Shadow of the Colossus

My gripes about the game's difficulty? No more. Later colossi have proven to be formidable opponents - some in terms of figuring out how to hit them, some in terms of actually doing so, and some in both.

The game has two 'meters' - both of which regenerate over time - one being the health bar (not that important), and the other being your everything-else-ometer (very important). This circular indicator shrinks as you hold on to or climb a difficult to hold surface, like the back of a writhing giant. It also depletes when underwater as your breath, or even when drawing your bowstring back for a prolonged period. The meter expands with every colossus you defeat, and though you won't die when it empties, you will let go, or surface from underwater, etc. So managing this meter is the most important part of a colossus fight, because once you run out, you're going to have to get all the way back to where you were again.

There isn't a lot to the game other than finding and killing bosses, but what's in there is really well polished. For instance, the horse can steer itself: when navigating narrow passes or rocky terrain, if I just let go of the steering stick, the horse will find its own route. Sometimes it turns around and I get pissed off, but it's cool how much it emulates an actual horse.

The real genius of the game is the amount of and variety in the bosses. Boss fights are the coolest part of most adventure games (usually numbering around six to nine), and what Team Ico has done is create 16 unique and very impressive boss fights. The game's primary means of conveying fun is through figuring out how the colossi work, so I wouldn't advise reading this spoiler if you intend to squeeze the ripe juice of entertainment from Colossus, but if you just want to read some badass war stories, these are some good ones.

The third colossus wasn't too tough, but was really cool. He was a tall humanoid holding a plank-shaped rock that he tried to crush me with; I could tell that I was supposed to climb up this thing to get to him, but there was a piece of armor in my way. It looked breakable, but I couldn't figure out how. Eventually - by accident - I got him to slam the weapon down on a stone platform, shattering the armor in the impact, and I made my way up to his weak points and bled him dry.

So far my favorite colossus has been the fifth one, a giant bird. I had to shoot some arrows at it to get its attention, then as it swooped down on me, leap onto a wing and hold on for dear life. The weak spot on its back was easy to get, but as I went for the ones on either wing, the bird actually flew upside-down trying to get rid of me. Showed him though.

Number seven was also really cool. This one was an electric eel, and getting on it was easy (luring it to the surface), but afterward staying on him was really tough since I had to hold on as it went underwater. I stabbed smaller weak spots in front of each of its electrified fins to deactivate them before finally stabbing it in the head.

The tenth colossus was similar, a sand worm. I fought him in an underground cave filled with sand, and as I looked at the big rocks in the ground, I figured I would pull a Tremors 2 on him and just take him out after he stupidly rammed himself. But it turned out that he was way too smart for that. It actually took me three attempts to figure out that I had to mount up and have him chase me, then fire an arrow into his eye, blinding him such that he didn't notice the rock wall looming straight ahead.

Those are some of the most memorable, but each fight has really been a great thrill. Like I said, there isn't a lot to this game, but it's extremely good at what it does.

Progress: 11 Defeated