Shadow of the Colossus (Pre-E3 2005)

One of the most critically acclaimed PlayStation 2 games is ICO. While this title did not have huge sales at retail, the press all loved the game and awarded it with high ratings. For several years I have heard of rumblings and screenshots about a game called NICO, the rumored sequel to ICO. However, the title has never materialized. However, the team behind ICO in Japan is now hard at work on a new title called Shadow of the Colossus. It may not be a true sequel to ICO but it sure looks and feels like it may have the same magical gameplay that made ICO so special.

Known as Wanda to Kyozou in Japan, Shadow of the Colossus is a love story. The hero of the game is in love with a dead woman and he goes on a quest to revive her by taking on the challenge of Colossi. This will require him to locate and defeat sixteen giants in order to revive his love. What makes this title so special is that you won’t find any other enemies to fight in this game. Players will have to use their sword, bow and arrow, and trusty horse named Agro to defeat these giants.

While this may sound simple, the game’s environments are very large and filled with different types of puzzles to solve. These puzzles will take place in several different locations–including forests, wastelands, mountains, rivers, and more. After completing the puzzles found in the environment, our hero must go to a shrine and summon one of the sixteen giants for a battle to the death.

Sony isn’t yet revealing all the details to the puzzle and adventure elements to Shadow of Colossus. We do know that there are times when Agro will not be able to be used and you will have to leave him behind. Other times you will have to make jumps between ledges like some of the gameplay in Prince of Persia. In the current build of the game, the controls are a little bit hard to master and jumps can be very frustrating. Hopefully this will be resolved before the title ships later this year.

Once a fight with a giant begins, you will have your work cut out for you. Each boss is absolutely huge and will require you to hold up your sword to locate its weak spot. Once this is located, you will have to figure out how to get on top of the giant and attack the weak spot. In other titles, boss battles are relatively short. However, these battles can take over twenty minutes to get through. This should really help strengthen the epic feel that Sony is trying to convey to the player.

Overall, Shadow of the Colussus should be yet another AAA title from Sony’s First Party. We are eagerly awaiting the release of this one later this year.