2/5 ★ – Casinopolis's review of Shadow of the Colossus.

It is a shame that Bluepoint did not look at Sony’s cohort of excellent games on the PS4 and take inspiration with this remake of a cult classic. Horizon, for example, had been out for a year at this point and could have provided a loose blueprint to breathe new life into Shadow of the Colossus. Instead what we have here is painfully loyal to the original down to every frustrating detail. There is a two generation mismatch between how the game looks and how it plays. In other words, it is beautiful game with some smart ideas, communicated poorly with an awful guidance & hint system, terrible camera and horrendous controls. What really kills the flow for new players is a spiteful combination of slow and unresponsive controls, bosses that will use stun-locking in order to burn through stamina or life meters, all while the player must figure out a vague and specific sequence of events. Frustration kicks in when needing to wait for the next attacking opportunity and repeat all steps multiple times over. It is fair to say, though, that this game is more than the sum of its parts: 16 back-to-back boss fights. There is an underlying tone that is hard to deny, but is not a big enough redeeming factor to overlook its major flaws.