ICO versus SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
by Bruno Figueiredo
SHELTER FOR CREATIVITY
There is an emerging importance sprouting from video games these days, especially since the latest generation consoles were released in the market. Since this phenomena had its genesis back in the late 70’s, achieving a more solidified status in the early 80’s, the early technologies available back then only allowed a limited amount of creativity applied to these forms of entertainment. Programmers and designers always sought to take the maximum advantage out of these systems, attaining, at times, unbelievable results.
This industry was, and still is, very dependant on the progress of computer systems. With time, this form of entertainment grew popular, either in what has to do with arcade, coin-operated machines or home-entertainment systems playable in any living-room television set or computer monitor. A home entertainment system or video game console came to be an accessory easy to find beside the TV, along with the VCR or Satellite Receptor. The idea was to create an appealing line of products in two fronts: recreational spaces such as arcade rooms, galleries and play centres of all sorts, where players would empty out their pockets; smaller systems dedicated specifically to games, an alternative to personal computers and their installable games.
Video games went beyond the conception of a trivial and simple means to pass time or reduce stress – qualities often granted to this software. As the technical aspects became more and more complex, each video game became a challenge, heroes arose and the spaces, sounds and controls became more and more realistic everytime a new console appeared. Moreover, video games became an icon of the 80’s culture, and of the years to come. A cultural icon which had its own iconology. Progress was at hand: the width of colours available on screen grew higher as well as the availability of sound channels to explore. A key-moment was the appearance of the first fully 3D games, very blunt at first, nowadays able to recreate natural elements with high detail such as water, fire, natural and urban landscapes. Also, that which was harder to recreate: human beings and their complex set of emotions, behaviour and expressions.
No matter how much we’ve progressed in this field, there is the certainty that none of these technologies is definite. Evolution, in what comes to this field of technology, is constant and dynamic – it never ceases and is impossible to stop now. For those who’ve been around the last few years and paid attention to this wonderful world, it’s astonishing how everything evolved and changed. But for some, this form of entertainment remains ignorable, especially for those who often label video games merely as toys. Others, who think of it as a modern-day menace, focus only on specific elements associated to video games: violence, disturbing imagery, supposed addiction, social repercussions, etc.
None of this is important, of course, since every other form of entertainment available in the market is criticised by some and praised by others. What is important to this fairly young industry, in general terms, is that this evolution enables creators to find better tools to develop their ideas and thoughts and apply their own styles, making it more creative and artistic within its own means. Some even claim that video games have become a new form of art – a sterile discussion, at least in my point of view.
The available systems already do allow some creators to deviate from the established patterns of video game making, and a minority of players around the world already expects them to do so. These unconventional games, where the original aesthetics and profound concepts prevail, are bound to increase as the next generation consoles arrive and to continue setting the standards for quality which the video game industry desperately needs – more than an external approbation from the authorities of those which are regarded to be the quintessential forms of art and arty forms of expression.
A MATCHLESS EXPERIENCE
While few examples can be given, at present, that video games are, indeed, an exceptional means of creation, holding an almost-infinite number of possibilities, where interactivity is, unavoidably, the key-element, some games are already available in the market that consist of solid evidence that a video game, when carefully crafted, can stand out as an experience unlike any other. This text is based on two of the most ingenious games ever to be seen, both technically and artistically. Both games are extremely advanced in terms of mechanics and story and have, in my own opinion and that of many others, revolutionised, through different approaches, the way we see video games presently. I am referring to, of course, ICO and SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
It is important to have in
mind that these were games created in
Also, another aspect to be taken in consideration when talking about ICO and SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS is that they run on a single platform. This is extremely important as exclusive games – or simply exclusives - are designed to take advantage of a certain hardware, knowing its qualities and compensating, cleverly and skilfully, its flaws. This is no secret. A video game that is released for many platforms can achieve great quality, but it’s almost certain that it will be technically inferior to the exclusives. These games, solely designed to run in one specific system, tend to create, altogether, the main image that one given system presents to the general public. The wider and more varied the catalogue is, the bigger the public.
AUTHORSHIP
To most players, it has never occurred that the game which they’ve spent the last couple of week trying to finish is, indeed, the result of many long months, even years, of hard work. Authorship is often ignored in this fast-paced world of consuming and discarding. How many of us actually take the time to regard the credits behind each game? Few, in fact. Programmers and game staff in general have learned to congratulate themselves only because their game has sold a lot and/or has shown to have been played by many. Numbers, again. What about the people that stand in the shadow?
Lately, we’ve seen some efforts in order to give more importance – deservedly – to those behind the games: the authors. Yes, because unlike many do think, video games have authors, specific people who have specific ideas and work performed. Moreover, some authors have distinguishing marks and create unique games bearing their creative identity, recognisable to the trained eye of the most passionate video game players. To help bring these people to the surface, many video games started to implement bonus contents such as interviews and making of features. These help the gamers understand the processes, the stages of work and the faces behind the games they play. Names such as Myamoto[1], Kojima or Molineux are frequent among video game player’s discussions, magazines and internet forums, to name a few.
To most players, the name Fumito Ueda was completely unknown until late 2005. For those who skipped ICO, one of the most inspiring games ever, he only came to be known due to his second game, SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, which was far more publicised than his previous games, earning him a solid reputation and recognition around the world – which is to say, in essence, the video game world. But for those who’ve been paying more attention to this industry, his name could already be seen in titles such as WARP’s ENEMY ZERO. Of course that, back then, he was but a CGI artist, but it is relevant to underline that he worked with outcast game creator Kenji Eno, head of WARP, responsible for some of the most ignored and underrated games in the west. Games like the D saga and ENEMY ZERO will tell much about this software house’s modus operandi and unusual themes. Eno is also the score composer in some of his games.
Thus, it makes perfect sense that Ueda, being influenced by this incredible video game forerunner, also came to spread his wings and, eventually, surpass the work of his tutor, so to speak. He managed to create two of the finest examples of video games ever to be seen. If their importance was recognised or not, that is another issue, but what matters is that their quality is inexorable, in spite of the critic’s opinion or sales index.
ICO
JUST ICO
Released in 2001, ICO tells us the story of two children who are trapped in a wide castle placed o 17217n1314r n a remote island. There is no setting of era or place and the background given to the characters is also very limited, if not non-existent. The game starts with an FMA[5] sequence where Ico, the horned boy, is seen being taken to a castle by masked soldiers – presumably – and is left in a small stone cocoon, among hundreds of cocoons planted in walls. When the soldiers leave this room they seal it by moving the ground in order to prevent the access to the door. When the ground moves, Ico’s unexplainably loose cocoon falls from the wall, due to the tremor, and cracks – as Jung would put it, a (happy) synchronicity in favour of our character. This is where the game starts, and where the player takes control of this strange character’s actions. Later on he will stumble upon a mysterious girl trapped in a cage speaking a different language which we do not understand. This is why there is so little dialogue in this almost mute game - an ode to values which go beyond language as it will be discussed later on this text.
It is not easy to describe this game in few words, simply because no matter how much you write about it, it will always seem like a misinterpretation or devaluing of the game. Still, it is possible to try and write down some of the most important aspects, having in mind that the full experience can only be achieved by playing the game, obviously. This is an adventure game with a little hint of action to it, where solving quick puzzles is the key to survival. Ico is a young, agile boy who can perform big jumps, acrobatic stunts and wield a stick or a sword, later in the game. As for the female character which we try to save, Yorda, she is a beautiful yet fragile girl whose skin is pale white and glitters a light of her own. Her greatest skill is that she seems to be able to open certain entrances blocked by strange stone idols. We do not control this character since it has an A.I. [6] script of its own. Together they must escape the castle, avoid both natural and artificial traps, use their skills to overcome hazards.
What strikes a deep impression from the first moment is the total absence of meters of any kind. There is no specific graphical layer dedicated to them and the menus are minimalist. Secondly, and this aspect is by all means original and innovative, one of Ico’s main actions is to hold hands with Yorda: this action has to do with the game’s mechanics but has also a large amount of symbolism. By pressing the R1 button in the pad when Ico is near Yorda, they will simply reach out of each other’s hands. When holding, the player will be able to continue playing, walking around normally, only that now he is also choosing which way Yorda goes. Also he can feel Yorda’s pulse, through the vibration of the controller. If the button is pressed from afar, Ico will shout in order to call her and bring her near him. Also, on ledges, the button will make Ico assume a receptive position where he might help Yorda to climb an obstacle or perform a risky jump. This is the kind of co-operation the game comprehends.
A CASTLE OF A KIND
The space where ICO is played varies between closed and open spaces. Most of the castle’s vicinities are a mix of both, being limited in space but most of the times open to the exterior, to the sky. Some rooms are closed and dark. Others are beautifully lighted. In any way there is a deep sense of solitude and desolation, especially when we find out that evading the castle is not as simple a task as one might think it is. There is only one (safe) exit, through a gate that leads to a drawbridge. The gate requires a lot of work to open – we must activate two sunlight reflectors that will redirect the light towards two sensors. When both are activated the gate opens and the bridge is drawn.
Saving points are also scattered around the castle. These assume the form of settees made of rock where both characters sit and rest. This shows and acute sensibility from the creators, which can also be sensed in the nostalgic music that can be heard while the Save? option pops up. If the characters are left resting for too long, they will eventually fall asleep peacefully, together.
This is a space unlike any other. The predominant architectural solutions used in this castle resemble that of medieval constructions: a large fortified building with tall solid walls and towers. But, as it usual in this sort of game, there are original elements as well and most players will be amazed to find a huge windmill placed in what seems to be a wide terrace, embracing both natural and artificial elements.
HARNESSING THE POWER WITHIN
There are other elements to this castle which go beyond mere spaces. There is a sensation of a subliminal power flowing within it, a spectrum in which our fellow escapee seems to inhabit. She doesn’t hold the key to the castle as she is the castle, herself. That space is the same as her and evading that space is like evading her own life. Strong evidence to this argument is given in two of the rare sequences during the game, both of them taking place in the hallway leading to the gates of the castle: in both episodes, Yorda, being led by Ico, trips and eventually tumbles, only a few steps away from the exit. In the first sequence this occurs, the gates are closing and so Ico chooses to stay and help Yorda than to keep running and break out. This is where we learn that the gates must be opened once again.
The second time this happens is once the task of opening the gates is finished – some game hours later, of course. Again, we approach the exit and Yorda will trip once more and eventually collapse. This shows that, as the Queen adverted earlier; she cannot run away from this place, that there is an unseeable bond between her and the castle, yet very perceptible in both occasions.
Other characters dwell in this building: the Queen, an ambiguous characters, supposedly mother to Yorda – she is similar in a way, although she is covered, on the outside, with darkness – who forbids Yorda, the heir, to leave the castle; the foes, human-like creatures often winged, who are made of pure darkness. These figures or vultures resemble volumetric shadows. They appear out of nothing and their function is to abduct the fragile girl and bury her in their own darkness. At this point the player can either continue to fight these foes or go to the rescue. If she’s not saved quickly, a darkness outburst will cover the scenario and the game is over. Fighting is an important part of the game, though not very weighty and prolonged as there are no weapons other than a wooden stick and a sword[7], no complicated moves or combos...these are panic battles where positioning is the most important aspect to have in mind.
The very place where the game starts, a huge room full of small stone cocoons, is awkward and unique. This room has a very specific purpose which is to entrap little boys with a peculiarity: the possession of horns in their heads. They seem to hold a power that can be harnessed through this apparatus, a power that is stolen from them for darker purposes. But Ico managed to escape his ill-fate and dreamt of a higher purpose for his life and for that of his friend. Many have been discussing the relation between both characters. I would say that unconditional friendship and, anon, love is the best way to describe it, since they hardly understand each other and come from different backgrounds and yet they get along so well as if they’ve known each other for years. At this time of their lives, their objectives coincided and thus came to exist this ethereal and transcendental relationship.
SEPARATION ANXIETY
At a certain point of the game, Ico is separated from Yorda as he falls off the drawbridge. Ico wakes up in a lower section of the castle and still he pursues his destiny, this time alone. There is a deeper sense of isolation through this section, now that Yorda is gone, after we got accustomed to have her near. This is, not surprisingly, a deliberate moment of tension where the player is invited to feel eager to find out how the story will end, since there is a strong sensation that the curtains will be falling some time soon.
Eventually, Ico finds his way to the place where his adventure began and finds that Yorda has already been sacrificed – he finds her petrified, motionless and bleak, surrounded by many dark entities, those found and fought during the game. The feeling of desolation here augments as the player is forced to defeat the remains of dozens of boys from his own, special breed, brought to this castle for the good of the people. Nonetheless, it also reinforces the notion of strength present in the bonds connecting Ico and Yorda, best friends and complete strangers, simultaneously.
To save her he decides to take on the Queen, omnipotent figure within this castle. With the aid of a special sword and his wits, Ico fights a battle to death in order to restore life to Yorda. When the Queen is defeated, the castle starts to fall and disintegrate. Ico is struck by a rock and is, ironically, saved by Yorda, this time covered in darkness. He is placed on a boat and sent forward, unconscious. The caste falls and Ico wakes up in a shore. This epilogue-like episode takes place on a beach where we, for the last time, take control of Ico, again alone. In this idyllic setting, there is an abrupt sense of liberty but also of deep sadness of lost, thus diminishing the joy of freedom.
On that very beach, not far from where our boat docked, there lies Yorda, motionless. To the last, Ueda wanted to create the sense of expectation that comes to a very simple question that will keep prompting in our minds: is she dead or alive? To our delight, the last shot this game shows is that of Yorda, laying on the sand, waking up, quietly, as if from a deep sleep, slightly moving her fingers. FIN.
SUBTLETIES
As any game of this kind, ICO is not without nuances and subliminal messages. Ueda chose to create a very own system of colours and sounds, of textures, spaces and a very concise and peculiar iconology. The first thing that strikes the eye is the fact that our hero is a young boy with horns on his head. Not that horned heroes are rare amongst video games, although that sort of hero description more easily fits that profile of a Role Playing Game than that of an adventure game of this kind – if there’s such a genre. These horns became one of the most interesting elements of the game, especially because the character himself realises that he was brought to the place where the game occurs due to his unconventional feature. He is aware that he is special.
Horns have all sorts of meanings if we look to the world surrounding us. They are part of some of the fiercest animals who charge ahead without thinking, who are strong and determined. Ico is much like this description as he finds no challenge to be big enough during the game, for he charges ahead, regardless of the countless set backs. In addition, horns have also been associated with divinity in some cultures throughout History, giving away a faint sense of a higher purpose related to our quest.
Recently, Fumito Ueda revealed that the horns Ico boasts were, originally just a visual marker in the early stages of the game’s production, in order to distinguish both characters: just a justification for the original choice of the horns and by no means a rejection to whatever theories. I try to match the game design with the storyline, so the story followed from the mechanics[8], said Ueda.
There is no point in thinking that science, or technology, should destroy that beauty and sense which art has characterised for ages now. Like the flower that is part of a thousand poems and paintings, it should not loose its meaning to us just because others, namely scientist, decomposed it and classified it. This same example can be applied here.
Colours are also important throughout the game. Firstly, the game’s colour palette exhibits a noticeable desaturation which would seem related to another aspect of the game, the absence of any meters whatsoever. How come? Well, because both are indications of an admitted attempt to distance ICO from other games. Meters are, apart from very rare exceptions[9], permanent in the video game world. Also, video games are distinguished, in their majority, by their strong and vivid colours. In ICO we perceive that there is a strong concern for the colours presented on screen, one of the first examples of video game cinematography and certainly one of the best.
Moreover, colours codes can be found at a very elemental and evident level. The colour black and the colour white’s antagonism works as one of the most basic structures here, not to be ignored, despite of it’s simplicity. There are characters which represent both colours and characters that don’t, so there a natural tendency to associate and dissociate justified merely on the colours they display. Yorda is mainly composed of glistening white, opposing to the foes, essentially presenting an opaque black. At the end of the game it makes perfect sense, if not before, that the foes we’re attacked by are the darker essences removed from Ico’s kind - Ico, himself, would have become one if not for that unexplained tremor which set him free and allowed him to free roam the castle. The Queen is an assortment of both back and white elements.
Ico shows different colours, more vivid than any other character appearing throughout the game, a possible reminder that the character we’re controlling is an absolute stranger, a foreigner to this environment and its very characteristic elements. He acts as an agent provocateur that tears down the imposed structure and questions the stipulated order. He is a revolutionary in his own way if you forget the common connotation to the word Revolution. Again, an acceptable opinion is that he dresses these colours for differentiation purposes, improving game play. Yet being ICO an ambiguous game, many interpretations can be built and such was the creator’s intent, clearly. Their game is very simple and reserved, having few characters, items and possibilities. Maybe the intention was to keep it simple enough for the player, giving away only a short amount of clues so that the player could create his own complex side of the game.
Light is also of the outmost importance. As consoles grew more powerful when it comes to apply light effects and light sourcing, designers and programmers sought to find ways to make the most of it. Looking back, few games have matched the quality of the light used in ICO. It does not mean that it has the most elaborate and complex light system available, simply because that is not a fact. What it does have is an exquisite use of light, indoor and outdoor. The player will end up spending much of his time, during the game, just to observe how the light enters a room, how the lighted areas and dark areas are splendidly represented, how the screen goes to an almost absolute white then the camera points to the skies, as if the player could almost feel himself bathed with light. Temperature can almost be felt. Also, the thin and stretched shadows of our moving characters, drawn in real time, are very picturesque and beautifully portrayed. Not to mention a scarce but impressive volumetric fog effect. When it comes to graphics, ICO has indeed set new standards for video games.
I could not end this part of the text mentioning music in ICO, since it is a subtlety itself, opposing to the sound effects. There are few themes to be heard during the game, and the few we listen to are played during the sequences. While we play, music takes a secondary role, for the sound effects take the lead. The places we visit in ICO are, mostly, spaces where there is much contact with the exterior. Given that the castle where we play is built as large as the island it stands on, it is almost constant the hearing of seagulls, strong winds as well as the sound of waves bursting from afar. Their quality is enormous, especially when heard with a proper sound system or headphones, for a more intense experience. Few games can tell to have such immerse sound effects.
The ending credits sequence is accompanied by a theme with vocals, entitled You were there. This soundtrack was released under the appropriate name of ICO: Melody In The Mist.
INFLUENCES
There is much to learn from the work of others. ICO reveals an effort to evade the ordinary video game experience, providing new ideas and concepts behind the age-old genre of adventure and exploration games. This does not mean ICO’s without influences. What those influences are will be harder to determine as there are not many comparable games, among the hundreds of adventure titles available in the in the eastern or western market.
OUTER WORLD , as it is known
in
Some also pointed out TOMB RAIDER as being a major influence, although I cannot see why, exactly. Probably because they’re both 3D games where the character explores temples and such remote locations, has to perform actions such as jump, grab on to ledges or pull levers. If so, then every game has to do with TOMB RAIDER, as it was, in its time, the first game to use 3D environments with such ambition and fine results, using great amounts texture mapping[11]. More direct connections are required as this approach is excessively generic and unfounded.
One major difference resides in the perspective over
the characters: while in TOMB RAIDER the camera followed Lara Croft from behind, in ICO the camera is fixed to
predetermined shots. It would be wiser to present Jordan Mechner’s PRINCE OF PERSIA, original
inspiration for Core’s game and also a major influence in ICO, I believe. PRINCE OF
The shadows we fight in ICO also bear a significant resemblance to a distinct lineage of French games. In ANOTHER WORLD, the character was accidentally redirected to an alien world, filled with these lugubrious beings of black matter whose sole distinguishable element was the eyes. Later on, Eric Chahi recreated his former universe in a more juvenile fashion in his highly anticipated HEART OF DARKNESS: not only did he reinterpret some of the earlier game’s mechanics as he created a series of enemies which are quite like those we’ve seen in it. The dark, moving vultures were even squashier and again the eyes were the only distinguishable element. Any of these two descriptions would match, perfectly, to the creatures we battle against in ICO
Gunpei Yokoi’s METROID is, no doubt, a reference to many a game designers, not to mention players. ICO relates to it because they’re both exploration games, given the obvious differences, where a deep feeling of loneliness endures, leading to a natural process of abstraction.
Some also point out the SOUL REAVER series as one of the most influential games behind ICO, although I, for one, can’t actually trace any similarity other than the occasional which can be found, probably, in any other game. The perspective resembles that of TOMB RAIDER, and the type of puzzles is also much similar to the Core/Eidos creation. More similar to the Crystal Dynamic’s saga of Kain and Raziel is SCEE Studio Cambridge’s PRIMAL, not only in what has to do with style, mechanics but also in the theme and concept. In this game there’s also a great deal of co-operation between two characters: throughout the game, the player can simply press one button to choose a character more suited to the needs of the challenge at hand, much like the underrated PROJECT EDEN or, digging deeper, the old LOST VIKINGS. Furthermore, lest not forget that the majority of these games here presented were released after ICO
Motion pictures may also have been of significant influence to ICO, indirectly. It is common to find some of the category of emotions compressed in this game in many prison movies. Could it be a mere coincidence that the game ends up on a beach, with a boat and a couple of friends meeting after a short intermission[13]?
As admitted by Fumito Ueda, the anime GALAXY EXPRESS was also influential as it might have been the triggering mechanism for the awkward choice of characters and the small gap in terms of their ages. Yorda is slightly older than Ico, possibly more than a couple of years. This sort of relation was also reproduced in another world-famous anime by Akira Toriyama, DRAGON BALL. The main character, Son Goku, is a very powerful young boy who is accompanied by silly Bulma, a character who depicts the shallowness, materialism and independence of Japanese teenage girls.
When it comes down to influences, ICO has lent as much as it has borrowed. Many games paid a well-deserve homage to ICO in their time, which is very unique in the underrated world of video games. The most flagrant example would be Kojima’s METAL GEAR SOLID: SONS OF LIBERTY. The influences are quite clear throughout the game, mainly in the Tanker stage that, in some concise aspects, resembles that mythical castle where ICO is set. Plus, there is a whole section of the game based on one of ICO’s foundations, which is the hero holding hands to the seemingly fragile companion. At a certain point of the game, Raiden, the main character, has to swim through a submerse section of the tanker where the game takes place to rescue Otacon’s sister, nicknamed Bee. When Raiden finally meets with her, she is very weak and almost unable to walk by herself. Our goal is to hold her hand and help her through the way, as she’s afraid of water. It is also easily understood why Kojima, one of the world’s foremost authorities when it comes to video gaming, chose to go all the way in order to praise Ueda’s work. Any designer within this industry that has played this game – and those who haven’t should rethink their carriers – must have felt either very fascinated, as I believe Hideo Kojima did, or envious, ruminating why haven’t they done that game. Such is not within everyone’s grasp, or so it seems.
But other games make their own subtle allusions: FATAL FRAME 2: CRIMSON BUTTERFLY is an example to which I would add other games such S.O.S. THE FINAL ESCAPE, a co-operation-based game where a boy and a girl are trying to escape a city being destroyed by an earthquake, or even HAUNTING GROUND also known as DEMENTO. In a broader sense, it’s almost possible to think of a minute post-ICO generation of games[14].
Many of the brilliant games we see today share one common aspect: their primitive roots belonged to an older system and due to the release of a newer and more powerful piece of hardware, they were either adapted or abandoned. ICO is one of those survivors who started off as a 32-Bit game and that ended up being refreshed, or in some aspects remodelled, in order to be released in a 128-bit system. Other major games have accomplished that, something which tends to happen when the project is being developed in the last years of the console who’s about to be replaced in the market for another. Examples of that are Nintendo’s ETERNAL DARKNESS, developed for Nintendo 64 or Yu Suzuki’s SHENMUE, developed, initially, for Saturn.
Japanese players are more fortunate than the rest of the world’s, as they have access to the best game editions, the best packaging and the most extras. In one such DVD stuffed with clips and info, footage of the early Playstation version of ICO appeared. Its concept was very much the same in terms of gameplay, although the characters were very different. Ico was practically the same, and even the animations were maintained, only sharpened up. The Castle seen in the final game didn’t exist, or at least not as a castle, although the vicinities are pretty much the same – the gardens, gondola section and interiors. One of Playstation’s best characteristics was the FMV displaying, better than any other console until the date. Ueda and his team did use this power in order to improve the storytelling mechanisms, all of which is verifiable in the lost ICO footage. Apart from Ico, another horned creature appears, as well as a young boy, entirely human, or so it seems. In another FMV section we see an overview of what seems to be a city, where a greater building oversees all the others.
The enemies were also different, tall and armoured creatures that tried to take the boy away from Ico who fights them with a stick. Surprisingly, there is no sign, whatsoever, of shadowy figures or Yorda, which attests to the fact that the shiny girl and dark creatures were a concept materialised out of one single idea. Apart from some larger scenarios, ICO keeps on being a game where space is limited, possibly a consequence from the early design, as the 32-bit console could only manage a limited amount of polygons at a time. The light effects and lens flare were already there, though.
As a player who dedicated many hours to this game as it is, watching an early version creates a strange feeling within me. Most of all, I got curious because I wanted to know a lot more about the initial concepts and why they ended up being removed and replaced.
The contribution of Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico is also very heavy on this game and couldn’t go unnoticed. There are many similarities between this game and the work of this unique artist that lived most of his life and produced most of his work throughout the twentieth century. First, we must assume that Ueda, being an artist himself, having studied art through the years, is an enthusiast of painting, namely that of Chirico. This influence was even admitted in an interview when Ueda said that the surrealistic world of Chirico matched the allegoric world of ICO. The Japanese and European covers of the game share one image, drawn by Ueda himself, which is an intelligent homage to the work of the Italian painter, using the same colours, contour, very strong shadows, perspective, characters and oneiric space.
But not only on the cover does Ueda show Chirico’s major influence for the game. It would seem appropriate to believe that his creations have been deeply influential even to the design of the world we explore in ICO: the train rails, the towers, the figures, the picturesque shadows, all of these elements have more or less been influenced by the surrealistic world of Giorgio de Chirico.
I even dare say that the name ICO was, in a very early stage of vague sketches and seedling ideas, caringly given after the name of Chirico. Fortunately, the name was maintained until the game’s release, which points out the creator’s concern to conserve this equivocal clue, so indispensable in order to fathom some more of the game’s design and concept.
Also, the Italian etcher and architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi was indicated as a major influence to the construction of the castle and other venues.
ENDING THEORIES AND FINAL OBSERVATIONS
In a game where the story is left out to be created by the player, there is some margin for wild theories, which does not justify the innocence and silliness present in some texts written on the subject and that can be found, mostly, online.
It does seem clear enough what happened to Yorda in order to appear alive on the shore: the only thing that kept Yorda from escaping the castle was the castle itself, in the form of some strange incantation. At first, the Queen character underestimates the power of Ico as she takes no action against him even after she realises his plans - either that or she does acknowledge his threat and only tries to persuade him, avoiding a precipitate confrontation. Furthermore, the Queen, while not showing any affection for Yorda, doesn’t hide the fact that she depends on her to carry her legacy on. This necessity justifies that curse which confines Yorda to the narrow space of the castle. When Ico defeats the castle keeper, the curse is lifted. Yorda managed to escape the falling chunks of rock and either swam as far as she could or merely fell unconscious to the sea, being dragged to the shore by the forces of nature. It doesn’t matter how. And the rest is already known.
Much like the introduction to the game, the ending is also open, widely, to different interpretations. ICO is a purposely limited game where the player is rarely given any information on the origins of the characters or the spaces, but where the notion of escaping the boundaries is constant. There’s an imposed desire to get away, which works also as a strong motive to carry on playing the game. The player is likely to empathise with the characters as they were caught in a situation they didn’t ask for, unlike most other infant adventures where the characters cause, directly or indirectly, the danger factor in the story. This is not a joyride. Never do we see Ico or Yorda laughing or playing like usual kids. They are often seen amazed with each other, trying to reach, or suffering, melancholic, frightened but not outwardly upset, for they, being of exceptional nature, immediately place survival in front of anything else. For this reason they carry on, for this reason they act, instead of hiding, waiting for this living nightmare to wind down.
More than just a technical achievement, ICO has become a myth within the video game world due to its originality, exceptional contents and profoundness, despite of its apparent simplicity in comparison to other inconsequentially complex games. This is a significant game that has captivated, religiously, a group of avid players who admit, willingly, that this is a game unlike any other. It has risen the level of video gaming, despite being ignored for many years and being underrated by the critics. Time, as it happens with most of the greatest masterpieces in different artistic areas, will reveal this game’s true value – a process which, in fact, has already begun.
A BRIEF, PERSONAL NOTE
I’ve always been a fan of video games for as long as I can remember. Once in an arcade room when I was very young – too young to go in alone – I remember seeing a game which no one played, for that was not a pinball game, not a car or fighting game. It was a strange adventure game where a white sprite in the shape of a man went through temples, much like PITFALL, only it was a different game. I was so intrigued for the game, so startled... I couldn’t understand the reason why that character was in that perilous temple, why he could perform those actions and why no one played that game in order to, somehow, answer these questions. As I said, I was too young. Until this date I still haven’t found what game this is, if it even matters. Maybe it is better to leave this game’s glory in my memory other than spoil it by replaying the game today, probably in my computer with some awesome emulation software.
Adventure games become my favourite early in my life. The moment I played Jordan Mechner’s PRINCE OF PERSIA I was certain that it was the best game at the time. I played it in my Master System II, and it is also funny that I remember getting the game through a risky mail exchange with a perfect stranger who advertised in a known magazine at the time. I had the cartridge at home, waiting for me, while I was spending my vacation with my parents at the beach.
From that time I’ve never stopped playing games. ICO aroused me from the moment I saw the first pictures but at the time I didn’t own a Playstation 2. Ever since I saw it I wanted to hold it, to buy it but at the time, cash wasn’t plentiful. Some time ago, probably a year ago, I went to my favourite thrift store and found it. That day I also purchased a Playstation 2 of my own, since the one I’d been playing the last years was my brother’s.
The way I came to purchase the game was also very
ironic. At the time I wanted the attendant to open the cabinet where the game
was I noticed that someone, that had come before, had already set his eyes on
that 17,50 € bargain. I had to impose myself in my
From then on I came to admire the game so much and its creators very much. The way I see games has also changed, and I became more proud of being a video game player all these years, knowing that this process of creation has already shown so much. Not only did ICO become one of my favourite games ever, as it inspired me to write about it, specifically, and video games in general. Hence this text and the website.
SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
BROADENING THE HORIZONS
Incorporating much of what was previously seen in Fumito Ueda’s first title, THE SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS raises gaming experience to a whole new level. In a time when next generation consoles seem to be the main issue, Ueda’s second instalment on the Playstation 2 turned the public's eyes once more towards the fact that we haven’t seen the last of this console and that indeed there are many qualities in it that have remained unexplored. Like any other console.
Three years have passed. Ueda has chosen to create a different experience than his previous, larger, in scale, more action-oriented and this time with the appearance of meters when needed[15]. The technical aspects have improved as well. Game producer Kanji Kaido spoke about a new feature being developed exclusively for this game, called organic collision deformation. Since the game’s fighting scenes involve the character having to climb and walk upon the animated colossi, a system had to be invented that allowed their polygon structure to be solid enough in order sustain this kind of interaction, without collision detection errors and other graphical flaws. Likewise, other technical minutiae are also present in this game like fur shading or an elaborate particle and decal system.
These features do weight very much on the final result of the game but in my opinion they only serve as a means to an end which we’ve visited before when we first played ICO. What has, in effect, been improved are the devices used to tell the story. Many hoped that this game’s story would be in continuity with that of ICO. Amazingly, the so-called Team ICO went the other way around.
SOME MOUNTAINS ARE SCALED. OTHERS ARE SLAIN.
SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS was one of the most awaited games in 2005/2006. When the first screens showed up, there wasn’t much to left to do but to be astounded with the size of the colossal characters and scenarios. It is important to bear in mind that, at this early stage of the game’s development, the name that was presented along with it wasn’t very descriptive – as it indeed came to be. By then it was known as NICO which, in Japanese, means ICO II[16].
Many rumours hit the web-forums, coming from eager
players who devoured the first instalment. Along came the videos, and then more
speculation. Months after, the game was given a different title, most likely
because the provisory one wouldn’t be too sellable. It turned out that the
second title, final in
One can only wonder why such a title was given. Not
that the word colossus didn’t fit the
imagery seen so far, but the name Wanda sure did raise some pertinent questions.
The first screens to be released showed a different and more effeminate
character than that which we can control in the final version. After all,
androgynous characters aren’t hard to find in modern
Deficient translations, mishearing or misperceptions
are the most plausible causes to what happened. As I said, this was the final
title to the Japanese market but, to avoid confrontations and more rumours,
they chose to release the game in both Europe and the
All this wave of rumours and theories are common in
the times preceding the release of an expected game. More than just
speculation, it is an important advertising manoeuvre in which the players
become more and more eager to lay their hands on the final products as soon as
they’re released. Also worthy of note was the game’s strange marketing campaign
in
A RULE THAT WAS BROKEN
Through the rough paths of a mountain, a young man, carrying a weighty load, is accompanied by a pitch-black horse that, fearfully and carefully, helps him during the long journey ahead. Through night and day, rain and sun they ride, they seek a place where they have never been before. On the horizon draws a great entrance to a temple, bathed by an intense light. Through the thin opening, once more to be bathed by the ever-glowing sun, both man and horse enter a land which was forbidden to all. Crossing a monumental bridge that spreads across a vast plain, they reach to a shrine. The rider dismounts the horse and removes the load which he brought wrapped in a coverlet. Under it lays a dead, young girl which the unknown rider places upon an altar or resting place.
Someone had told him, probably long ago, that in the
This is not an adventure some medieval knight chooses to endure for honour and glory, nor is that girl the maiden in need of rescue in the castle tower, crying out for help. Once that (western) conditional model is removed from the mind maybe some could try to understand the game. I disagree with most of the publicity and especially with the unfounded opinions of many reviewers who failed to understand the profoundness of this game’s plot devices and repercussions. How can such ignorant subjects be apt to write a single word about a game they’re unable to comprehend?
In fact there is not much to hold on to in order to understand the full picture except for the game itself, the previously released ICO and our very own sense of creativity and imagination. If one lacks the last, it’s better to forget a game where the creators count on you to think the events over and over until you come up with a solution that satisfies you, as long as you never hold it to be definite or untouchable, for no theory is without flaws. Many played this game and were even very fond of its technical aspects or gameplay – and the product’s goals are also recreational - but few understood it for what it is, truly, revealing that most video game players are not ready for this kind of video game experience. If anyone ever though that console and computer games are designed for the illiterate, this game proves them absolutely wrong.
FOLLOWING EVENTS
The game that follows these beautiful FMA sequences is based on a very simple mechanic: raising the sword by the light, finding the way to the colossus to be defeated next, return to the temple and repeat the process. It is possible to access a map which is clouded at first but that becomes clearer once we explore the land. Most players will question the total absence of enemies, except for the colossus. Ueda explains this option by saying that he, being a video game player as well, is more captivated by the boss fights which, in fact, give the game it’s essence and challenge. Usually, boss fights present larger enemies, harder to defeat, requiring more advanced strategies to defeat. The colossal enemies present such a challenge to the player. The path towards them is hard to find and the player must learn their mechanics in order to defeat them in their own environment. The surroundings are essential allies in some fights where our wits and reduced weaponry and resources are not enough.
This may seem a little rough to say but, honestly, we are in the presence of a fairly easy game, especially for those who’ve been around video games for long. There is some challenge to it, mainly in the second time it is played – also known as hard mode. Also, it can be considered quite short, much like ICO, lasting no more than 10 to 12 hours the first time it is played and half of that when in hard mode. In the optics of a reviewer, this aspect is considered to be a flaw in a game. I can’t understand why, since adventure games are not known to last more than this long. This is a story-based game, not a mission-based game, like an RPG or some hybrid Adventure/RPG or Action/RPG games available on the market. It would be reasonable to say that, being the game so good, many would have wanted it to last some more hours. But to say it is less good due to its length it is like saying that THE DA VINCI CODE is a better book than Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE because it has more pages! I figure that the question here is not the time, but the quality of the time spent playing the game which, in both cases, ICO and SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, is some of the highest ever to be seen.
Also worth of note is the fact that this game is more abundant when it comes to dialogues than it’s predecessor, especially during the introduction to the game, where there is a fairly large dialogue between Wander and the Dormin. Throughout the game, it will cease to be a dialogue, as the Dormin will only announce the next battle and Wander will remain silent for the rest of the game, curiously. He will only call out of Mono and his very own horse, which does tell much about this character’s limited acquaintanceship, but also of the society which this character lives on. In any case, it is visible that the amount of dialogue used was meticulously weighed in order to fit the purposes of the designers.
COLLAPSE
The ending sequence for SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS is probably the best to be seen in years, if not the best ever. Again there is room enough for a plethora of theories, observations, silly questions and even sillier answers. The internet is filled with them wild guesses and brainless remarks. I don’t subscribe to most, although some of them do show an great amount of thought and plausibility.
I remind the reader that everytime a colossus is defeated, our character grows stronger, but his aspect also reveals his progressive downfall, as he becomes more and more possessed by that darkness to which he is exposed. Sometime during the game, a sequence shows a group of men riding horses, being led by a man whose mask we see in the introduction of the game: the same face who warns our character of the perilous land which he chose to trespass. This character, named Lord Emon, wears clothes very similar to that of our character, though more intricate, revealing a higher hierarchy than that of our character. Emon will play a very important role in the end too.
Also, our very own horse, Agro, has also a strange fate, since he falls from a collapsing bridge just before we enter the last colossus’s area. This dramatic scene shows the affection between characters, Wander and his steed that actually saves him from falling, at the price of his own life.
The last battle is much like any other, only the colossus is much bigger than any other, and he is stable on the ground, like a tower. At this time, the weather changes: rain starts to fall and wind blows violently as the thunder also blasts from the darkened skies. Similar to what was seen in the last scene in ICO when he falls from the bridge and wakes up in some cages hanging from some rock in a lower part of the castle/island structure. Both games are played, mostly, in good, sunny weather, although this race towards the end is accompanied by the dripping water.
After defeating this enormous creature, Emon arrives to the shrine only to watch the last idol shatter. It is too late, now. He hurries to the altar place and prays. While doing so, his subordinate notices that Wander appears, once more, in that temple, only now he is more decadent than ever, and the state of his body has changed drastically – to the point he has small horns in his head. Emon recognises these horns and what happened here, ordering the men to pull him out of his misery. Wander is struck by arrows and by the sword, which he removes from his own chest using his hands. If he died here or not is a useless question, as he hasn’t been himself for a long time. The power of Dormin within him is startled and this giant beast finally awakes, revealing himself. This time, we play with the colossus, ironically, and find out how hard it is to defeat men who now seem so small and untouchable. The outcome of this sequence is always the same. Emon and his men manage to escape, going back to the pool, ascending the stairs and head for the bridge.
At this time, Emon casts some sort of spell and throws the stolen sword into the pond. The huge creature diminishes and regains the form of our character, now covered by darkness. Here, the player takes control once more, as he is pulled towards the temple, inevitably, no matter how much one tries to hold out – Wander, video game’s most stoic hero, will always fall for the panacean trap laid for him. The temple’s enormous bridge starts to disassemble at this very moment, and starts to fall, little by little. Emon and his men ride their horses to the fastest they can and manage to reach the other end of the destroyed bridge.
It’s a very important moment, when Emon speaks, while gazing the land from the same point it was first seen in the intro. He says that should Wander survive this incident, if it is even possible to live within this land, may he atone for his transgression someday. And maybe that’s what ICO is all about, an unconscious penitence from a boy carrying a heavy burden from birth.
Back to the temple, Mono awakes, alone in a place which she doesn’t know. At this time she is possibly thinking she is in the other world beyond life, which is far from the truth. Agro, our horse, appears staggering and moving towards Mono. She also comes to the horse and touches him. Mono, while following the horse who’s trying to go upstarts, stumbles upon a horned baby in the pond, crying like a new-born. Could this be Wander? Or is it Dormin? Could it be both?
The horse will drive her to the top of the temple, in which a garden lies, with flowers and animals, with colours and life. Mono holds the horned baby who seems peaceful. There is a contrast between the grey world which we discovered during the game and the cheerful garden at the top of this temple. There is a deer[19], there is a squirrel and there are various birds, one of which sets out flying through the land. This bird resembles that which flew through Wander when he was arriving through the temple, and is now flying, freely, showing the player a way out of this land into the end of the game.
AWAKENING
The colossus are probably the most important element of the game, as they are the enemies which me we must defeat, the living representatives of the temple idols in a land of meagre fauna and yet of an abundant flora. The living creatures surrounding us are scarce but are organised in a very peculiar parallel, interestingly enough, which will be analysed later on.
These gigantic creatures are very ambiguous as to their purposes and composition. Kanji Kaido, the game’s producer, stated in an interview that he wanted to leave it up to the player to determine whether the creatures were animals or machines. Their eyes are shiny blue, almost pixelated and certainly not organic. Also, their existence raises some major questions: when they are found, the colossus are either sleeping, buried, hidden in small spaces or they can also appear moving or standing still in their own, limited habitat. The fifth colossus appears hovering over us when we reach the area in which we must defeat him. While it is, indeed, flying as we get there, he, being able to move freely through the skies, does not abandon that limited space, even after being threatened and attacked. Most colossus don’t attack us unless we whistle at them or call them some other way. The impression one gets is that they only exist so that someone can fight them in that small area, in this case, us.
Their movements have been exceptionally well-captured as the colossus, being of a size much bigger than that of our character; move much slower, though with much more impact: their footsteps shatter the ground, their blows make the land tremble and their flights create winds and lift up the sands. All of them can be climbed, or mounted, as the objective is the same for all: search for a weak spot in the shape of a shiny emblem that lightens up with our stolen sword and strike as many times as needed until the colossus falls down.
Some of the colossi are also smaller, which is to say the size of an elephant, for instance, thus moving much faster. Their morphology follows a very strict code which can be understood if we explore the land more thoroughly. Valus, Gaius, Barba, Argus and Malus[20] resemble a human figure of a warrior which, in this case, could be modelled after our very own hero. Some even hold a weapon in the right arm like Wander. Another type of colossus is similar to our horse, riding on four legs, in this case Phaedra. Avion, the fifth colossus finds his equivalents in all the flying animals of the game, doves, birds of prey and even the bats in the cave entrance leading to the tenth colossus, Dirge.
While making the way to the eight colossi, Kuromori, there is a small pond which we must go through. In that pond, there can be found some eel-like fish. These are the parallel to Hydrus, Dirge and Phalanx, all of them snake-like colossus that move in water, land and sky, accordingly. As for Kuromori, the lizard-like colossus, he is very similar to the small reptiles that can be found in large number throughout the forbidden land. Basaran, the turtle-like colossus, finds his correspondent in the small turtles spotted in the deserted area north-west of the shine of worship.
Finally, the remaining colossus, Quadratus, Celosia, Pelagia and Cenobia all share the possession of horns like the colossal representation of Dormin in the ending sequence. But this system of parallels is more complex than I described. Some of these titans have similarities to more than one creature at a time and I only mentioned the basic rules. Pelagia, for instance, is both like the giant Dormin, but having a shell in its back also resembles the turtles or Basaran. During the process of designing, the creators came up with different ideas for each colossus, some of them very bizarre and uncommon. Yet instead of creating disperse creatures that didn’t follow any pattern, they chose to create a coherent pattern, reinforcing the idea that this game has a very unique iconology and group of references, which can be partially understood within the limits of the game’s hermetic and self-sufficient sphere.
Defeating a colossus is one of the game’s key-moments and that dramatic intensity is best portrayed in the European version of the game, undoubtedly the most refined version of the game’s program, also with a packaging worthy of comparison to the Japanese version. In this definite version, exclusively, the last time a colossus is stroke is displayed in slow motion, so as to emphasise that movement, but also the relief of having defeated the enemy. The following sequence will show the colossus, lifeless, now without light in the eyes, falling or drowning, then fading to blackness, much like the effect seen in ICO when Yorda is left for long in the black holes on the ground. This moment is solemnly accompanied by one and the same music, a music which will also accompany our characters demise later.
Not only do we take the life out of the colossus as that same life, the blackness that gushes out from those enormous vessels when stroke with our sword, also takes our own life - or borrows it. Whatever happens, after being struck by it, we find ourselves awaking in the temple where we began, only to watch the statue of the defeated giant being shattered, listen to the next foe’s description, given by the god in charge and set out for the next battle.
Of all that has been said the past months, the vessel theory, in which the colossus are described to be a vessel of some sort, created from the land, in order to imprison the essence of that restraint god called Dormin, and impeding him to enjoy the integrity of his own being, seems to be the most coherent. Whether the colossus are living, breathing animals or simply machines, probably crafted through some sort of spell, created from the land, this theory still maintains its strength. I, for one, think they are a combination of both elements, as they are created with elements both dead and living from the land: rocks, but also the grass to which Wander holds on to. Their purpose is merely to stand as a challenge for anyone who wishes to face them in the appropriate arenas, also designed for that purpose. The land which they inhabit is also designed in order to be an advantage in favour of a human willing to defy these titans. Such is best seen in the battles against Basaran, Argus or even Malus, to name a few. If this is true, than major questions are left out to be answered: who created the colossus? why was Dormin confined?; and, finally, who was the architect behind the spaces and buildings, all made to the human scale? Answers to these questions lie beyond objective reach.
What’s true is that the subjective depth of this game is immense.
A TRUSTWORTHY STEED
Apart from the main characters, Wander and Mono, a horse, named Agro, is also an essential presence in this game. Horses are very common within the world of video games, but no horse or, probably, animal, has ever been so well-reproduced, visually, as Agro is[21]. We had seen horses in ICO as well, in the introduction sequence, although their presence was brief and their animation was far from the results achieved in this second title. In the previous games, these horses that carried Ico to the castle were created with the help of motion capture, being the results only above average. Games like the DYNASTY WARRIORS series, DARKWATCH GUN, or ELDER SCROLLS IV: OBLIVION, to mention some, also made an attempt to create credible representations but the results weren’t too fancy either. In the case of SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, replicas were used, instead of real horses and, surprisingly, the animation came to be quite the best seen yet, even with titles solely dedicated to the equestrian sports.
The horse is, arguably, one of the hardest animals to animate as its movements are quick and complex. Agro has different moving stages, from still to gallop. He can also brake or rear on his hind legs then dash. He will come to our character when called by his own name. Some of Wander’s most flamboyant animations are made in co-operation with his fellow, resembling the sort of stunts seen in the circus such as riding the horse on foot.
What makes Agro so special and unique is not only the quality of it’s polygon modelling, animation, but also the importance this mount has in the game and its superb, individual A.I. script, decisive in the battles against the colossus. As it was said by the creator, the intentions behind the horse, more than just its admirable aesthetic and prestige within the animal realm, had to do with the large dimensions of the game’s field. In order to move quickly around the land the main character needed to have some means of transportation. None could be fitter than the handsome animal whose name, intriguingly, is the Greek word for field.
Agro is a large horse, especially for the character who mounts it, modelled, most likely, after a percheron, a large and draught French war horse[22]. It is brown in colour, and has a white mark in its head that resembles a diamond – or, if the player is saving the game file in a memory card where the file for ICO is present, the mark will be the I seen in the logo for ICO
Few times in a video game will a player feel such an intense experience as that which is felt when riding Agro. Summing it up: it is simply brilliant, perfect in the sense that there is no way to surpass the greatness achieved in this thorough reproduction of a horse. Not a mere horse, but an animal which has the quality of a character for which the player is bound to create a connection, to respect it as an admirable companion through the lonely and desolate times.
This is indeed a horse beautiful to admire not only when running but also when it is standing still, with its mane and tail waving in the wind. It is also touching to see that Ueda wanted to underline this connection between man and horse, by creating an action accessible through the circle button, in which Wander will fondle his mount, encouraging him and recognising their friendship. Agro is also decisive in the story of the game.
DEATH END
It is a fact that as soon as graphic processors started to deliver greater amount of polygon depth, creators sought to create bigger scenarios, recreate whole cities and heterogeneous worlds[23]. The aim is to produce a land wide enough for the player to feel immersed, get lost and to create in him the feeling that no matter how much miles he travels, there is always more territory lying ahead of his eyes.
In SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, a similar effect is produced. The classic example of a video game virtual city comprehends many polygon models to represent people or their means of transportation, whereas in this game, the land is almost completely absent of life. The idea of incorporating smaller opponents for Wander, as well as other non-playable characters over the land was discussed, but, in the end, that would only make this game closer to the online-RPG genre – in which NPCs are elemental. The intention, perhaps, was to divert from this archetype and break new grounds, suitable to the key-emotions the game is based: solitude and bleakness.
The result is, indeed, worthy of praising, as the landscape seen in this game is as massive as it is pleasing to the eye. Also, it evokes an ancient time and ancient people. First of all, the shrine is placed in the middle, overseeing almost every portion of land surrounding it. This construction of Babylonian proportions crowns a gigantic field where the most striking aspect, apart from its emptiness, is the topography. In no other game can we see a terrain with so much detail given to the surface of the land which isn’t just made of straight roads, plains and mountains. The geography and geology are probably the most realistic ever, with smooth transitions between highs and lows, plains swarming with rocks and hills. Also the paths across the mountains give a very likeable feeling that the ground is uneven, as any natural ground should be. The height that some climbable mountains or structures reach is vertiginous.
Secondly, the animals living within it create, altogether, a small but very elusive fauna that stand as one of the most important clues in order to comprehend and classify the colossus. Plants and trees can also be found, some of them actually growing fruits Wander can use to better his performance. One tree, awkwardly standing over the entrance to a tunnel, stands out as the largest tree in the game, although the ones on the lake before entering the tunnel where the colossus Kuromori is found, seems to be taller, though thinner.
Exploring the land is an obligatory procedure when playing the game and the terrain is, at times, deceiving, just as the map. The indication the sword’s light gives us is merely a direction to which we must head, although the most accessible paths are blocked and we must find other ways around. But when we reach those spaces where the colossi resided, we easily conclude that most of these are arenas designed to fight these specific enemies, other than a random, natural zone.
The variety of artificial elements to the land isn’t just narrowed to the Shrine of Worship as many other temples and disperse constructions can be seen. The temple where Kuromori lurks, resembling a many-stories high coliseum, the castle-like structure where Argus lives, the citadel where Cenobia rushes towards us or the top of the mystical construction buried in a lake where Gaius sleeps. All of these share one common aspect: they are remains, ruins of a forgotten era. Their presence in the land is though-provoking. It induces the player to question their purpose as well as the constructors who erected such magnificent and enormous edifices. Surely, long before the times in which this episode occurs.
When a colossus is defeated, a ray of light leading to the sky appears. The more colossus we defeat, the more rays will appear on the skies, pointing down the place where their remains – a huge carcass – are accessible for another reminiscent confrontation.
To the south of the temple lies the sea. In the south-west area of the map, a beach can be found through a path leading down to it. This beach is often said to be the same where the final segment of ICO occurs. Not that there is a direct connection, but it stands, in effect, as a prize for the curious player who explores all of the land beyond the colossi occupied areas. Other peculiar areas are available and ready to be explored, although the player who is seeking new items or a secret colossus should, immediately, forget his ambition, as there is nothing here matching his desire. What remains to be seen are more empty areas that will only offer new points of view to what has already known. For example, climbing the Shrine won’t reveal any major secret, though it allows Wander to return to the bridge and eye further into the land. Even here, the sensation of deep isolation is preserved, if not increased.
OMNIPRESENCE
Dormin is more important to these games that first thought. In order to establish that we must analyse the story of the game more or less thoroughly. When Wander reaches the temple and places Mono over the altar, some shadowy figures appear before him. These are clearly a resemblance to ICO’s enemies or, as we know now, the dark essences of fellow horned boys, refined and under the possession of the Queen. As they appear from the ground, Wander swiftly beckons Agro to move away as he raises his sword, reflecting a light which dissipates these creatures. At this moment, the skies are filled with thunder and a god, answering by the name of Dormin, awakes. He is immediately aroused by the sword Wander possesses and recognises that weapon for some unknown reason.
It shouldn’t be to unreasonable to affirm that these mystery shadows are indeed the first step of a pre-arranged trial. Our character has the sword, so we proceed, but let’s imagine, for a brief moment, that he didn’t: this might have been an obstacle harder to outdo. The sword is much like a key in this land, awakening Dormin, reflecting the light and defeating the Colossus.
And this is where the first connection with ICO appears. These foes are very similar to those who were seen in ICO. This, I think, is not without a meaning. Ueda was trying to remind us of those foes from his previous game, so troublesome and hard to defeat, at times. Well, this game is a whole new story... Wander defeats these with no trouble. He is warning the intelligent player that a whole new challenge is to come, much harder and larger, eventually.
He’s also “making fun” of his own game – not in a disrespectful manner. Other artists make the same when they want to break away from one creation to another: for instance, director Sergio Leone did so in Once Upon a Time in the West, when the three characters in the beginning, representing the three characters/heroes from his previous trilogy - though not interpreted by the same actors - are easily shot by the new hero from the actual movie, as if to cut himself loose from his bondage to those previous characters and motion pictures of his. Curious, isn’t it?
Dormin has a single voice, composed of at least two voices, one male and other female. Incomprehensibly, the female part withers as we play. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that Mono becomes more and more close to life as we defeat the colossus. Mono is always still, only her gown waving at the wind, although Wander, at a certain point of the game, dreams of her awakening, prophetically. Also, everytime a colossus is slain, a white dove appears near her body. Concurrently, another shadowy figure appears surrounding Wander’s body appearance in the temple.
If we take a closer look at the introduction sequence in ICO we will see or, even better, listen, to the guards who carry Ico to the temple say to him not to worry, for his arrest is meant for the good of his village. I will use this example as the basis to explain one of SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS’ most basic connections to the horned boy’s adventure.
This whole text is based on the assumption that when Emon cast that spell he made Dormin go numb, expelling him out of Wander’s body, which did not happen, at least not integrally, for Wander is purified to his most elemental self, back to his baby form. Not a regular baby, though: a horned baby. Those who got to play ICO might have spent some time searching for similarities, or even a connection, between the two titles. Some went too far and imagined that the forbidden land was the same place where the Castle from ICO was built, and they even found a group of silly evidence.
Dormin remained in the body of that baby which Mono found and, eventually, that baby grew and found its way out of that land. Ueda admitted that Wander and Dormin fathered that generation of horned boys from which Ico stood out. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS is, in fact, a very distant prelude from ICO. This outcast hero from this game, Wander, a character from which we know very little, except that he is an exceptional warrior, with an abnormal will to bring life to a maiden from which we know even less. Some well-founded theories state that Wander himself sacrificed the girl – we know she was sacrificed, but nothing else. If he knew her well or not, if they had any kind of relationship whatsoever, that cannot be told. All that is said in the game is that she had to be killed for some reason, because she was cursed. What curse is also impossible to determine. Mono has a visual resemblance to Yorda or the Queen, but I don’t find those strong enough in order to establish a true connection between the two. Others did...
Could Mono be Wander’s friend, lover, or could she be a part of his family, a sister, perhaps? Again, we haven’t got many clues in order to determine the precise type of relationship, if any. Wander always keeps a distance from her, which means that he may respect her, an aspect which is intrinsic of a very pure, almost platonic love. Any theory is valid from here on.
Dormin if feared by all, not only in this game but
also in ICO. Emon, being a
sacred man, stands as an opposition to Dormin, knowing him well and fearing
him. The reasons for this fear are unknown and have to do with the past, of
which we know little. David Rodoy’s theory, also known as Meta Theory, presents
us a very interesting, though not definite, vision of how this process might
have occurred. He basically defends that Dormin, as well as the
The theory is interesting and justifies the abandoned land. Either that or there was some other reason leading to the exodus of Dormin’s worshipers, either to a new religion as said in David’s theory, or to a status of nihilism or atheism, where the higher entities became the priests instead of the gods and where the physical world ruled over the metaphysical. But why was this place restricted and why was Dormin so feared? Almost certainly, within the logic of the story, because this is a forsaken god of a forgotten cult, and this area is deeply associated with him, so is the shrine, built to worship him. Otani calls this Prohibited Art, a very suitable and suggestive name.
As anyone might know, there have been hundreds of
religions and cults throughout history. The reason why some doctrines are
abandoned, why some minds and beliefs are reformed is due to the appearance of
some other religion and philosophy. How are religions and religious methods
transmitted? Through expansionism, war and conquering of the land. Christianity
started out in
If a more seductive religion arose, even if there was a mass exodus from this land, there would always be some, even if few, followers that would not bend, that would seek refuge under this powerful god and serve him. Such is not seen here as the land is deserted, and judging by the huge architectural displays, there must have been quite a few followers to Dormin. War and devastation could have explained the poor state of some buildings, and the total absence of people as a new religion and people were determined to put an end to this bifurcate god once and for all. But, then again, so would time and deterioration. Like many extinct religions, their followers were converted or died along with the cult. Even so, war is about conquering and this enormous space is inhabited. For what reason? While the people were defeated or changed, Dormin himself always kept his domain over the land, even if imprisoned. The forces invading his territory and his land could never eradicate him, as the best they could do was to constrain him, silence him, reduce his powers, and circumscribe a place in the map where their power would never be. It was a dead area, irrecoverable and oblivious.
Also matching to the story of the game could be an incident between the people and Dormin. This god is not entirely good and who knows how far his wreath can go. For some reason, there might have been some episode that created fear among the people worshipping Dormin and the rupture began. First sealing him, somehow, and eventually abandoning him, moving on to a different place for a fresh start. Maybe there are other gods other than Dormin, more powerful and capable of confining him.
Dormin is the inverted form of the name Nimrod.
According to the Bible, Nimrod was responsible for the construction of the
During the game, we feel his presence as he advises Wander on how to defeat his enemies when taking too long to find the mechanics of the battle. This is to say that if we’re being the sort of player whose skills are below average, Dormin will try to come to our rescue, indicating, heuristically, what we should try to do next. This aid has, in my point of view, two purposes. The first and most obvious: the creator’s intent of helping the player throughout the battles which may become, at times, hard to be fought. Even if we find the colossus’ weak spot, we still have to find a way to reach it, which may take a while to figure out. Also, and not less important, I believe that this is a way to express Dormin’s position towards Wander. Much has been told about this character, attempts to analyse his words and opinions, his positions and his wishes. That, alone, is useless in order to comprehend this strange, godly character. As I said before, this land is prepared to welcome a warrior who, with the right item, in this case a sword, might achieve greatness, but also his demise. When Wander agrees to Dormin’s term conditions in the beginning, he is in a way blinded by his own motives. Dormin isn’t being specifically unfair or treacherous, for he warns him that the price he will pay is indeed. But that, however, also attests to the perfidious nature of his personality as he is egotistical enough to take advantage of our character’s morbid desire. How long has it been since he last dealt with humans? All indicates a very long and dark period of human absence.
In the end we see that Dormin honoured his pact, for Mono does live again. There isn’t, unfortunately, no indication as to the time when Dormin honours the pact, although it would be reasonable to assume it might have been his last action before perishing, possibly trying to redeem himself.
One other question that was widely discussed is the change in Dormin’s voice throughout the game. His voice is, at first, both male and female, distinguishably. As Wander defeats more and more colossus, this female side of the voice begins to weaken and, by the end, it is barely noticeable, if much. What are the physical repercussions of defeating a colossus? First, the giant creatures fall to the land and wither, almost as if they become the very land. Wander is struck by their essence and then we witness a recurrent sequence resembling a voyage through a vortex, where all is black and all we hear is a voice – surely that of Mono, crying or whispering. We wake in the temple, and then three essential changes take place: the idol of the colossus falls into pieces, another black figure surrounds Wander as he lies on the floor and another white dove appears before Mono’s resting place. Trying to explain all this is challenging.
The death of the colossus is natural as they are deprived of their functions becoming obsolete. The vortex I talked about is also interesting as I came to discover. My theory is that this vortex is a subjective experience that Wander has in this moment when he passes out or, as many say, dies, once he is in contact with the blackness formerly stored inside the colossus. He looses conscience and has a recurrent nightmare where his subconscious prompts him with a disturbing memory of a girl who is, obviously, being hurt and is afraid. The sounds are quite illustrative of that. This nightmare he bears is in the basis for his will to revive her. Probably this whole adventure is nothing but a search for rest from a weighty conscience. If Wander and Mono aren’t lovers, or friends – acquainted -, or family, they are, by the logic, strangers. The game is so well-crafted that it left no room for any inexorable accuracy while answering this enduring question. In a darker point of view they might have been secret lovers in a harsh society. There is no way to tell. The moment where Mono wakes up and see Agro is as ambiguous as any: she is startled, she does not know where she is and she sees a horse. Does she recognise the horse or is her approach to it merely circumstantial? The image of the tired, limping horse could’ve produced a feeling of pity and sympathy in Mono. This is a pointless discussion and in the end, what you want to believe is the best explanation for yourself. If you want to believe that they were great lovers as advertised, then this moment is essential as she understands who saved her. If you are more of a pessimist, then you might want to believe that she knows who the horse belongs to, although the owner was not her lover. Finally, if you prefer a bitterer point of view, she liked the horse, but knew nothing of him, making Wander a more obscure and complex character which he, otherwise, would have not been.
What we can know for sure is that Wander saw, or heard, Mono being sacrificed. He revives that moment in his head and that shocking and disturbing moment is so vivid in his head that he opts to give himself up in order to forget. That he loved her or not, that’s up to each one of us, players, to decide.
Moreover, his intentions must also be placed under scrutiny. Wander doesn’t seem an unreasonable man, or boy. He is driven by his own will, probably not the most correct way of doing anything, but still he is determined. He is trying to give life to a girl who was, as he says – and there’s no reason to doubt his word – sacrificed, having a cursed fate. In a society where a young girl can be sacrificed, how would her revival be accepted? To put it simply: it wouldn’t be tolerated. Wander tries to bring life to a girl who was condemned to die. What were his intentions and how did he thought that she would endure afterwards? If they were related, they might run from the civilised world. Maybe he understood that that sort of living was possible. But does Wander seem to believe in a life beyond the completion of this challenge? No, as he understands that the pact that was made would cost him something, and he didn’t have to be that wise in order to understand what.
So, what we have here is a warrior who is, much like a
Japanese kamikaze,, is sacrificing
himself for the pledge of Mono’s resurrection. Were the kamikaze soldiers with a mental history? Or were they just crazy? Yes,
according to the popular western standards. To the eastern they were more
easily accepted as heroes, continuing a long-lasting tradition of honour
achieved through sacrifice. Samurais, warriors of a distant, feudal
What really does happen in the end of the game is very hard to specify. The baby that appears on the pond may have great significance, as he consists of the link that binds Ueda’s games together, but the question how it was originated is condemned be remain unanswered, or at least not effectively. I often explain it as being the result of a purification spell. The merging process took place during the game, as Wander ceased to be himself in order to watch his body decaying. In the end, some believe, he isn’t himself anymore, although a part of him does remain, even if just his body. When the metamorphosis/resurrection of Dormin takes place, becoming a colossus himself, we are still in control of the only character we played with throughout the game. When the spell is released, Wander, though even more decayed, is seen again tumbling down the temple into the light.
The light is a purifying agent and what could be more pure than a baby, that which is considered to be the most pure and innocent part of a person’s life, later subjected to the devious influences of the world? And not a normal baby, one with horns, also suggesting that the best of Dormin was part of this catharsis. What exceptional creature sprung from this event? The answer: one that gave birth to a pariah breed.
ROAR OF THE EARTH
For such a festival of art direction, cinematography, story, graphics and sound quality all that was left was a matching soundtrack. If the music in the previous title surprised by its almost complete absence, reinforcing the quality of the sound effects, this time Ueda adapted a new model in which the music is a key-element to the game.
I won’t waste any more time around, trying to find suitable words for something which cannot be described. In effect, SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS would’ve lost half of its sparkle and majesty if Otani-san hadn’t been called in to be a part of the project. If we remove the soundtrack to the game all that will be left are meaningless polygons, actions, objectives and background sounds. Not that the game uses music endlessly, for that is far from the truth: the music appears in most of the cut-scenes, much like in ICO, but also in key-moments of the game. Silence becomes noticeable when there is no music, and behind this option there is a deliberate intention to achieve audible contrasts[24].
Rarely has the video game world heard anything like it. This is, truly, an orchestral piece to which are added some other instruments and sounds. The percussion section is more audible during the fearless battles, the brass as well. The bell sounds emphasise the dramatic scenes, as heard in themes such as Ressurection. Flutes illustrate, at times, the brief, chilling moments before we encounter a colossus. The strings are omnipresent. Kow Otani also enriched his masterpiece with a new-age music feel, original enough, but still very recognisable to the most attentive players and listeners.
The chorus is also of the essence. Almost every major theme has its contribution, namely the requiem-like theme Demise of the Ritual, heard in the last confrontation, where the chorus is clearly singing hallelujah. The clarinet is most important in themes like Sky Burial. Yet it is on the piano that most of the introverted work of this composer lies, in themes such as Memories, Prayer, Hope or The Sunlit Earth, all of them very intimate and at the same time epic, intelligently used in the final sequences of the game.
The commercial version of the soundtrack, sold in compact disk, has some additional tracks, unused in the game. But even those tracks which can be heard when playing are extended, as some parts were removed in the music editing process – something quite natural in video games and films, where the music is edited in order to fit the scenes. This work is named Roar of the Earth.
From the names of the tracks one can infer much of the game’s meaning, as Otani worked closely with Ueda. When making a soundtrack of this calibre, composers and directors must be very close one to the other and agree to a mutual comprehension of the game’s story. Maybe this is the reason why it worked out so well. Although I, personally, consider ICO to be equal to this game in terms of quality, having in mind the different times in which they were released, I must strengthen the notion that in this game the soundtrack is far more worked and complex, for a game who is, indeed, worthy of it. While ICO had, deliberately[25], simple themes, simple songs, this complex game required more elaborate themes. And they ended up being magnificently unmatched. Many major motion pictures might have wished this soundtrack for their own. Have in mind that Otani didn’t only composed and arranged as he played the Piano, Synthesiser and Irish Bouzouki sections throughout the score.
The artist behind such crafted music, Kow Otani (it is
crucial that the name should be read Koh
Aw-tah-nee) had previously composed for video games, namely in
Playstation’s classic shooter PHILOSOMA and SKY
ODDYSSEY, this one for the Playstation 2. The majority of his work lies in some
of
ROOTS
The beautiful thing about art and, if I may say so, video games, is that the more you learn about the authors and their creative processes, the more details and interesting facts you discover about their work. If you go out and grab any art book bout any given artist you are likely to find out – if you don’t happen to know already – that almost every work of art went through a studying process of seedling ideas, and sketches. The final results, however, may end up being slightly or, seldom, quite different from what the artist intended it to be. This is why the early drafts are of the outmost importance and (monetary) value.
SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, a game often labelled as artsy, went through the same processes, as did most of the games. Every character had to be drawn according to specific requirement and there are reasons to believe that there were many versions of many things now present in the final game. As I said before, the game was one of the most expected of the last year mostly because, by then, the majority of the video gaming cycles begun to understand the power and impact ICO had and caused on this world full of meaningless virtual experiences. Thus, everytime something new was shown, no matter how vague and disperse the magazines and web sites would immediately report it. Fortunately, they did it too soon and they ended up showing the earliest of images, belonging to the earliest version of the game.
By then it was being called ICO II and everybody believed it to be a sequel to the events portrayed in the first part. Some images and footage is available and they show a running game, where several characters – with horns, I underline – mount horses in a deserted area by dusk, hunting down an undead creature of great size. They work as a team. In one screen we can actually see a falling horse and rider hitting the ground, much like it happens when Agro jumps from a high ledge and lands, unstable, on the ground, then falling, revealing that some aspects of this early sketch prevailed. Another similarity is the way the character is seen striking the enemy, also releasing a burst of black blood. The background scenario is also much like the forbidden land. Apart from this, the horned hunters and that creature were erased from the equation and, for some reason, Ueda and Kaido chose not to pursue this project any longer.
After reading and listening to many interviews with the creators I came to believe that the team was after a game that not only would provide the player the possibility of exploring a vast, free-roaming land, as it would increase, drastically, the level of action in comparison to their previous work. For this reason they decided to open the land, create huge landscapes, and place various characters on the field, making a more elaborate and less isolated game.
The Official Playstation Magazine interviewed Fumito Ueda and, while asking him about the first images released, associated with the name NICO, he replied that both games are the same, although some parts were changed from the initial ideas. The grabbing, climbing and fighting elements were kept, as they were the main parts of this new game’s design. He adds that someday he might show off the pilot movie made then, from where the pictures were taken. Maybe some bonus feature to be presented in a future project?[26]
There is no doubt left that both ICO and this early project are the most solid basis for SOTC. The first one sets the artistic basis in which the game runs, as well as a story to connect to, and the last provided the main action elements and, probably, the brilliant software basis and game engine. In spite of this, are these the only two games to inspire this epic adventure? Or do the influences come from beyond the video game realm?
To the fact that ICO remains the largest influence there seems to be no doubt, if there ever was. From the horned riders from NICO to the pattern on Wander’s garments, the unique ambience does tell of a singular world seen in different times.
In art history, there is a biographic method in which the piece of art is analysed in close connection to the life of the author – a method known as vitae, the method of the lives, idealised by Giorgio Vasari. Applying this same method to the little which is known about Fumito Ueda, leading authority in the creation of this game, it is impossible to miss a very close connection to SEGA Enterprises, since his previous employer, Eno, designed his last games almost exclusively for SEGA consoles such as SEGA Saturn and Dreamcast, namely ENEMY ZERO and D2. I hold this to be one of the biggest evidences that Ueda knows these consoles’ universe quite well, and that some games, pertaining to these systems, have served as inspiration for his latest works.
Team Andromeda was a SEGA subsidiary by the time this now truncate enterprise was also calling the shots on the video game table. This team is known for the PANZER DRAGOON saga of games, which to this date counts four games, all of them cutting-edge in their due times. The first three episodes, PANZER DRAGOON PANZER DRAGOON ZWEI and PANZER DRAGOON SAGA (also known as AZEL) were released for Saturn and the last to Microsoft’s XBOX, under the name of ORTA
The first episode was definitely the best in Saturn’s first line-up. The magnificent fully 3D graphics, epic soundtrack and innovative environment surpassed, by far, the quality of any shooter available at the moment. Moreover, it had a distinct SPACE HARRIER feeling to its gameplay. Nowadays it is considered a classic and it is being re-released through yet another SEGA AGES game, though with a major face-lift. The second episode was released soon after, under the name ZWEI, German for two. In fact, this game was a prequel that explained the events leading to the dragon appearing to the first game’s character. The third instalment managed to incorporate, successfully, a new RPG feel to the game, making this on of the best hybrid Adventure/RPG titles ever. A young boy, living at an excavation site, sees his friends being killed for the sake of an ancient artefact, Azel, a girl entrapped and asleep in a strange device. While escaping he stumbles upon a dragon, whose aid will be essential in his quest for vengeance.
Not so much due to the story, which has, as far as I can see, no connection whatsoever with Ueda’s game, but the environment where it takes place and some visible and audible semblances which are hard to miss.
ICO and SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS are games where characters seem to speak an original language which, as some have pointed out, is the mixture of reversed Japanese and Latin. Interestingly enough, PANZER DRAGOON also has a distinctive language, very similar to this one, also deriving from Japanese. To the ear, they seem almost the same. I cannot conceive that such likeness is merely arbitrary. In addition, the thirteenth colossus, Phalanx bears some resemblances to the dragons in Adromeda’s games, mainly that version of this colossus which was seen in the early material. The similitudes between the games go on and on, being various and concrete. In spite of this, they are very hard to specify and mostly to understand, especially for those who have never visited both these game worlds.
The reference to Shigeru Miyamoto’s THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF
TIME
couldn’t go unnoticed. It is true that the inclusion of a horse was needed in
order to fasten up the rhythm of the game, otherwise it would be a punishment
to the player to travel within the
Yu Suzuki’s SHENMUE has one of the most astounding resemblances
to Ueda’s game. In fact, they are games that differ very much one from the
other, as one is closed to being obsessed with time and space, always
specifying you where you are, and what the time is, and the other has not time
variations, no spatial definitions, only a precise map, though of unspecified
origins. The first game, being SHENMUE, is played in
This bird theme, as I came to share with other people, might also have something to do with the FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN motion picture. In this film, the character Gray sacrifices himself in the end for the sake of mankind but, more specifically, for his loved one, the protagonist Aki. Prior to his death, there is a scene where he gazes at the sky and finds a bird hovering over a wasteland where nothing else has life. His connection to this bird is given through a very elusive, yet ambiguous shot. The importance of this shot is revealed when Aki, after Gray’s sacrifice, is being rescued from the cave where the final sequence takes place. While being lifted in the dawn light, this same bird appears flying over them. Aki looks at it, and so does the spectator who is led to believe that the hero’s life carries on, this time in the shape of a bird.
In the ending sequence of SOTC, something similar occurs, as a bird, similar to the one first seen flying over the canyon, takes off from the garden on the top of the shrine and starts flying away as the final credits roll, accompanied by the beautiful piano music. This bird also seems to carry with it something out of Wander.
The Nature theme has some other serious implications in this game. On the top of the tower there lies a secret garden. In this garden, many animals are shown, and many more may inhabit. The deer, the squirrel, the birds and, of course, our very own horse. Following it, a maiden with a new-born baby in her arms. This oneiric scene is full of light and of colour in a game where some sections seem like they’re in black and white. The colour selection here is very important, as it reinforces the game tragic tone. The black and white colour codes are kept from ICO, now assuming, possibly, another form – that of the white doves and the dark birds of prey.
In fact, the Holy Bible is present in this game, not
only due to the reversed form of the name Nimrod and the Shrine of Worship
being analogous to the
If true, then SOTC has a very important subliminal message going through the game which offers a glimpse at the contrast between religious contexts. Who would’ve thought? The temple we see, Dormin, the idols and the magical light that carries us, they’re all clear signs of paganism, of ancient beliefs. This land is the symbol of it, only as much as the unknown territory beyond it. Mono – which, by the way, can be translated as nothing or thing of no importance in Japanese – is said to have been sacrificed for having a cursed fate. Sacrifices are typical in ancient, heathen or pagan religions. This ancient world, of which we only get a glimpse, contrasts with the discernible Christian theme of the nativity crib, demurely represented here in the last moments in the final sequence.
But the baby’s implications go further. The climax in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubrick – not Kramer – the character Dave takes a travel through a time and space warp. He is brought to a room where he finds an older version of himself, so decayed that it seems he could wither at any moment. This decadence of the being is seen in SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS as Wander is seen growing more and more possessed. Not that he is actually getting older, but his corporeal self, as well as his soul, deteriorate and rot as he defeats the colossi. Everytime he does so, Wander also enters his very personal warp travel back to the Shrine, where he is faced with his darker thoughts and weighty memories.
In the motion picture, Dave continues his journey through the unknown depths of space, only to find himself, ironically, orbiting his home planet, Earth. But Dave is no longer himself, at least not in has to do with corporeal form. He has now been cleansed, somehow, and regressed to his purest form, that of a baby. Not the common, lovely and adorable baby, but a bizarre star-child with a cold, alien stare to him, encircled by Universe’s placenta.
A very similar approach is seen in this game, as Wander also regresses to the state of a baby or, in fact, progresses, since he becomes one with another source of power – that of Dormin. Such is clearly indicated by the horns in his head. This is an awkward baby, in fact, but apart from the horns there seems to be nothing else wrong with him, outwardly. Only that he ceases to cry once Mono picks him up from the ground. Infer whatever you like from here on. The truth lies beneath the corporeal form since this baby has acquired a curse that would lead him and his outcast to be persecuted.
Being a young game, SOTC still has a long way to go. Because of this, I believe many other games will follow it, will be inspired by it, while only a true sequel can entirely summon its greatness. The depth of the impact a game creates is measured by the amount of games being motivated by it – what other games will follow its footsteps, or merely make use of its qualities, we are still to learn. That they’ll do so, is imperative and inevitable.
A SILENT PROSPECT
Team ICO is a small and young group in a fairly young industry of entertaining systems and programs. But the quality it has shown, so far, consists of a double-edge sword: while in one hand, their present work is, for certain, a testimony of computer art’s finest possibilities, possibly a peak, magnificence is a status not only hard to achieve, but harder to preserve or sustain.
There isn’t, however, any reason why this team should not be worthy of the greatest confidence and respect by the community of video game players and art lovers. Looking at these two games, they do belong to a same harvest, aesthetically, although time has taught these artists how to improve, technically, their creations. Technology is also likely to be seen as barrier at the same time it holds the key to a new form of design and conception. The more it evolves, the further can the video game creator think, the wider will be the space in which he can develop his ideas and, more importantly, give life to them. Games tend to have a life of their own and SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS is a one-off game that proves this right, with its complex story-telling mechanics and rare immersing power. Ueda and his associates built, once more, an intricate game, highly subjective, based on simple concepts, without recurring to numerous characters and cliché story twists. Simplicity and complexity united against the uselessness and purposelessness often seen in the vast and overgrowing video game world.
The experience this game provided to me, personally, is indescribable. The very whole essence of this text is my profound interest for it and should be enough to mirror my affinity to the games in question. Like so many others I look towards the future not with pessimism but with the hope that the next-generation systems will provide the same leap the present systems provided in comparison to the older ones. My deepest desire, in this sense, will be to witness that phenomena, to be able to experience whatever new grounds video game designers are already creating for us, players, to walk upon. A great amount of expectation for this team’s next work already starts to grow among some gamers. Will a next project keep on the previous’ tracks? Or will we presence a sea-change? Gamers are becoming prepared for every possible scenario, except for failure and subsequent disappointment. In the end there is no reason to believe that any future games by this creative team won’t maintain their quality standards, if not surpass them - by large.
SOME FINAL WORDS...
Every game you play has an impact on you, or else, it means that it either wasn’t good enough to catch you attention, that you weren’t clever enough to discern it’s value, or maybe you were going through a rough time of your life. Because I believe that when a game is well crafted, even if only in some aspects are less worked than others. I happily recall many games just for the great graphics, or sound, or gameplay, even if they weren’t, overall, memorable games. My experience with games has been considerable and I’ve been around games all my life. When I was younger I used to sit and watch my younger uncle play his ZX Spectrum for hours, even when I was too young to understand how to play. Also, the arcade rooms have always caught my attention, even when I was too young to enter one arcade room. Even that didn’t prevent me, as a young boy, to sneak into the games room of some bars and play, though scared to death that someone would notice it.
What is the fascination of video games?
New worlds to discover at the distance of a monitor or television set. It is the refinement of all the sensations and emotions of any adventure without the practical implications. In video games we can feel like we’re fighting, without getting our body bruised. Or we can travel afar, sail in a boat without getting sea-sick. No matter how strong or weak our muscles are, we can always incarnate a stronger character than ourselves, or a weaker one for that purpose. Simulation, easily accessible and, as time passes, more and more profound in experience. Games have repercussions. They alter the way we observe reality without having to recur to acid substances that will imprison the mind and the body, destroying it. Video games are, in essence, a harmless means of entertainment, where a broad list of possibilities can be accessed, where we can test our logic abilities, our knowledge, where our imagination is being stimulated and where information also flows. But like any other passion in life, they can have the most wonderful or the most adverse effects on you.
Often seen as a prejudice to a new generation whose eyes are fixed on the new technologies, where video games play a decisive role, the virtual realms of simulations and fantasies are here to stay, like it or not. Games are travelling at the speed of light towards an uncertain future which, no matter what new technology might come to produce and execute them, will surely continue to entertain and distract our imaginations to the ideas of others. It is bound to happen. Few years ago, video game’s credits were limited to a dozen of people. Nowadays, creating a video game involves hundreds of people world-wide. Not just business, not just an industry. It’s about entering a new age of communication, of interaction and of creation. Video games are a protean source of entertainment with inestimable potential and, as such, have earned the right to aspire for greater esteem and respect.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank all of those who worked directly or collaborated in the process of creation of these two wonderful games, ICO and SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS, especially Kanji Kaido for his boldness and Fumito Ueda for orienting his genius for the benefit of video games and gamers.
Also, I would like to thank Ryu Kaze, creator of the most thorough plot FAQ available on the internet, for taking the time to read my thoughts and share his own about the game. Also to Dave Rodoy for his valuable contribute.
My special thanks to Kimberly S. Herbert, Editor of The Horse: Your Guide To Equine Health Care magazine for having shed some light on the subject.
My thanks to all of them.
Shigeru Myamoto is the creator of Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda, to name a few. He is the top personality at Nintendo, some believe, and by far one of video game’s most important ambassadors.
Hideo Kojima works at Konami Computer Entertainment and came to be famous for his Metal Gear series, although he as worked in other projects such as Policenauts and Snatcher.
Peter Molineux is said to be one of
the most original and innovative personalities in video gaming. He has been
part of many software houses and is responsible for some of the best strategy
games ever, for instance Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park,
D and D2 are horror games. The
first was released world-wide although the latter was exclusive to
FMA is the acronym for Full Motion Animation, opposing to FMV, Full Motion Video. Both are solutions created to display sequences. FMA sequences run in real-time display, taking advantage of the in-game graphical engine, whereas in FMV the sequences are pre-rendered videos. The latter tend to be, of course, more daring and complete than the first, although there are implicit advantages in the use of FMA. In fact, some games make use of both.
Artificial Intelligence, in this case, a simple script. The second time playing the game, Yorda becomes controllable with the use of a second control pad, making ICO an interesting 2-player experience.
Optionally, the player can obtain a mace hidden in the castle or, if playing the game after being finished once, a light sabre, although these are mere extras, designed to extend play time.
OUTER WORLD is the Japanese title for Delphine
Software’s Another World, released in 1991, also known in the
Tridimensional games are based on a polygon structure where each polygon can be given a simple colour and shading. But in order to achieve more realism, programmers began to use a technique called texture mapping, where the polygons are given a specific texture like wood patterns if the object being created is a tree - and so on. While nowadays every 3D game uses massive amounts of textures, it was considered to be quite a luxury back in the early 3D days.
The other day I was browsing through some ICO web forums and I stumbled upon one where the question at hand was something like “Prince of Persia – Influence to ICO?”. The question itself, I subscribe it, but the answers referred to the Sands of Time and Warrior Within episodes of the saga, not the original. How could these games, released years after ICO, actually be of any influence?
In Frank Darabont’s Shawshank Redemption, the
prisoner characters Andy and Red meet on a beach in
Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda are a few solid examples of games who’ve fathered a generation of similar or related games.
It is a curious fact that there are no meters in ICO, a deliberate option from Ueda in order to diverge from the majority of video games, as he admitted in an interview.
The word ni, in Japanese, means (the number) two. It’s confluence with the title ICO resulted in ni-ICO, or NICO.
Looking back, there are several games having their titles begin with the word Shadow, which means that this choice wasn’t particularly original or brilliant, only effective. Recently I found out that the expression Shadow of the Colossus was coined in the sci-fi movie Colossus: The Forbin Project.
As nicknamed in SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS’ Wikipedia.org dedicated page. This is, basically, a campaign made with fake news broadcasts where colossal creatures were seen or found in the real world. If this was, indeed, a campaign, no one has reclaimed it, including SCEJ. Mysterious, indeed.
Exclusive to the E.U. version. While the game
was finished by the time the tight
There are games dedicated to animals, like Nintendogs, where the animals are very well reproduced. Notwithstanding, games like Myamoto’s are dedicated only to pet care, whereas this one is an adventure game, where this amount of detail given to this animal character is beyond normal.
As I’ve been told by an expert, Agro could also be a Fresian, though the mane isn’t big enough and its body is too heavy for a horse of this breed, indicating an imaginary hybrid designed by the creators.
Games such as DRIVER, GRAND THEFT AUTO or JAK II: RENEGADE created massively extensive worlds which the player could explore freely.
Older video games always made a continuous use of their soundtrack themes, that repeated over and over for the duration of the level being played. One of the first games I’ve ever seen using music only in key-moments of the game, creating a deeper atmosphere, was Delphine Studio’s FLASHBACK.
Kanji Kaido told that in ICO the team was aiming for a more superficial and subtle soundtrack so that it was the story, and the player, that would fill the emotional part of the game. Moreover, this was a game who aspired for some realism within its fantasy world, so a too heavy soundtrack would have made it more theatrical.
Yu Suzuki, AM2 game creator, decided to keep SHENMUE’s Saturn version footage a secret to the public until the second episode of the game, where he made the film available once the game was finished. The game was also given other titles like VIRTUA FIGHTER RPG or BERKELEY PROJECT, before assuming its definite, brilliant title.
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