Despite seeming to be everything that its successors would try to avoid, Ico still managed to build a meaningful connection between the player and their in-game companion. The game centers around the player protecting, guiding, and exploring the world with their companion Yorda, who is frequently attacked by enemies, cannot easily navigate terrain without the player forming a path, and whose primary mechanical purpose is to open specific doors for the character. All of this was compounded by the decision to hire staff for the team from outside the game's industry to ensure the staff could think without the preconceptions and mental limitations of seasoned developers. When the game released though, the world design had been cut down to only showcase the surreal and towering castle from which the player must escape. Team Ico planned to have a castle, surrounding environments, and settlements nearby that the player could explore. The game was originally intended to have enemies with unique strengths and weaknesses but were eventually refined down to a single enemy type.Įven Ico's beloved environmental design was originally meant to be far more intricate. In a now archived interview with 1UP.com, Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido described how the team completely removed plans for enemy variety. This design philosophy drove Team Ico to cut out any elements of gameplay that interfered or conflicted in any way with the game's story or setting. The opening scenes are particularly poignant.The gameplay's deliberate simplicity was described by the team as "subtracting design". When it comes to sound, Shadow of the Colossus features one of the most impressive orchestral scores we've heard. There are, however, some noticeable graphical glitches and camera issues, particularly during your battles with the various colossi. There are practically no load times in the game - you can traverse from one end of the massive world to another without seeing a load screen. The game is all washed out colours and crumbling architecture, and it looks impressive in its own peculiar way. It's an interesting moral ambiguity made even more interesting by the concrete lack of motivation for the main character.Īnyone who's played Ico will know what to expect from Shadow of the Colossus in terms of looks. For the most part, the colossi look like they belong in their environment, and then for admittedly selfish reasons, you come along and get all stabby. When the meter is fully drained, the character lets go and falls to the ground.Īnd while the sense of achievement after conquering a colossus is rewarding, one can't help but feel sorry for poor little (well, not that little) buggers. To make things more tense, your in-game character has a grip meter, which depletes the longer you're holding onto a ledge or a fur-covered appendage. Not that the colossi will be happy with you using their bodies as ladders - they'll trash, twist and turn in an effort to dislodge you. The game gives you little to no clues as to how to vanquish your foes, and even when it does give you a hint, doing what is required takes skill, timing and nerve. The challenge lies in discovering how to reach those weak points. Each colossus has at least one weak point - stab at that point with your sword enough times and the colossus will expire. Each is a marvel of design - while they all look vastly different, they share enough similarities in fur, bone and stone armour that you can easily tell they're of the same breed.Įach battle will have you scrambling for breath as you try to figure out how to take down these behemoths with the tools you've been given. The colossi themselves are a motley lot, with the smallest being the size of a car and the largest being several dozen storeys high. Traversing the game world is an eerie experience - it's large (some areas, even on horseback, will take between 5 and 10 minutes to reach) and mainly free of any signs of life. Reaching them may involve some light environmental scrambling, but for the most parts it's a challenge-free process. Finding them is fairly easy - when held up to the sun, your sword acts as a compass of sorts, sending out a beam of light which directs you to the next giant you must conquer.
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