onpar visually to any other recent release sporting a 1080p output, there are no moments where you frown at a visual flaw. The landscape is simply awesome, and each colossi makes you drop your jaw when you see them! The music soundtrack is beautifully composed, which pushes the excitement and overall experience to a whole new level. Clinging on to a patch of fur while the colossus thrashes to an orchestra playing is truly something that is one of a kind in gaming.
Gameplay-
Calling the game an adventure/platform/puzzle is as close as I can get. You jump, you grab, you figure out how to slay each colossi and you race all across the land to do it. Each colossi has a weakspot somewhere on its body, while also being somewhat hairy and slow. I mention hairy because like the evolved monkey humans are we are made to climb. You tactically try to find part of the colossi that you can strap your iron grip onto and start to climb up. Most also wear some armor seen above that you can also work your way up. So you start on the ground, work your way up... what's next? Start stabbing the shit out of it. Generally this triggers it to fall over or stop trying to fling you off. Falling off a 100 foot monster is never a good thing, so it's very wise to avoid this. After making your way onto a point on the beast where you can walk around - this is typically when you can try to find its weak spot which is a sort of glyph. Stabbing the glyph does a TREMENDOUS amount of damage in comparison to any other means. Once the mighty beast finally falls, you pass out, wake up at the temple, and head to the next beast.
Summary-
8.5/10 -9/10
Overall the games story is pretty solid, nothing mind blowing, nothing too lacking; but enough to keep you engaged. The mechanics of the game are fairly good, very platformed based with minimal frustration on wanting your character to do A and he does B. The look of the game, and stumbling onto the colossi and the epic feeling of having to triumph over such mighty creatures makes the game very memorable, a solid 15 hour adventure that makes you want more. Sadly there is no sequel and probably never will be any other game of this type, making it that much more memorable. The game comes bundled with ICO which I will review later on! So 2 games for around 30-40$ on Amazon . Final verdict would be if you own a PS3, you should put this on your get list for Christmas; you are guaranteed no disappointment aside from having to finish the game!
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or just message me!
Hope you all enjoy!
Bert
