Shadow of the Colossus
Well I’ve been waiting for Shadow of The Colossus for almost a year (see this post), being a big fan of Ico (the previous game from Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido) and completed it within a week of having bought it - 12 hours play time. If Ico is a puzzle game, Colossus is a platformer. Of course both have elements of other gaming genres, but in essense thats what they are.
There are potentially boring “travel to the monster” sequences riding out on the wiley, windy moors
on your trusty horse Agro, but by the end of the game it turns out this isn’t just about looking at the pretty, gloomy ruined landscape and practicing your equestrian skills, but actually about cementing an idea in the players mind so it can be narritavely and emotionally exploited. Games don’t often use the techniques of familiarity and expectation to engage players in such a dramatic way… …[more]