Shadow of the Colossus: Mysterious Landing (Review)

 One man at the edge of the world

Shadow of the Colossus takes place on a grand landscape where the only living creatures are the soaring eagles, white-tailed lizards and the elusive colossi. There’s much to please the eye here, as the realm of colossi is surreal; its vast scenery is painted with mysterious colours signaling natural, subtle and dangerous motifs.

Your journey will take you through forking forests, placid plains, majestic mountains, dark dunes, and cavernous dwellings filled with huge lakes hiding ancient temples and strange artifacts. Guided by the light of Wander’s mystical blade, you’ll need to seek out the 16 hidden colossi.

To aid you in adventure, your character (Wander) has been equipped with a sword, a bow and a black steed named Agro, who's your only sole companion in world exploration, and instrumental to surviving some of the ingenious battles ahead.

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By exploring the Forbidden Lands and ruling over the creatures therein, you’ll be able to bring back life to the fading dame that is Mono -- that is all you are shown, or meant to know. The game has almost no dialogue, and its story is told with only several cut-scenes. This minimalist approach lets the player figure out things as he/she explores. By finding the 16 Guardians of Forbidden Lands you will be able to unravel the illustrious tapestry that is this game.

Most of these livid colossi are stages onto themselves: walking temples that need to be navigated by cleverly manipulating the environmental puzzles, and infuriating the colossus to engage you in combat. The graphical feats during the colossi battles are stunning. The ground quakes and cracks shooting out dust particles, and the camera zooms and shifts with a smooth blurry motion. Everything reacts in contrast to the beastly size of your opponent.

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The first colossus you’ll face is a boar-faced, club wielding, mythical monster. If you manage to get close enough by avoiding its club and hoofs you can grapple onto its leg and stab it – which will bring the giant to its knees. From this point you can climb onto its back. There are parts of its body adorned with armour where you can stand for a bit to regain your stamina, and plan your strategy how to reach the sigil weak point branded on each of the encountered colossus.

There are many breeds of the colossi, majestic bird-dragons, sea serpents, ancient titans, and even a gigantic wall-clinging lizard salamander. The colossi rule the very environment around them, causing chaos and destruction within the realm - yet there’s something very unearthly and grand to them. As if they were a part of some greater design…

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Accompanied by fully orchestrated arrangements, mimicking the tone setting epic scores of the great movie masters like John Williams and Vangelis, the music in this game is superb. The compositions passing through your speaker tend to imprint your ear with soothing and mysterious melodies, which often swing full circle and shift to more intense, dramatic, and epic tunes when the colossi struggle for their existence.

The games slower pace may not be appealing to more action savvy junkies. That’s ok, because this story moves at its own gait, and rewards the more curious players with plenty of fun and unique situations; such as, hang-gliding on eagles, or surfing on a fish (tru). Stabbing the shoulders of giants, I can tell you this game is cinematic, bold and memorable.

Developer: Team Ico

Publisher: SCE

Platform: PS2, PS3

Released: 2005

Genre: Action-adventure