Monday, April 9, 2007

Shadow of the Colossus - Defeated the twelfth colossus

One thing I have yet to mention about this game is the music. It is wonderful orchestral stuff that plays appropriately depending on what is going on. Ambient nature sounds play as you explore. Subtle exploratory music plays as you near the colossus. Fast, action music plays as you encounter the colossus. Urgent music plays when you are on the colossus, furiously hanging on by a thread as it attempts to shake you off. It is very well done and very appropriate. Occasionally, it is a bit unsettling as the music suddenly shifts from one theme to another when it doesn't expect to, say, get off the colossus.

I think the bull colossus (the eleventh) was the weakest one I had fought so far in terms of interest in the battle. There was little sense of urgency because he did very little damage when he hit me. Running into various corners to avoid him played hell with the camera - at times I was fighting more with the camera than the colossus. The conceit of getting the flaming torch and then scaring off the colossus with it just didn't make much sense to me. Especially because I could never actually leap onto its back right after it fell. Instead, I leaped onto it after it was chasing me around in the nature area, making the whole process seem totally unnecessary.

The twelfth colossus (beast with a turret on its head in the water) took me the longest time to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do. It was the first time I got the second hint from the omniscient voice - I didn't even know there was a second hint before this fight. I had actually figured out that you had to fight the colossus from a different place, but I kept trying to reach the bridge overhead. Once I knew what to do, it didn't take long at all.

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