Some of you may be wondering why there haven’t been many gaming articles lately. I believe the reason is that both psu and I are playing Shadow of the Colossus, and are desperately looking for some angle from which we can claim that it does not contradict our long-held position that “Boss” battles are stupid.
We can’t dodge the topic forever, though. Look for our comments on Shadow of the Colossus soon.
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“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tell me one thing: should I buy this game? I hear on the one hand that it is a life-altering experience that will lay waste to my preconceptions of gaming, beauty and, indeed, life itself. I also hear that the graphics are stuttery and look more like “valiant attempt” than “accomplished work of genius.”
Oo, is your ‘ittle pet theory feeling sore? I hate when that happens.
You could always go play _Blood Will Tell_, a game with 48 boss battles, each of which is about as creative as _Colossus’s_ save-game screen. I’m sure that would reconnect you with your sense of ranty injustice.
General answer: should you buy _Colossus_? Yes. Is it the most beautiful thing ever? Well, yes, but it’s also clearly aiming at 120% of what the PS2 hardware can handle. The flaws are easy to spot. There is texture pop-in; there is model pop-in. It doesn’t feel stuttery to me, but that’s because it tries to cover with fake motion blur when the frame rate drops.
I don’t care. It’s got an 83% success rate at what other games aren’t even trying to do. That’s totally the right thing to do.
(To return to the original topic: the gameplay is also fun. Peter(s), if you’re still looking for a topic lead, try comparing the notion of “boss battle” in action games to the notion of “puzzle” in adventure games, and see which _Colossus_ is closer to.)
I believe I have the angle that I’m going to take with this, but I wanted to finish the game first because my feelings about Ico were very different before and after I finished the game.
Damn your eyes you US gamers and your six to twelve to infinite month lead times over Europe! I must wait…
Ralph Waldo Emerson, wasn’t he the guy who dissed Jane Austen?
How dare a quote by him appear in a post about a game that comes as close to art as anything else out there!