Wander-ing Again: Shadow of the Colossus in HD

Like some of
the other posts I’ve made here recently, this is not going to be a review of Shadow of the Colossus. I
have already done that at length, and my opinion upon playing through the
HD version was no different. Similar to Ico, Bluepoint Games and Sony Japan
Studio has given extensive care to a game considered by many as one of the best
games on PS2, though SotC didn’t need as much work as Ico since it came pretty
late last gen (which was in 2005, which makes you think about how long this
generation has been). The result is a game so graphically pleasing that it
outdoes many games made for PS3.

 

SotC serves
as proof that a good art style and aesthetic design is just as important as
graphical prowess, if not more so. The
game already looked fantastic on PS2, but you have to appreciate the team that
slaved over this game’s development and finely crafted a world that’s a
pleasure to explore. I personally spent much more time exploring the world and
climbing around non-mandatory places in this playthrough — though that was
part of my “why should I do everything exactly the same this time around?”
consideration, which led to finding more pieces of fruit and lizards to extend
Wander’s health and grip meters, respectively. Looking at it now will make you
keenly aware of why this game ran terribly on PS2 hardware.

 

In fact,
fixing the performance issues is where the bulk of the work went, and it shows
during the battles with colossi. The PS2 version had crippling framerate issues
during every single colossus battle, reducing the game to a slideshow when
things became too chaotic — the battles with the ninth and final ones suffered
the worst. The HD version has no such problems, which makes them much more
fluid.

 

Surprisingly
enough, this actually makes the game a little more difficult. The slowdown and
framerate issues actually gave the player more time to adjust and change
positions while atop the colossi. The situations are more fluid now, which
means the colossi feel faster, so the player will have to react a little quicker.
It’s difficult for someone whose muscle memory was acclimated to the PS2
version to adjust to initially, but you’ll adapt by the time the fourth or
fifth battle rolls around.

 

Playing SotC
immediately after Ico also revealed a few things, a few commonalities aside
from both games using the same fictional language.  In my review from three years ago, I
mentioned that SotC is light on cut scenes compared to many other games. I also
mentioned that Ico was the same way last week. After comparing the two, SotC
definitely has more cut scenes than its spiritual predecessor — especially
towards the end of the game. Despite that, it never beats you over the head
with its storyline.

 

The
performance improvements make SotC HD recommendable even if you’ve played the
PS2 version. It’s still mostly the same experience, but you never realized how good it looked while playing that
version, and the fixed performance issues make a big difference. It’s the game
you should show to everyone who thinks this HD remaster thing is a waste of
time for developers and gamers; a stark contrast to a lazy effort like The Splinter Cell HD Collection (or, to
a lesser extent, Resident Evil 4 HD).
If you haven’t gone through the game before, it’s considered a memorable
experience for a reason. Playing these only makes gamers want the oft-delayed The Last Guardian even more, which will
hopefully finally release in 2011.