The Shadow of the Colossus remake review for PS4 is still one of the best of its kind. PS4 Shadow of the Colossus remake review - still one of the best of its kind Who pulls the hero's strings

Created by Team Ico. In those days, the game seemed like something completely new in terms of gameplay and storytelling. Six years later, a re-release of the game was released for the PlayStation 3, which, like the original, still caused only positive impressions, and therefore Sony decided to try their luck for the third time, releasing a remake of Shadow of the Colossus for PlayStation 4 in 2018. Let's take a look , did Bluepoint Games (developer studio) succeed 12 years after the release original game It's nice to surprise gamers again.

Plot

Before starting to consider the features of the remake, I would like to talk about the game itself and its key components. Firstly, the plot in the game is presented in an unusual format, which is now rarely used anywhere. We are shown an intriguing beginning, and then the whole story boils down to the fact that most of the story should be completed by our imagination. The benefit of helping her in this is taken by an excellent artistic style and unsurpassed musical accompaniment.

However, in order not to confuse anyone, let's still figure out who we are playing for and what is our main goal as we progress. Shadow of the Colossus opens with a young man named Wander riding a horse named Agro with a dead girlfriend. The hero brings the girl to an ancient temple (Sanctuary of Worship), the path to which lies through a long bridge stretching from the outside world. It turns out that the girl's name is Mono, and death befell her as a result of a sacrifice.

In the temple, Wander asks a certain entity named Dormin to revive the girl and instill the missing soul into her lifeless body again. The entity tells the hero that this is practically impossible, unless he can destroy the sixteen idols that are in the temple. However, everything is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Each idol has a living embodiment in the form of a colossus that lives outside the temple. The hero is assigned to hunt down and destroy all the colossi.

After that, until the very end of the game, the plot begins to be presented in small slices, from which the player must independently mold the general concept of the in-game story. As the character travels, we can learn a few interesting details. For example, Dormin was once a single entity, but his physical image was divided by a sorcerer, who, by the way, we meet at a certain point during the passage.

At first, the plot may seem extremely unsaid and incomprehensible to an unprepared player, but in Shadow of the Colossus everything is like a series Dark Souls must be looked for in the fine details. It is important to note that the lion's share of interest during the passage is caused by the in-game world, which can be freely explored on horseback or on foot. Despite the fact that almost any characters are completely absent in the game world, with the exception of colossi, it exudes liveliness and depth. Here and there we find the ruins of some lost civilization, explore ancient temples and independently recreate the lore of the game in our heads. Shadow of the Colossus, how very good book, makes the most of our imagination.

Gameplay

For those who will be playing Shadow of the Colossus for the first time, the gameplay may be a bit confusing at first. For example, you need to track colossi with the help of light emitted by the sword and serving as a navigator. Gradually you get used to the mechanics, but this does not stop it from pleasantly pleasing. In this game, we are not led by the handle and do not poke a finger in the places that we need. This is where you have to figure everything out on your own. We strongly recommend that you turn off hints before playing, so as not to spoil your pleasure from turning on ingenuity from time to time.

The puzzles in the game are hidden in the combat system, which combines several mechanics at once. First, after we have found the colossus, we need to find out its weak points. They are unique for each enemy, and therefore the fights look interesting until the very end credits. Secondly, after we know the weakness of the enemy, we must figure out how to get close to him. Each colossus is a huge creature resembling a giant, and therefore it is sometimes very difficult to climb on the back of the enemy and deliver a decisive blow to him, especially at the first stage of the duel. Here, by the way, contains the mechanics of a platformer that complements the combat system.

It is also worth noting that the game designers have excellently thought out the features of the colossus. One opponent flies, the other jumps sharply, and the third does everything in turn. Thanks to this, it is impossible to work out one single tactic that affects all enemies, which will greatly please fans of various battles. The duels may remind younger generations of gamers a little bit of Dark Souls, where when fighting a boss, you always have to learn his behavior first before getting the key to victory.

Each enemy has a health scale, and therefore it is important not only to strike, but also to monitor the attack power. If you really want to do something special in the game, then you can kill the enemy even with a bow, but in this case you will have to get confused rather well. There is no interchangeable equipment, as such, the game is primarily an old-school adventure game that does not have RPG elements. This actually explains the presence of endless arrows used by the main character.

Hardcore Shadow of the Colossus can not be called, unless you choose a high difficulty mode. In this case, the game reveals itself most strongly and will especially interest people looking for a specific challenge. The character has a health scale, and therefore any blow of the colossus can be fatal for the life of our hero. Because of this, you need to always be on the move, do somersaults and bounce if the enemy creates a shock wave.

Remake Features

If someone has played Shadow of the Colossus and is looking for a new experience, we have good news: this game can provide them. The gameplay remains the same, but thanks to a significant improvement in the visual component, the game feels like something new and by no means outdated. Developers from Bluepoint Games tried not only to increase the resolution of the game, but also did a great job on the three-dimensional models of objects. Horse, main character, details on his clothes, small creatures that live in the in-game world and, of course, colossi, now look completely new.

On the left is the original Shadow of the Colossus, on the right is the PS4 remake:

Unless you tell the person it's a remake old game, then many may even get the impression that Shadow of the Colossus is completely new game with unique gameplay and advanced picture. However, the features of the PS4 version of the game don't stop at the graphics alone. Following the latest trends, game developers have equipped their product with a built-in photo mode that has many settings. There are so many image filters in the game alone that those who wish to change the wallpaper on their desktop will be pleasantly surprised. At the same time, image filters are used not only in photo mode, but also during gameplay.

Another nice feature of the game is the ability to change graphics settings. As with other games, this setting is only available on PlayStation 4 Pro. We can make the picture clearer, or we can increase the frame rate. If in most other games, it is quite difficult to notice the difference between FPS and image clarity, then in Shadow of the Colossus each setting is really different from each other. When graphics mode is turned on, many fine details look sharper, but the frame rate drops noticeably. If you increase the FPS, the game still looks quite nice, but the battles and camera rotation are much smoother.

What is the catch, some gamers will ask. The disadvantage, as in the original Shadow of the Colossus, is hidden in the controls. Camera rotation in the remake is almost as awkward as it was in the 2005 game. In the settings, of course, you can optimize the camera a little for yourself, but in battles with monsters, and especially when jumping, all the shortcomings quickly surface. The second disadvantage is horseback riding. Directing your horse in one direction or another is extremely inconvenient, and therefore sometimes you even want to move around the world of the game on your own two feet, forgetting about the faithful Agro (horse name). Otherwise, the game turned out to be an excellent remake, which is ideal for those who missed this masterpiece in their time on PS2 or PS3.

Released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 console shadow game of the Colossus became a cult hit overnight. This was largely due to the revolutionary gameplay for that time and the unusual setting chosen by the developers from Team Ico. In 2011, an HD remaster of the game was released for, and very soon, on February 7, a full-fledged remake for the PlayStation 4 will go on sale, which I want to tell you about today in more detail.

The game: Shadow of the Colossus
Platform: PlayStation 4
Genre: Action/Adventure
Release date: February 7, 2018
Developer: Bluepoint Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Shadow of the Colossus is part of an amazingly rich universe that is set in two other great games, Ico and . The author of these works, Fumito Ueda, does not like to reveal secrets to gamers and chew on incomprehensible moments, so his work is always shrouded in mystery, and over time, overgrown with fan theories and millions of guesses. It seems to me that it is this intrigue that makes the games of the talented Japanese game designer even more attractive.

The plot of Shadow of the Colossus at first glance is simple and straightforward. The protagonist named Wander (Wander - "wander", English.) Riding on the faithful horse Agro delivers the body of his deceased beloved Mono to the ancient temple. Laying her on a stone altar, he calls out to the dark deity Dormin, begging him to bring the girl back to life. Dormin agrees to help the young man, but in return he asks to complete a difficult task: to find and kill sixteen giant colossi that live on the territory of a spacious valley.

You can travel through the valley both on foot and on horseback on Agro. The latter method is much more preferable, since sometimes you have to overcome huge distances. An important role is also played by the main character's sword, which, when taken out of its sheath, is able to focus sunlight and point in the direction where the next colossus is located. A fairly non-standard navigation system, but it’s even more interesting to play this way. Despite the fact that the game is trying with all its might to create the illusion of an "open world", you will have to kill the colossus in a strict sequence, thought out in advance by the scriptwriters. Unfortunately, you will not be able to go to any of the monsters of your choice.

Each duel with the colossus is a real test for the gray matter and fingers of the gamer. Monsters are giant creatures made of stone, living flesh, various designs, according to which main character must climb, trying to find vulnerable spots with glowing glyphs and plunge his blade into them. And if the very first colossus is not particularly smart and agile, then with each subsequent boss the rules of the game will become more complicated. You'll have to track them down, strategize your attacks, take into account the terrain, and even use your horse Agro to defeat the monsters. It is the battles with huge creatures that are at the heart of this game and, take my word for it, it only benefits from this.

The controls in the game are quite simple and intuitive. The main skill of the protagonist is the ability to grab onto various ledges, colossus hair and other objects. When climbing sheer cliffs or the backs of giant monsters, one should not forget that the protagonist has a limited amount of stamina, and as soon as his strength leaves him, you risk falling from a great height and breaking on rocky ground. During the fight, you can use your sword, which will tell you where exactly you need to climb onto the colossus in order to find its weak point. There are other auxiliary weapons in the game, for example, a bow that can attract the boss's attention. Personally, I found the controls to be more responsive than the PS2 original was. This is facilitated by additional control schemes that were not in the original game.

If you think that fights will be similar to each other, you are very mistaken. You will meet not only land colossi, but also flying and even underwater monsters. The spectacle of such fights is so impressive that you sometimes forget that you are playing a game. Sometimes it feels like you're watching an expensive Hollywood blockbuster. Your consciousness is completely transferred to an eerie fairy-tale world, beckoning with myriads of secrets hidden in it. Despite the fact that for the most part the world of the game is deserted, occasionally you will meet representatives of the fauna, for example, lizards, which can be eaten, thereby increasing the level of health.

Visually, the game was created from scratch, which immediately catches the eye. The picture is so clear, bright and detailed that you absolutely do not want to return to the original PS2 version or even to the HD remaster. For the development of Shadow of the Colossus of the 2018 model, the Bluepoint Games studio was responsible, which ate more than one dog on the re-release of classic games. Previously, it was they who were engaged in HD remasters of Ico, metal gear Solid, God of War, Uncharted and other great games, but in this case they were entrusted with the creation of not just a remaster, but a full-fledged high-budget remake. The source code of the game was taken from the original in 2005, but partially modified and adapted to modern realities.

On a regular PS4 console, the game runs at 1080p at 30 fps, the more advanced PS4 Pro displays the picture in two modes: either 4K at 30 fps or 1080p at 60 fps. Every texture, every 3D object in the game was created from scratch from original concepts, but using modern graphics technology, so the game looks very impressive and fresh. You can immediately feel the love that the Bluepoint Games employees put into the remake, because they are big fans of Fumito Ueda's work, so they tried to transfer the game to the new generation of consoles as efficiently as possible. Another nice bonus of the remake was the photo mode, with which players can take beautiful screenshots, stylizing the picture with photo filters and optical effects.

Finally, the game has an intelligible automatic save that will insure you in case of unexpected death. You can also save in manual mode at special altars scattered around the map. After you defeat the last colossus, you will also have the opportunity to complete various Additional tasks and time trials. But personally, it seems to me that the game itself is quite complete, and such bonuses will please only the most devoted fans. But the presence of them does not oblige the player to anything, so they can be easily attributed to the pluses of the remake.

Sound and music have been preserved in their entirety. The eerie voice of a dark deity, pronouncing words in a language specially created for the game, the sound of the heavy tread of a giant colossus, the clatter of Agro's hooves across the plains, hundreds of sound effects will delight the ears of all players without exception. But, the developers have made it so that this time everything sounds even more realistic and lively, which makes the atmosphere of the game noticeably deeper. Musical accompaniment skillfully emphasizes what is happening on the screen, also strengthening the emotional connection between the player and the fairy-tale world of Fumito Ueda.

Pros:

• The perfect remake of the legendary game.
• Each battle with a colossus is a small triumph of game design.
• Visually, the game is great in every way.
• Sound and music have become even more impressive.
• Improved and enhanced controls.
• Finally added autosave to the game.
• Bonus content and extra challenges.
• The game is fully translated into Russian.
• A photo mode has been added to the game.

Minuses:

• There were problems with the management of the horse.

Shadow of the Colossus is an exemplary remake that takes us to the distant past of the PlayStation 2 era, and allows you to once again feel long-forgotten emotions, having lived a small virtual life in a fantasy world full of creepy giants and deadly dangers. The developers at Bluepoint Games have done a really great job of giving the game beautiful graphics, reworking the control scheme, supplementing all this with a wonderful photo mode and significantly improving the sound quality. If you've never played Shadow of the Colossus, don't hesitate and get it as soon as you get the chance. Similar games no longer exists in nature, so skipping this masterpiece is strongly not recommended. If you're already familiar with the 2005 original or the HD remake, this will be a great opportunity to replay the game in a new modern guise and refresh your memories. I bet the game 10 points out of 10, because this work of art simply cannot get anything less from me.

Publication date: 02/12/2018 09:35:24

If you are not familiar with the work of Fumito Ueda, then you may well accept a fresh exclusive from Sony for a breakthrough project from a young but experienced team of indie developers. Nevertheless, we have before us an adventure game that was released on the PlayStation 2 back in 2005.

Not all projects stand the test of time. Your check Shadow of the Colossus successfully passed back in 2011 as part of the HD re-release for the PlayStation 3. Well, the next test is # 2: 2018 with its trendy 4K and HDR, modern gaming trends and a new generation of demanding gamers. The mighty "Colossus" holds the blow.

Colossal work.

Not having a large number of games of their own production behind them, the studio Bluepoint Games"ate the dog" on reissues. The developers have breathed new life into many iconic PS-exclusives: God of War, Metal Gear Solid, Uncharted. With Shadow of the Colossus the developers also know firsthand - it was they who re-released the game on PS3 and it is all the more symbolic that the development of the remake was entrusted to them. Without exaggeration, bluepoint did a great job. The developers redrawn the models and textures, reworked the controls and animation - in a word, the project was created almost from scratch. Remained unchanged game process, characters and plot.

The protagonist of this story is a boy named Wander, obsessed with the goal of bringing back to life a girl dear to him. We know little about him. The boy has come a long way on his only and faithful companion to perform the rite of resurrection in an ancient temple in the middle of the damned lands. Everything turns out to be not so simple, but for the sake of the girl's life, Vander is ready to do anything. The trials of the gods, in the form of 16 colossal creatures, do not frighten him at all.

In Game open world, in the center of which the same temple is located. He is our starting point. It is frustrating that the local navigation system has not undergone any changes. The map still lacks information content, and the "guiding" sword strives to lead you to the abyss, rock and other impassable obstacles. Astride Agro, we are rapidly heading off to meet the first test, and seemingly endless expanses of forgotten lands with deserts, forests, mountains, waterfalls and lakes rush past us. With a new color scheme and updated lighting, the surroundings look simply amazing. On the go turn on the photo mode. Playing with filters. Snapshot. Let's go further.

Do not deliberately engage in the study of the world of the game. It is as empty as it is beautiful. Everything that deserves attention, the game itself will show you - the colossi are "scattered" throughout the location. And you also run the risk of getting into a dead end, being in the “right place”, but at the wrong time, since the battles take place in a strictly defined order. This game is not about exploring the world. An incredibly beautiful open world that contrasts sharply with its emptiness is an exclusively narrative element.

Find an approach

The developers of the original game tried to make each colossus unique. In every battle, the developers never cease to amaze you: we fight the wind on the wing of a huge winged creature; we are trying to pacify the bull-like beast; we dive after the monstrous inhabitant of the lake and much more. AT new version each hair on the body of the colossi is worked out in detail. Movements are smooth and precise. All this leaves a lasting impression.

The game has a very harmonious soundtrack. But you will only hear it in certain moments. When he is really "out of place." Local spaces have their own beauty of music. Most of the time you will be alone with the clatter of Agro's hooves, the rustle of grass and the whistle of headwinds.

All battles, relatively speaking, follow the same scenario: the search for the “Achilles heel” and its defeat. When Wander, having made his way from the hand to the top of the giant for the seventh time, delivers a decisive blow with the last of his strength, and you lean back in your chair with a sense of relief, there comes a moment of euphoria and a feeling of catharsis.

However, the game is able to squeeze other emotions out of you: anger, anger and even rage. On your first playthrough, don't be surprised that your battle tactics keep failing relentlessly. Ten-minute battles run the risk of dragging on for a good forty-five minutes, or even more. This is because the author's solution to the problem is different from yours. In this game, it all comes down to solving the charade from Fumito Ueda. Understand his cunning game design intent and do what needs to be done. And this is a great illustration of the fact that no matter how daunting the task before you, you are able to cope with it. The main thing is to start and the main thing is to find the right approach. The main thing is not to give up, be patient and be ready for the second, third and, if necessary, the twenty-fifth attempt.

There are games that are for all time. The project must be truly unique in order to look attractive after more than 10 years. And the point here is not at all in the schedule. It's about the emotions that the gameplay gives. It's about the atmosphere that the environment conveys. Shadow of the Colossus is a great opportunity to return to this beautiful mysterious world and discover it for yourself in a new way. And this is a great opportunity to join the classics of modern art.

According to rumors bluepoint is already hard at work on his next project - another remake of the once popular classic game. Whether it will be an ICO or something else, we are looking forward to it!

Updated graphics that allow you to see the project as it was intendedMore friendly managementThe gameplay is still fun

Navigation continues to limp

Game rating: 4.6 /5

You may also be interested

When you see an ant crawling on your leg:

They shoveled the project, of course, notably. Although there is no opportunity to play, it’s nice to watch the game even on streams.
P.S. The fur of the colossi looks chic.

Gaming News

24 min. back 0 Curse of the Dead Gods is available now on Steam, and will be coming to consoles in the future

_Lemon_
Here we go again. But before I start responding specifically to your post, let's take a quick tour of image formats, because I really get the impression that outside of this comment thread, you've never heard of them, or rather the difference in them.
"The PNG format is a format in which compression is lossless. In this format, there are 3 color channels per pixel (RGB - red, green, blue), thus full-color image formation without distortion is realized. The quality of the color display PNG format can be superior to JPEG, but the file size will also be larger."
"Format JPEG is a format that has color loss.. The algorithm of work in this format is such that it compresses images with gradients very well (the colors of the first pixel in the gradient and the last are preserved, and when the image is displayed, all intermediate colors between these points are calculated), which makes it useful for storing images in a smaller size than in BMP format."
Moreover, in JPEG there is an option to save with minimal losses (it will be almost identical in quality to PNG or BMP, but it will also weigh no less). But on PS4 there is no way to adjust the level of image compression, so there is always one option that squeezes pictures in 1080p resolution to 150-300kb. Screenshots in the same resolution in PNG weigh from 2.5 to 5mb. And as we found out earlier, PNG images are saved losslessly, so where does the image weight go in JPEG? Where do the whole megabytes go? Maybe JPEG degrades the image so that it takes up less space?

Now the moment itself with PS4. An ordinary curling iron in its bowels generates an image with a resolution of 1920x1080, which is 2,073,600 pixels. To put it simply, all these pixels are transmitted through an HDMI cable without any compression (there can be no compression at this point, lol) to your screen. On your screen, those same 2,073,600 pixels look just like the PS4 rendered them. Possibly due to wrong setting monitor at this moment you will see a lighter or darker picture (but this is not the fault of the console, it transmits colors correctly, this is the fault of the monitor settings), but the image quality will still be maximum, the same information will be "registered" in each pixel , which is given by the game. And at this moment, we press the Share button to take a screenshot in .PNG format, which saves the image without loss, that is, it captures all the information that was on the screen in this moment. No less, no more (but where can more of it come from? Just where??), namely, everything that is transferred to the screen in each pixel. The output is all those 2,073,600 unique pixels.
In the case of saving a screenshot in JPEG format, the image is processed by compression algorithms to fit, for example, information weighing 5 megabytes in 300 kilobytes. This compression occurs, in simple terms, due to the smearing and overlaying of colors that are embedded in pixels on top of each other. Less unique colors -> Less information. First of all, shades, small details and edges of objects, where there is a transition from one color to another, suffer. I'll show it on your own screenshots below.

Now you understand that when capturing in JPEG, the screenshot is not the actual information, not the one that was originally transmitted from the console to the screen? So the game is not shown as it is.

My task is to show the game, including in motion.
This is a good and right aspiration. But in order to show the game in dynamics, you need to use the screen capture format without quality loss. The JPEG compression settings that are written in the curling iron cannot provide this.

> it is better to make screenshots for all reviewed games in the same conditions.
> To prove that the game needs special conditions for screenshots to make it look better is to prove the failure of the game.
Well, I brought you screenshots from Ancharted for a reason. The same jambs are not only in the review of the Colossi.

No. You made similar. Make a jeep and go. We will compare.
Why do it in zhipege if it does not transmit the picture that the PS4 outputs via HDMI to the screen? I can easily make screenshots in this format for you, but why? This is not a real kind of game. This is a 150kb compressed image that can be uploaded to twitter. It is for instant transfer to the social. networks just the same in PS4 and can be set as a JPEG capture format.

The editorial shows the game as it is. If the user cannot accept it, the editors cannot do anything about it.
No, it doesn't show. I can't accept it because it's not true.

If you want, I'll do the same for you. Maybe it will convince you?
What is there to convince me? It's just that you deliberately take screenshots that are not in the maximum quality that the console provides.

She does not pinch it in png. What are you arguing for?
Not in favor, but against JPEG. I say that the curling iron on the screen then displays a clean image, and already JPEG compresses it when it is captured.

PNG really looks better. Simply better than the game itself.
It's anti-scientific. It's just not possible. Prove how it happens? Does the format itself contain mechanisms that improve the graphics of console games?
The PNG image looks exactly as PS4 generates it.

And in this sense, I see that zhipeg is closer to the game itself.
It's impossible. If you do not believe what I wrote above, you can read the specifications of this format yourself. It compresses the image, whatever one may say.

And you can spend another billion hours on this conversation. My conclusion will be exactly the same.
It's a pity. I am ready to stop this conversation, because it already seems to me that you are corny trolling me.

Two screenshots taken one after the other. jipeg and png. Look for the difference
As I said above. Due to JPEG compression algorithms, image details are lost, because. it mixes the colors on their borders. For clarity, I increased your screenshots to 300%, there were no interventions in quality.
Stones at minimum and maximum. Guilt zhipega, and not the fact that one version was launched on the pitch.

Here Vander's details (straps) on the bracers disappeared, the edges of the shirt and the sword began to merge with the pants.


Etc. But in general, this screenshot of yours, even in zhpg, is relatively good, tk. here compression artifacts are not superimposed on motion blur, which is in the game in dynamics.
In PNG, even in dynamics with motion blur turned on, the clarity of static places in the picture does not change, nor does its saturation change. For example, a few more of my screenshots, which were not made on purpose, but simply during the game. See how neat and natural the motion blur looks. You can't even call it soap here.

And by the way. About filters and coloring in photo mode. Somehow I didn’t notice right away when we just started the discussion, but after all, all this can be turned on in the game settings for the duration of the gameplay. That is, the entire colorizer will be in the actual gameplay, and these are not third-party tools that process the finished image.

Throughout the existence of reprints Shadows of the Colossus (And this is from the time it was released on PS3) I personally have not seen a single negative opinion, bad review or low rating for this game. And now with her release on PS4 it's my turn to try this creation.

A little history from life:
As a child, I had a game disc for the second PS. At that time, as far as I can remember, I had only walked two colossi. And then the dog ate the box along with the disc because I left it on the floor. That was my first introduction to the game.


And what can I say about the game after so many years? Well, I'll start with the main thing - do not rush to buy it because of the screams " Masterpiece!"on every corner. No, no, no. No matter how much she is praised, no matter how licked, you will have to make a decent amount of concessions in order to enjoy the gameplay. Everywhere I look, everyone either misses these moments , or mention them in passing. Which seems wrong to me, because a person who spends his hard-earned money on a game, after a ton of text and hours of reviewed reviews and gameplay, will be surprised at what awaits him. Surprised not in the best sense. And whether he will like it the game after all this? Did I like it? Let's go in order.

Hidden text

I will not go into a bunch of details, which, most likely, have already been known to the majority for a long time. I will raise only topics that are significant to me, which, in my opinion, do not often come up in discussions. Shadows of the Colossus

The second point, which hurt me personally and, most likely, could not be corrected by a similar approach to re-release ( meaning the literal transfer of the game design of the first part) are invisible walls. They are sometimes not so obvious that you, as a player, find yourself in a situation where you spent the last 5 minutes climbing a rock to look around, but at some point the character simply refuses to jump higher. And how embarrassing. After all, the views in the game are truly breathtaking, beauties of simply colossal proportions that make you feel incredibly small in this huge world. And now you want to climb higher to feel all this scope, all the grandeur, but the game says - " No, guy, grab Andryukha by the mane and jump from the mudflow not all 4 sides".


Colossus battles. The main element of the game, its most important part, is implemented so clumsily at times that I almost fell into the wall from disappointment several times. Yes, the character's viscous behavior and heaviness in control were left intentionally, but I'm talking about something else. Again, let's look at an example. Some colossi have weak points at the junction of two planes, at the fold. And then the character under your control begins to shake strongly. The creature itself can stand completely still, but for some reason the hero will spin in place like a propeller. I almost went crazy on the fourth colossus, since the character agreed to stick the sword normally only at certain points. A little to the right, a little to the left - and I managed to make a weak blow, and then I was shaking again from side to side. And this is incredibly annoying, considering that at the moment when you have already figured out how to get to weak point, when you have overcome all the difficulties, you have to spend a lot of time just fighting with pixels. I also play on high difficulty and several times it happened that after a fall due to such a flaw, the character was successfully killed and this whole “fascinating” process had to be repeated from the beginning. How much joy was...


Yes, in principle AI sometimes crashes. Several times it happened that the enemy simply did not make the movement that would allow me to climb on him. The underwater colossus swam around me for about 5 minutes, and only then deigned to attack in order to substitute myself. And I'm not talking about your faithful horse - Agro. Although the people know him as Andryukha. So Andrey is quite… specific. It is also a very important part of the gameplay and its controls are as cool and exciting as they are clumsy and awkward. But again, this is an exact transfer, rather than a defect. But his behavior at times makes me ask him a couple of questions. As if - Andryukha once got lost in the forest. Seriously, he just couldn't get out of it. It is difficult to ride it among a heap of trees, so I decided to take a walk. Coming out of the forest, I began to call him. And I called... and called... and called. I had already come to terms with the fact that I was left without a stallion, as I decided to try again and then I saw him galloping towards me in the distance, only romantic music was missing.
Well, more than once it happened that I had to dismount for a second, but the horse decided to run away as far as possible at the same moment when I dismounted. And no matter how I scold Andryukha now, the game creates such an atmosphere of loneliness and detachment that even after all these antics, when this beautiful black horse returns, you are not angry with him, but think to yourself " Andryukha, damn it ... well, let's jump".


In general, in the game you will have to swear and get angry at such moments more than once. This is a game from the section " Not for all"in the truest sense. She is not for the chosen souls, one cannot say " Yes, just give you Kalo Dyuti, you didn’t understand anything". It doesn't have a high barrier to entry, no, that's not the point. Just if you're willing to endure the cons of the 00s game, all of the above subtleties, if you like meditative gameplay, when most of the time you just skip to the next fight, then this game for you.I haven't felt so good in a game for a long time, just slowly clapping on a horse and looking around.The game makes you feel your size not only by the height of the next colossus.This is achieved by music, architecture, landscape, lighting and the whole atmosphere of the game And I felt this irritation during the fight with these giants because I was completely captured by what was happening. The game conveys so much what it strives to convey that when passing the underwater colossus, I was really scared, because I have bathophobia. At the moment, when the creature pulled my character deep under the water and with the last drops of endurance I had to emerge (and the character is far from the fastest swimmer) I literally felt my heart pounding.


So I can say that Shadow of the Colossus I really like it, but that doesn't mean that I don't see why she can piss off most players. Think thrice before buying, but remember - if you like it and put up with its shortcomings - it will give you a unique experience.
Thank you for your attention. Play good games.