The Last Guardian

2005 was a truly epic (pun intended) year for video games. World of Warcraft was just starting to take over the world and Modern Warfare 2 (which eventually did, becoming the best selling video game of all time in the UK and the second best selling in the US, depressingly) was still 4 years away.

The Playstation 2 was holding its own against the imminent release of the XBOX 360, and by the time the red ringed machine launched, Sony’s mighty but soon-to-be replaced rival still had no less than 10 AAA titles released from the back end of 2004 and going through 2005.

Today, the market is flooded with sequels, updates, DLCs, maps and probably other things I care not to know about, but in November 2005, Microsoft’s big black box SHOULD have been overshadowed (again, pun intended) by a game that is always challenging for the coveted title of the best game ever made. Anyone who says video games cannot be art need to experience this game.

That game is…

Shadow of the Colossus.

The game concept is pretty much as simple as they come, yet the themes and narrative imply religious and even existential connotations. No multiple playable characters, weapons, levels (as such), no complex dungeons to navigate or lengthy dialogue to endure. It is about a boy, with a sword, a bow and a horse for company. His task is to resurrect a girl due to her being sacrificed because she had a cursed destiny. He and his faithful steed must scour the games vast overworld in search of 16 Colossi and return to the Shrine where the girl lies in order to lift the curse.

This synopsis does little justice to a game where the plot and characters have infinitely more resonance by actually experiencing the game (which I encourage you to do). Notice that I didn’t use the word play. To just ‘play’ this game is like saying you just ‘hear’ Mozart or just ‘see’ a Picasso. The analogy might be difficult for some to comprehend, but I believe Shadow of the Colossus is one of the few cases that exemplifies that video games CAN be either an aesthetic, thematic or interactive art form.

Rarely does a game portray a genuine and visceral sense of isolation, self-reflection and the soundtrack generating an atmosphere normally associated with film, whilst technically showing what the Playstation 2 could do, in both environment, scale and character models. The Colossi are exactly that, creating a sense of scale truly unrivalled, arguably still to this day. God of War may have gone mental in the boss department, but ‘Colossus’ still makes a world and mythology from both eastern and western culture, while challenging contemporary video game vernacular that takes the player on a journey of discovery in a subtle, emotional and gorgeous manner.

In my opinion, team ICOs  games rival anything that Peter Jackson has committed to celluloid. This intimate story of one boy and his horse is just as impactful.

For a much better account of SOTC, check out Nick Suttners fantastic book, in an equally fantastic ‘Boss Fight Books’ series.