Timo Sutton

At first glance, not many people would consider "Shadow of the Colossus" to be a serious game. It is most definitely the stuff of fantasy, in both story and design. The introduction has the hero (named "Wander") carrying the lifeless body of his love into an abandoned temple. After placing her on an alter a disembodied voice promises to revive her if Wander defeats the sixteen colossi. These gigantic beasts inhabit an equally gigantic land that is supposedly forbidden to enter. Of course, Wander sets off and the game begins.

Despite a fairly generic plot, this game was the first to make me question the motives of the main character. In the end I did not want to "be" him anymore.

Two things strike me as reasons why this could be considered a "serious" game. First is it's design. The landscape Wander travels is more expansive than any game I have ever played before. At it's release one of the developers explained that the game encourages exploration. If a player just went from colossus to colossus, without exploring further, they would only see about 25% of the land created. It's almost like going on a vacation just popping this game in and exploring the land around you. Most games (especially lately) stick to a shorter play time by inhibiting where the player can go. In this would, if you see it, you can reach it.

The second, and more important is the plot and game-play. When you see the first of the colossus it's easy to just stand back and watch it roam. Early on, these giants ignore you completely. Which makes sense considering you are about the size of an ant compared to them. It's a little bittersweet as you make your way up these creatures (who begin to fight back. and hard.) and kill them one by one. These things aren't "evil". They aren't terrorizing anyone. They simply exist in their own areas, content to live. So why exactly are you killing them? To get your girlfriend back. Is she some chosen one needed to save humanity? No. Is she a powerful leader whose death has caused civil war? No. She's an ordinary person, just like the hero, whose death had just as much of an impact on the world as her life did. And now you're going about killing these amazing creatures, just to get her back. Never have I seen such a selfish story-line. The hero of the game really seems unfitting for the title. By the end of the game I no longer wanted to have him as an avatar. Every time a colossus died (and man, they scream in pain as they collapse to the ground. Their bodies do not dissapear, like a sort of reminder of your actions) I felt bad. I ended up spending more time exploring the land than killing the beasts.

Another one down

This game relays it's message in an extremely subtle way. There is very little dialogue. The player is left to make these realizations on their own. It's a surprisingly strong lesson in the fluidity of "good" and "evil". Like the early colonists, the player takes advantage of an unspoiled land, stripping it of its resources for nothing more than personal gain.