Shadow of the Colossus: Videogames can be Art

Everybody or most of us has a loved one for whom we would do whatever it takes to see them happy, even if it is necessary to make a sacrifice, since we appreciate their stay in our lives and every second with them is special, but what would happen if the sacrifice we have to make is too big? Would you do it? This is the case of the sad story in Shadow of the Colossus, for our beloved to open again her eyes again, we must murder innocent creatures throughout a vast world, in which we are simple invaders. Some call Shadow of the Colossus a video game, I call it an artwork and irrefutable proof that video games also belong to art.

Shadow of the Colossus is one of those video games in which the story is better played than told, so I will say just a little about it. In this adventure, we control Wander, a boy who wants to wake up a girl, so we will embark on a desolate world called the ¨Forbidden Land¨ to kill gigantic creatures called colossi, all in an attempt to make our girl open your eyes once more, sacrificing all the fauna of a world in a selfish desire.

In our search for the colossi, we will not be alone at all, since our horse, Agro, will help us to move quickly through the vast world that Shadow of the Colossu has to offer, enjoying beautiful views. In this world, there is no much to do, make no mistake and think that it is an open world game in which you have to do various missions, because the truth is that our only objective will be to find the colossi, how will we do this in such a huge world with no clue?

Fear not, because we will not have to explore the world without any idea where we are going, since we will have our sword to attack and defend ourselves, what does all this have to do with finding the colossi? Easy. We can raise the sword to the horizon and it will emit a bright light that will tell us where the colossus is, although this is not as easy as it sounds, since, despite the fact that the light guides us, many times it will be difficult for us to follow the light.

Apart from our sword that we will use to attack the colossi, we will also use a bow and arrows that will be at our disposal from the beginning of the adventure. Wander's movement may feel a little rough at times, our sword and arrow attacks will not be very firm and this is fine as it reminds us that we are a mere human against skyscraper sized colossi.

Once a colossus is found, the player must discover its weaknesses to defeat it. Each colossus dwells in a unique lair, and many colossus cannot be defeated without making use of the surrounding environment. Every colossus has at least one weak point, indicated by a glowing sigil that can be illuminated and identified by the sword's reflected light.

Each colossus has areas covered with fur or protruding ledges, which Wander may use to grip and scale the colossus while it thrashes about in an attempt to dislodge him. While scaling a colossus, the player must act quickly, as Wander has a limited stamina gauge that decreases while he hangs onto the creature.

In Shadow of the Colossus we can enjoy a beautiful orchestrated soundtrack, but this will only be heard during confrontations with colossi or cinematics, at exploration moments you will only hear ambient sounds whose objective is to make us one with the environment.

Shadow of the Colossus is one of those video games that once you play it, it stays in your mind forever and it is not surprising, with a colossal gameplay, soundtrack and well done plot, Shadow of the Colossus has managed to win the love from its community, it is one of those games that you must play if you have a PlayStation 2 or PlayStation 3, you can even play the remake that came out on PlayStation 4 that improves the experience to a colossal level. Please give it a chance, it´s worth the risk.