4.5/5 ★ – Lord_Hazenberg's review of Shadow of the Colossus.

It’s really cool to play a game that’s been talked about for so long as one of the all time greats, and you actually enjoy it when you finally get around to it. I really wish I could’ve experienced this back on the PS2 when this was a ground breaking title. I played this on my PS5, and think it took around 7-8 hours to beat. I also started a new game plus, and so far have beaten the first 8 colossi on normal time trial mode. The art style & huge empty map fit the setting of a long crumbled civilization so well. Bad guy camps, skill trees, & crafting would absolutely ruin this game. The only things that matter are all that’s there; the player & the colossi. Having the characters speak in a made up mixture of various Asian languages or game original speech is perfect in conveying an unknown land to any player. That way anyone playing the game is confused by the language barrier and not just non Japanese speakers. The story of a young man wanting to save his deceased lover is instantly compelling from a human reaction. Making a deal with an ancient entity knowing full well there are severe consequences enforces that our protagonist is driven by raw emotion instead of logic. How he controls too is indicative of his skill level. Handles a bow & horse with ease, but is clearly inexperienced at wielding a sword since it is an ancient artifact that he stole. Swinging wildly at lizards, and stabbing body parts are about all he can manage with it. As for the colossi themselves, some are far better than others. Waiting for the geyser turtle to stand in the right spot, or getting stun locked by the two smaller ones was frustrating. But grabbing onto a giant bird mid flight, shooting down a giant flying sand serpent, or dodging a huge club at the last moment more than make up for the few duds. TLDR; Shadow of the Colossus is regarded as an all time classic for a reason. Some of the boss mechanics are dated especially the ones where you have to hope & pray that a boss does a certain thing so you can progress the fight. Minor gripes aside I loved this game, and it’s a shame that it’s only legally available on PlayStation.