Tuesday 15 January, 2008

Gameplay

The game is very linear with virtually no side quests. Because of this I find myself pulled more to identify the character and his objective. It creates of a feeling of unison that is often lost with just pretty graphics and big guns. I find myself wanting to be immersed in the situation that the character is in.

The story unfolds in a character dependent sort of way. Each completed objective doesn't necessarily lead to new items, abilities, or even plot points, it simply brings the character closer to achieving his goal. In a way, the gameplay even reflects the character's attitude: his only achievement or goal is bringing this woman back to life.

Design

The design of the game seems pretty straightforward and simple which allows the player to jump right in to main character. There isn't a lot of confusing plot intermingled with difficult or complicated controls. There are just a series of basic controls that let you interact rather complexly with your in-game environment.

Simple attention to detail such as the controls for the horse make it so that you control a character controlling a horse instead of controlling a horse that your character is on. The horse even acts on its own as a normal horse might. If let run straight it will turn to avoid a hill or cliff. It's these subtle characteristics that don't treat the player like an idiot and allow them to submerge themselves even deeper into the game.

The details of the game environment is almost inspiring for a PS2 game. It contains very simple yet accurate backgrounds that pull the player into this world. At the same time the world is magical yet realistic.

(Nicolas Kent - Grader)

Your second Gameplay section sounds like its more about the game design. The game is basically broken up into: 1) finding bosses and 2) fighting bosses. What are each of of these parts like? How does the game make both of them fun? What about the design of the world and the nature and variation of the colossi that keeps what could otherwise be a very repetitive game interesting.

Most of the game is geared toward you connecting with the character, and you've done a good job of drawing attention to that. What else adds to this bond? In greater detail: how does the lighting and the layout of the world and the constant solitude force the player to attach themselves to the hero and horse? How does the way the camera frames the avatar effect the game? Shadow of the colossus does not continually bombard the player with overstimulation. What keeps it from boring modern americans with modern american attention spans? You've done a good job of summarizing these questions, but do you think there's something deeply psychological that causes all of these aspects to pull a player into the universe and what is it?

I've heard people comment that this game is unique in that it causes players to feel mournful...which is uncommon in games. Would you agree with this, would you disagree?