Zero Punctuation: Shadow of the Colossus

BBMv12

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Jun 2, 2010
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I must have been sleeping under a rock or some shit because I never heard of this game getting rave reviews at the time of release, whenever that was. I tell you what; if they make a HD collection I'll pick it up when its in the bargain bin, otherwise I'm not arsed.

So you like it, fair enough, but there are current games that could be reviewed like, for example; Split/Second, Blur, Naughty Bear... pfft even the Toy Story 3 game! I do realise 2 of those are racers and the other 2 are abominations but a review of one of those would be more interesting than whatever the hell that vid was.
 

Sir Prize

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Dec 29, 2009
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Nice review, I would like to play this game but I can't seem to find a copy of it.
I agree with him on the whole SC2 thing, it may be a good RTS but when you don't play that genre it that doesn't seem to matter.
Also, for the next review, may I suggest TimeSplitters 2?
 

Eruanno

Captain Hammer
Aug 14, 2008
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Oh it's fine, Yahtzee. You don't have to rape StarCraft 2, or I will just start nitpicking on things you made me notice. Also, don't ever review Inception, please.
 

Impluse_101

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Jun 25, 2009
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Wow...ok this actually gets me hopeful that he might review Okami...I certainly hope he will, it will be interesting to hear Yahtzee's FULL partake on Okami. He did reference it in phantom of the hourglass LOZ review. (Don't pretend you don't see it)
 

Sanmei

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Aug 11, 2010
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Heck, I'm just happy to see Shadow of the Colossus getting an approving review that doesn't degenerate into "OMFG IS TEH MUST AWSUM THING EBER111". That was my biggest problem when I was trying to decide whether or not it was worth pursuing -- the reviews were extremely polarized between "OMFG IT SUX" and "OMFG IT ROX" and of the two, only the negative reviews seemed inclined to tell me why. The vague clues they gave seemed to imply that the game was a vast, empty and very boring wilderness where you wandered around for fifty hours and didn't do jack squat. Really, could a game truly feature sixteen enemies in total, almost no storyline whatsoever, no new weapons or special items until New Game + mode, and still be good?

Answer: Yup, shockingly, it really could. And did. I played Shadow of the Colossus from morning to night for a couple of days until I finished it. What explains how it could succeed is the fact that the developers made this glorified boss run a suitably epic experience. Bringing one down feels like an epic feat, and it should. With a sparse storyline filled with more innuendo than substance, Shadow of the Colossus evokes emotion by the sheer scale of what you do. Whether it's leading a colossus shaped like a yeti through an obstacle course of stone pillars that it smashes through with ease or climbing the gigantic sword of another in order to climb up its arm to its head, the game repeatedly recreates the staggering accomplishment seen in The Return of the King when Legolas climbs the mûmak and brings it down. Even the few small colossi are fierce and powerful enough to make you scramble to keep out of their way, and yet you know you'll have to somehow kill them as well.

What I loved about Shadow of the Colossus was how few cinemas there were in battle. At no point will you push a button and watch as your character leaps and flips and stabs automatically. This enhances the evocation of those emotions because it always feels like your task and your accomplishment, never something you're merely watching as an observer. Likewise, if you can't do it, the computer won't be doing it for you either.

I do have to admit that I never picked up on the fact that you can increase your grip gauge by killing lizards (you don't automatically get stronger by dint of killing them; you actually have to kill them and eat the tail) or raise your health meter by eating fruit (I've still yet to even find any). If you can do the time trial version of the bosses in a New Game +, you obtain items which allow you to better track down and find these, but some of those challenges feel more like a luck based mission.

I can definitely see why the average player wouldn't really like it -- it's very different from the average game. Short of epically missing the point about what kind of game it is, though, I find it difficult to understand how doing something like the shot below fails to evoke the proper response of "Holy crap awesome."

http://ps2.ign.com/dor/objects/490849/ico-ii/images/shadow-of-the-colossus-20050419055232107.html
 

Pontus Hashis

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Feb 22, 2010
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Sooo wanna play this!!!
I actuly passed on thhis game when i was 10... I would slap my ten-year-old-self if I could-.-
I'm waiting for the collection.
 

WIUtomato

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Oct 18, 2008
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now if only they'd port the damn game to my PS3 since I don't want to replace the one I once had (before it took the last train to Bricked-Ville, and was traded in for an original xbox, refurb'd no less, which still works...!) I've heard rumors that this may actually happen, that'd be pretty great.
 

The Brewin

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Aug 23, 2009
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Sabbad said:
Seriously, more adverts before the start of the video? Feeling greedy much?
Feels he shouldn't have to watch a 18 second video before watching a free weekly news/review segment...feels the escapist owes him suddenly much?
 

tetron

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Dec 9, 2009
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Shadow of the Colossus ? Isn't it a little late to be reviewing this. Oh well it's a good game that can't have anything said about it that hasn't already been said.
 

Grey_Focks

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Jan 12, 2010
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okay yahtzee, you review "Halo Wars", a console-RTS spin-off of a game you trash at every opportunity, but you choose not to review one of the most anticipated games of the past decade just because it's an RTS, even though you've reviewed the genre in the past? I am confused. Eh, I like it, and I also like that RTS games aren't for everybody.

Yea, never played SotC. I don't have a ps2 anymore (mine died years ago) and I probably won't get one just to play this one game...eh, maybe I'll borrow a friend's and play it.
 

Veylon

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Aug 15, 2008
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Grabbin Keelz said:
I remember back when they had the beta for SC2 and some fag kid at the lunch table at school constantly bragged about having it while all his fag friends offered to suck his dick to play it.
And this is why Yahtzee despises Starcraft II. He gets a million e-mails from guys like this demanding that he review it and (of course) give it a perfect score. Even though he doesn't really care for RTS's. Even though he's already said that he won't review it.

Now, I like Starcraft II; I was in on the beta. But every fanbase has it's jerks and fanatics who demand that everyone else like what they like and want to tear to shreds anyone who doesn't. Starcraft having a huge fanbase has more of these than almost anywhere else. I just wish they'd shut up and stop harassing the poor indifferent folk who just aren't interested.
 

poiuppx

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Nov 17, 2009
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oogabuga said:
I like that you rip SC2 apart when the escapist gave it a perfect score for a different review.

o_0
Realistically, if he hates the genre, he's going to hate the game more or less pre-emtpively. I have a great dislike for football-based video games; should I go buy the latest Madden title to see if my dislike still holds? He's probably just ripping on it, more than anything, because folks won't shut up about him reviewing it, and he's been down this road before. He doesn't want to review something, he is asked a million times to review it, he relents, reviews, and lambasts it, and then has to put up with the same people claiming he's an idiot for disliking a game he was forced by them to review.

OT, while I like Team Ico's work, I just never quite got into Shadow of the Colossus. Something about that wide empty world felt wrong to me, and while the fights were pure win, I found myself wishing they were in a game with a tighter world. I get the idea of leaving things ambiguous, but seriously, show me a LITTLE more of the setting at least. Give me SOME background info beyond 'Here's a temple, there's probably a demon, maybe I'll heal/revive her, go stab things, your horse is awesome'.
 

WiDEEyeDSmILes

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Aug 11, 2010
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Now I really need to buy a PlayStation.. it has so many good games.

Anywho I was wondering, Yahtzee, if you've every played Rule of Rose. It's a Psychological thriller for the Playstation, came out 2006 I believe.
 

Seneschal

Blessed are the righteous
Jun 27, 2009
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O___________________________O
I LOVE YOU, YAHTZEE, LET'S SPLICE OUR GENES AND HAVE VAT-GROWN SUPERBABIES.
 

Odjin

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Nov 14, 2007
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Isn't this getting a bit boring if you roam through empty space (in the sense of only landscape) and flooring 11 or whatever number of bosses there are? I mean what after that? Is this game really only 11 boss fights and that's it (well, except the lizard shooting he mentioned whatever this actually is).

Before packing out fanboy ranting keep in mind I didn't play that game (as I keep consoles as far aways as I can as they are unhealthy to games... see *cough*DX:IW*cough* and others) and am just asking a simply question upon seeing the description in the video and other saying mostly the same about this game.
 

wildcard9

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Aug 31, 2008
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Long, gameless summer, Yahtzee?

Review League of Legends! It's free, popular, and very newbie friendly!