Thursday, March 30, 2006

Shadow of the Colossus - 6, 7, & 8

I'm halfway through Shadow of the Colossus and it's going well. Regarding the three colossi:
  • Colossus 6 is interesting because the key is a typical videogame strategy that finally makes sense: you find a strategic position from which to strike, and choose to attack when the boss makes itself vulnerable.
  • Colossus 7 is very straightforward, but the trick is getting a grip in the first place. I don't know how you're expected to grab ahold, but I just swam around trying to judge where it would surface.
  • Colossus 8 took me a while, but eventually I remembered the first rule of bosses: if it glows it must be important. Once I made that connection, and realized why the arena was so tall, it all fell into place. Here it makes sense to exploit the fact that the game is very lenient on the player when falling from great heights.
Can it keep the battles interesting through another 8 colossi? I hope so.

What I find facinating is that the game does not make the colossus weak spots difficult to find. Rather, the goal is to overcome the size differential and then strike the obvious weak spots. That combination of stalking, hiding, and daring strikes is what makes the game work.

It's like hunting, which I'll daresay I enjoy in this case.

As for the story, there still isn't much.

Finally, I'm a little tired of trying to find my way around some obstacles. I spent too long trying to get to Colossus 8, driving my horse the whole way around a mountain barrier before realizing that I needed to go inside the one doorway. Why didn't I see the doorway to start with? The game points the camera too low to see it, if you're close to the mountain.

No comments: