Shadow of the Colossus

For the strict, old-fashioned critic that believes video games will never make their way onto the stage as a true art form, may the Shadow of the Colossus be casted on your ignorant existence. For anyone with the capability of running a Playstation 2 device, I recommend you take some time alone in a quiet home and prepare for a ride of adventure and emotion.
Upon the introduction cinematic, Shadow of the Colossus immerses the player into a world that immediately demands respect. Traversing the harsh terrain on his steadfast steed is our mysterious unnamed hero, and an equally mysterious package on the front of the saddle, with shape of a human body. Our hero finally makes his way to two towers marking a narrow entrance to what is revealed to be a gloriously illuminated valley of many elements and terrains, with a tall palace at it's centre. As he enters he must ride on an enormous narrow bridge, a miracle of engineering in itself, which spans halfway across the valley to the middle of the tower. The adventure begins.
A game of pattern and sequence, our hero, Wander (named in sources other than the game itself), travels blindly through all types of beautifully designed landscape to the very resting places of the sleeping giants of many elements that our hero must defeat. The beasts to be defeated all average between twenty to up to five hundred feet long/tall, and include humanoids, lizards, tortoises, electric eels, lions, boars, bulls, dragons, birds, worms and more. Some are threatening from the start and demand no moral conflict to defeat. Others will leave the player wondering who was truly the enemy between themselves and the fallen behemoth or leviathan unceremoniously collapsed on the ground before them.
The game is full of wordless sub-plots that are left to the player to piece together throughout the adventure, including the relationship between our hero and his faithful horse, Agro, as well as the nature of the very motives of the main character, himself. The lengthy ending is worth the half-hour or so it takes to pass, and brings satisfactory closure to the story. The game grants you moments of control during this ending, but your performance during this time is unimportant, as the same outcome will result.
Other features to be enjoyed after the original completion of the game include a time attack feature, unlockable items and neatly-nestled secrets. Replay value is quite high, but should be reserved for your own personal interaction with the game. This game is not recommended to entertain a group of friends or a party, as the game shines best with an audience of one. A rabble of friends is likely to distract the player and take away from the magic of the experience, although it does look pretty impressive to see a little man take down an enormous flying dragon with a small sword and a bow.
Shadow of the Colossus is more of an experience than a game. It is one that must be given a chance by gamers of any age or appreciation for the action-adventure genre of video games. It is a solemn excursion into a different world, with focus on being a work of art, rather than a another hyped-up money-maker destined ruin the video game's reputation as an art form.