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From the same development team that brought you the hit (and unusual game) ICO, comes another innovative and unique game that appears to be simple and empty on the surface -- but will still provide hours of unusual gameplay.
Shadow of the Colossus has a basic premise -- in order to save a fallen loved one, your character (an un-named hero) must travel across a world that is almost 200,000 square meters large and take down 16 huge monstrous colossi. The only weapons you have (from beginning to end) is a simple bow and a magical sword. Your only companion is a horse named Agro, and the only enemies are these ancient goliaths. There is no leveling up, there is no experience, there is no added armor or weapons -- it's just you hunting down the only thing that can save the game's fallen-female. Like I said, it sounds like a quick and short game -- and while it might not provide dozens upon dozens of hours of gameplay, it won't be a cake-walk.
The map is divided into 52 areas, each one is 62 meters by 62 meters, and you will have to explore the entire map in order to find all 16 behemoths, but your search won't be completely aimless. When in the sunlight, you will be able to raise your sword and it will show you the direction of the closest Colossus. In order to get to the giant, you will have to jump, climb and swim your way through a vast assortment of environments, but the fun doesn't really begin until you find the sleeping Colossus and wake him up.
Upon angering the enemy (which is what typically happens when you keep a mountain sized creature from its beauty sleep), you will have to avoid its attacks, and climb up its body in order to find a safe and stable point where it can't shake you off. You can't just hang on to the side of the creature for an indefinite amount of time because the longer you hold on, the more unstable your grip becomes. Once you have reached a safe point, you will once again raise your sword and it will reveal a vulnerable point. Now you need to climb to that point and perform a strong attack multiple times in order to inflict massive damage.
"A lot of times, the vulnerable point won't even be accessible in their normal state. You might have to use the environment in some way in order to trick them into revealing the critical point", said Kyle Shubel, SCEA Producer of Shadow of the Colossus
This plus the fact that the critical spot might go dead after a few hits and you will have to once again get to a landing and find the next hit-area is what adds to the games length and complexity.
The beasts will range from smaller, faster creatures that will have you leaping from ledge to ledge hoping to get a clear shot at their weak-spot to giants with heads in the clouds. Whether you will be able to go after any of the creatures at any time has yet to be determined. Shubel said that they will want to give you a choice of which monster you want to fight next, but they don't want you to be able to go after the biggest, baddest bosses first. There will be flying, swimming and land-based Colossi that will challenge your puzzle solving skills. Getting to the weak-spot isn't the only challenging part of going up against the bosses -- there are times when actually getting onto the enemy can be a puzzle all to itself. You might have to shoot at it with your bow from horse-back or even jump from cliffs at just the right time in order to get to a place that you can climb up.
Expect to see Colossus' shadow on the shelves this September, and demo discs are suppose to come out late June to early July. Shadow of the Colossus will support the 16:9 screen ratio, Hi-Def, Progressive Scans, as well as a (as of yet undefined) surround sound component. This is definitely one of the Sony first-party games to be on the lookout for in the upcoming year. |
