Shadow of the Colossus
Legend tells of a hidden land at the ends of the earth, where forbidden magic can bring back the souls of the dead. So what's a guy to do when his lady friend is sacrificed? Shadow of the Colossus begins with a somewhat lengthy cinematic introduction, wherein the main character, Nameless Man, travels great distances to find a sacred shrine of ancient construction, at which he deposits the body of his girl and prays for her salvation. But the collective spirit of the shrine informs the man that before she can be resurrected, he must find and slay 16 colossi. It seems a bit fishy to me - but what can I do? Gotta save the chick.
Here's how it works. First you whip out your semi-magical sword, hold it up to the sun, and move it around until the reflected light points in a single direction. This is the direction to the next colossus (they are done sequentially). Then you get on your horse and ride that way, navigating open fields and narrow passes, checking a rough map to examine the surroundings, and continuing to use your sword every now and again to correct your bearings. Sometimes you'll have to use your own two feet to hoof it through un-horse-able terrain, e.g. cliffs, or water.
Eventually, you will come across the colossus, who lives up to its name by being somewhere from Really Big to Holy Shit That's Goddamn Big. Now your task is to defeat it. The means of achieving this differ per colossus, but ultimately you will have to locate its weak spots, again with the light-reflecting sword, and then shove the sword into said weak spots a few times. Once the colossus is downed, you will mystically return to the shrine, not congratulated in any way, and instantly told to find the next colossus.
It is a simple system, and it works fairly well. Navigation is a bit dull but goes quickly enough that it isn't terribly boring. The controls are a little weird, but the first colossus is enough of a pushover to get you accustomed to everything pretty easily. Sometimes the camera can be irritating - especially when trying to move around a colossus, which, as one might expect, happens somewhat frequently.
The colossus-climbing game is all about jumping and climbing, but this is no Prince of Persia; Colossus is much more relaxed. Most of the game's difficulty is in figuring out how to get to the weak spots, and not as much in actually getting there. It's often referred to as a puzzle game for this reason.
Other than you, your horse, and the colossi, there is pretty much nothing in the game world, save trees and birds and geography. This, along with some cinematic camera positioning (which, again, can be irritating sometimes), makes the whole game feel very artful. The dynamic soundtrack helps out here too, with peaceful traveling music transitioning into suspenseful music when a colossus is stomping around, and into adventurous sounds of triumph when the tables begin to turn. It does a fantastic job of setting the mood.
One of the more striking things about the game is its technological sophistication. The graphical quality is a bit low; I hate to complain about it, but when a blur effect isn't being used on the screen, a lot of the textures look grainy and rough. But on the other side of the coin, after a monumental loading time when a saved game is loaded into play, the entire world is accessible and seamless. And a lot of stuff that should be extremely difficult to pull off, like the main character holding onto part of a moving colossus, is done remarkably well.
So far my biggest complaint is the difficulty; it's pretty easy. But I'd be surprised if it didn't get really challenging before the end.
Progress: 3 Defeated