Summer Backlog Review #4: Journey

Welcome to the fourth review from this years Summer Backlog Challenge.  After this, I'm just one game away from successfully completing it.  I don't intend to stop there though, I'm going to try and get through as many of the ten games as possible before the deadline of 23rd September.

This time I'm shifting my attention away from the Xbox One and over to the PS4, to play the Sony exclusive, Journey. Of course, it was originally released on the PS3 but I have shied away from playing it for all these years because it got somewhat overhyped and I tired of hearing how amazing it was, and how it proved that games were art.  Some of us don't need proof, we know that games are just as valuable as books, movies, paintings and sculpture, but this game was held up by those insecure in their hobby as some kind of miracle. So now, all these years later, I can finally see what all the fuss what about.  Let's begin!

Plot & Character: 7 out of 10
The plot of Journey is not explicitly spelled out for the player like all of the other games I have reviewed as part of the Summer Backlog Challenge so far, but it is present if you're paying attention.  Every so often you will get a glimpse at a mural that depicts part of the back story, with the full picture coming into focus by the time you finish the game. This hadn't fully sunk in for me during my first time through, so I ended up going to YouTube to watch a very well made video explaining it all. It's not really the fault of the game that I missed certain details, it's more a symptom of my own ADD.

The gist of it is this: once upon a time there was magic in the land and resources were plentiful - life was good for the people who called this realm their home.  Gradually over time the resources started to be depleted, so the people invented machinery to speed up and automate the process, as well as fearsome guardian robots to protect their riches. This inevitably served to speed up the downfall of this society, as the resources finally ran out.  The once great civilisation ended up in ruin and the people died out, with the many gravestones scattered through the land their sad and lasting legacy.  Just before all hope was gone and all life was extinguished, the last bit of magic created a new life, which is you - Billybob.  Now it's up to Billybob to reach the top of the sacred mountain and sacrifice himself, which in turn will bring the magic and resources back to the world. The people will not learn from their past mistakes though, and eventually the whole cycle will begin again, and again, and again...

This was one of my favourite sections in the game - triggering giant scarf bridges to appear

Graphics: 8 out of 10
Journey is a game that is not flashy, but does feature some impressive vistas and environments nevertheless. During your relatively brief time with the game you will travel through desserts, amidst the ruins of the old world and the many graves of the people who sadly died there.  Then you will go under ground and encounter those deadly guardian robots, before coming out the other side into the bitter chill of the mountain.  Finally, when Billybob's life force has been spent and he succumbs to freezing death, his life force will be released and he will be given access to Heaven, or Nirvana, or whatever it is known as in this fantasy world.  This last part of the journey is full of vibrant colours, sunshine and waterfalls and is a great contrast to the bleak whiteness of the mountain that you were struggling through just minutes before.

Sound & Music: 9 out of 10
While there is no voice acting at all in the game, Journey really doesn't need it. The decision to show you story rather than tell you it means that dialogue would serve little purpose, and may have even detracted from the experience.  Instead what you get is an absolutely amazing soundtrack by Austin Wintory, one that won him two BAFTA Awards upon the games original release in 2013.  There are also some sound effects as well which fit in well with the overall atmosphere of the experience.  Billybob can emit a cute little chirping noise which he can use to communicate with the magical scarf creatures he meets and other players should you be lucky enough to meet some, and those giant snake like robots make some really intimidating noises.   For me, the sound was my favourite part of the Journey experience, but it works in tandem with the visuals and the game play to make the game as special as it is.

Billybob getting ready to scale the mountain and make the ultimate sacrifice.

Game Mechanics: 7 out of 10
Unlike most of my reviews so far where this section is pretty long, this time I can be fairly brief because the game play of Journey is fairly simple at heart.  It's really an adventure game, or something close to a "walking simulator" (a term that didn't really exist when the game first came out).  There are a few sections of light platforming, puzzle solving and stealth (when you try and avoid the gaze of the guardian robots) but nothing is ever very taxing and it should be possible for the vast majority of players to reach the end without too much trouble.  While the game is fairly good fun to play, it's really the presentation and the themes that elevate it to something special.

Billybob in the cave network, hiding from the guardian machines.

Innovation & Cleverness: 8 out of 10
I feel that Journey really does deserve a fairly high score in this category because we had not really seen anything like it at the time. Of course other similar games such as Abzu have come along but back in 2013 this was a pretty unique experience.  The subtle way the story is told and the fantastic presentation are hallmarks of just how clever thatgamecompany are at crafting amazing interactive experiences - Flower hinted at this but they truly perfected their craft with Journey in my opinion.

Value & Replayability: 4 out of 10
It can take a scant two hours to get to the end of Journey, which may well be a dealbreaker for some.  If you are quite hard up for funds I can understand where you're coming from.  If this is the case, then probably the best way of experiencing this game is the Journey Collector's Edition package, which also includes Flow and Flower.  This can be had on Amazon for about £20, which is a decent price in my opinion.  The game does have a little bit of replay value because there are hidden scarf upgrades dotted around the environment, and finding all of them will give you access to a special white robe which grants unlimited flight, as well as a trophy.

Overall: 8 out of 10
It may not take you very long to complete the Journey, but it is one worth taking. It's a shame that I put it off for so long because I was unable to experience the online mode when I did finally get around to it.  I'm not sure if that would have enhanced the experience overall but it would be nice to see it for myself.  At any rate, this is one game that will stick in my memory for quite some time, and one I shall probably return to before too long.  If somehow you also haven't played Journey yet, then you really should - it does deserve all of the praise that was heaped upon it years ago.

Summer Backlog Review #2: Oxenfree

Welcome back to the Summer Backlog Challenge 2018! My first review, for Night in the Woods, was fun to write and has been fairly well received, so I'm going to capture that energy and use the momentum to forge ahead with my second review, this time for Oxenfree.  This is another modern adventure style game, with a strong emphasis on character and player choice.   It was developed and published by Night School Studio and was released across all the major platforms in early 2016.  As I mentioned in my introductory article explaining why I picked my ten games, it was the only one of the bunch that I hadn't bought for myself, instead being part of my Xbox Game Pass subscription.  So then, should you buy it? Or at least use your Game Pass trial to check it out? Let's take a look...

Plot & Character: 9 out of 10

Oxenfree begins with Alex, the player character, Ren, one of her best friends, and Jonas, her new step brother, arriving on Edwards Island for their annual summer party. They soon discover that not many people have bothered turning up this year though - just two others in fact.  The rather bitchy Clarissa, and her friend Nona that Alex doesn't know very well.

After a while chatting, drinking and playing an ill-advised game of Truth or Slap (like Truth or Dare except, well, you get slapped), Alex, Ren and Jonas end up investigating a nearby cave, where some strange phenomena involving a radio that they brought along results in the entire group getting scattered to all corners of the island.  From that point on your objective is to reunite with everyone and figure out what the hell is going on.  That's easier said than done though because you find yourself trapped in some rather disconcerting time loops that seem to get more serious as you go.  To say any more about the plot would risk spoiling the game for you so I'm just going to leave it there.

Depending on your responses to the other characters, Alex can be a friendly, helpful girl or a complete menace to everyone.  I was generally trying for the former but occasionally I picked an option that put me down the bitchy path.  As the game proceeds you can either get to know more about Jonas, or spend time reconnecting with Ren.  Personally I chose to go with the first option most of the time.  You also gradually come to understand why Clarissa has such an attitude to you, and you might even become friends with Nona, although I didn't really interact with her very much. The story is intriguing from the get-go and Alex is a strong enough protagonist to carry it along - soon after starting the game I didn't want to stop until it was done, which says a lot.

You frequently have to choose between dialogue options,with each one mapped to a different button.

Graphics: 8 out of 10

Oxenfree features a truly gorgeous hand painted art style that I fell in love with the from the moment I first saw it.  Every part of the island has been lovingly pieced together, from the woods, to the caves, the beach and the little town center. The character models are apparently 3D but from the zoomed out perspective that the game is set at they complement the style of the backgrounds well.  Whenever necessary there are also some decent lighting effects, and the "VHS player with dodgy tracking" effect that happens whenever there's a time loop is very cool as well.

Sound & Music: 8 out of 10

First and foremost, I was very impressed with the voice acting in Oxenfree, especially as I hadn't heard of any of the actors used before.  They may be established performers already, but if they are I'm unfamiliar with their work.  At any rate their delivery came across as natural at all times.  My only small gripe is that at several points in the game when I had chosen a dialogue option, my reply cut across what they were saying - there doesn't seem to be any queuing of lines like in Mass Effect, for example.  It was irritating because I wanted to hear what the characters were saying but sometimes it doesn't give you very long to answer before the game just moves on without you.

This is backed up by a fantastic soundtrack performed by the artist know as scntfc which is both dreamlike and spooky.  I may actually listen to some of this outside of the game - perhaps at work or during my commute home, it's very nice stuff indeed.

The art in Oxenfree is really fantastic, with a hand painted feel.

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10

The game play of Oxenfree is mainly you exploring the island as Alex, trying to work out exactly what is going on and having conversations with the rest of the party. There are typically three different responses during any particular conversation, and you don't always have very long to answer which I found problematic sometimes. Depending on what you say, the other characters may warm to you or grow to hate you over time - in fact there is an achievement for getting everyone to despise you!

Occasionally you will have to use your radio to "tune in" to the weird phenomena on the island or interact with things to break yourself out of a time loop. There are no real mini games like there were in Night of the Woods, though - it's mostly just good old fashioned story telling and adventuring.  That's alright though, because Oxenfree does this very well.  The narrative is brief enough that it doesn't really need game play gimmicks to break it up.

Things start to get weird a short way into the game.

Innovation & Cleverness: 6 out of 10

The game play is not all that innovative, really, although much like Night in the Woods, Oxenfree does a great job of translating the classic sort of point and click experience into something much more console and controller friendly. The way the story is told does actually feature quite a lot of innovation though, and is very cleverly put together, to boot. Don't let the six put you off, this is actually quite high for this category.

Value & Replayability: 7 out of 10

Your total play time for a single run through of Oxenfree is likely to weigh in at around the four hour mark, which may sound rather slight.  There are quite a few different endings that can be achieved though which gives the game significant replay value. I'm not sure if I will go back and play it again, personally, because I usually consider my first play through of a game like this as my own personal version of the story, and leave it at that.  When so much time has gone by that I don't really remember the game anymore though, I may revisit it.

As part of the overall package you also get some documentaries that touch on various aspects involved in making the game, which is a very nice bonus and something I wish more games would do.

Overall: 8 out of 10

Oxenfree did draw me in much quicker than Night in the Woods - I originally only intended to play it for an hour, then that became two, and eventually I just said sod it and played through the entire game in one sitting! Don't let the four hour running time put you off too much, especially if you do intend to replay the game and get all of the endings.  This really is the perfect sort of game for Xbox Game Pass because you can try it out risk free as part of the free trial or your subscription if you're already paying for it.

Summer Backlog Review #1: Night in the Woods

I've managed to cross off several games from my Summer Backlog Challenge 2018 so far, and here I am with the first review of what will hopefully be a minimum of five, but potentially as many as ten. For those who are not all that familiar with this Night in the Woods, it is an indie adventure title developed by Infinite Fall and published by Finji.  It was first released on PC, in February of 2017 and has since made its way to all of the major consoles, including the Nintendo Switch earlier this year. I played the game on my Xbox One because I picked the game up around Christmas time in a sale. I had heard many good things about this game from the likes of Alex Navarro from Giant Bomb and others who recently discovered it due to the Switch release, so it was an easy choice for the first game I wanted to finish as part of this years challenge. So how was it? Let's take a look!

Plot and Character: 9 out of 10
This is really where this game shines the most, which is just as well because most the the game play does revolve around the characters and their antics.  The main character is Mae Borowski, an anthropomorphic cat like creature who has just returned to the town where they grew up after suddenly deciding to bail on college life for reasons that are undisclosed until later in the game.  Possum Springs is a quiet, mostly peaceful little town that has seen better days, at least economically - shops and restaurants are regularly closing down, the mall is mostly an empty, lifeless shell, far removed from the hustle and bustle of its glory days.  Mae is at that difficult stage in her life where she is no longer really a child but not yet fully committed to the notion of adulthood or aware of what is required of most responsible people.  She doesn't yet know what she wants to be, which understandably is the source of quite a lot of angst.  She spends her days sleeping or aimlessly wandering the town and chatting to the residents, and her nights getting embarrassingly drunk or doing things that she shouldn't with her old friends.

These old friends include Gregg, a foxy / doggy thing who has nothing but love for Mae, but is probably not the best influence on her. Nevertheless, despite his fondness of crimes and general immaturity he is at least managing to hold down a steady job at the local Snack Falcon and a loving relationship with his boyfriend, the bear-thing Angus. Mae's other closest friend is Bea, a chain smoking crocodile whose life spent looking after her ailing father and working at their family store every day is starting to take its toll on her.  She's tired, cranky, and more than a bit resentful that Mae not only up and left, but randomly decided to throw away the opportunities that were afforded to her at college on a whim. Over the course of the game you will mostly be spending your time with one of these two in various skits.  You normally have to choose, too - spending time with Gregg means that you won't be seeing Bea, and vice versa. As the game goes by Mae keeps a journal where she sketches key events that happen, and the only way to complete it is to play through twice so you can do what you didn't do last time.  Angus and a strange duck like bloke known as Germ do also feature in the story a little bit, as well as Mae's parents and her aunt in the police force, but the trio of Mae, Gregg and Bea are the main focus.

The script is incredibly well written, sounding very natural and full of humour. I liked Bea in particular as her snarky comments brought a smile to my face on several occasions.  Gregg is cool too but I really didn't spend all that much time with him - maybe I will play the game again so I can see what he was up to.  Underneath the charm and the amusing antics is a darker tale though, which I'm not going to elaborate on here - just know that the tone of the game starts to shift a bit towards the latter stages (though there are hints that something sinister is coming throughout the game). Yes, the plot and character are definitely the main strengths of Night in the Woods, but that's not all it's got going for it, thankfully.

Yeah, I get that a lot too, Mae. :(

Graphics: 9 out of 10
Visually, Night in the Woods is a delight to look at.  No, it isn't a polygon pushing powerhouse, with god rays and particle effects spunking in your face at every opportunity, but it is a great example of 2D artwork.  The whole game has a cohesive, cartoony style to it, probably because all of the art was created by just one person.  It reminds me a bit of Richard Scarry's Busytown, except a bit darker and with a more autumnal colour palette.  Gorgeous stuff!

Sound and Music: 7 out of 10
While I did enjoy the music while playing through game, I've found that a lot of it isn't all that memorable outside of the experience, save for a few pieces. I've used those in the background of the video. I was slightly disappointed that the game doesn't feature any voice acting at all, though I do understand why there may not be any for budgetary or artistic reasons.  I picture Bea sounding like one of Marge's sisters from The Simpsons.  Sound effects are used fairly sparingly throughout the game, but a pretty solid when there are used.

Most of the time, Mae does speak a lot of sense.

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
Being an adventure game at heart, there is quite a lot of talking to people throughout Night in the Woods.  Each day in Mae's life begins with her waking up at home, having a quick chat with mom, and then heading out to see what's going down in the town. You are relatively free to explore Possum Springs, although it is not a terribly huge location. Usually, by talking to either Gregg or Bea (and occasionally other people) you will trigger a story sequence, and then the day will end after it has played out.  You are given fair warning that this is going to happen though, in case you want to scour every inch of the town to see what's changed (something I recommend doing to get the most out of the game).

Dotted throughout the game are other mini games as well, such as band practice.  I was utterly terrible at the this unfortunately, and Mae's journal reflected this.  There's also a complete rogue lite called Demontower, which can be launched from Mae's laptop in her bedroom.  I spent almost an hour playing this and managed to get to level 5 (out of 10, I believe) where things started to get pretty challenging.   The art style changes to that of a classic 16-bit dungeon crawler and for a side game it's a very polished experience.  I think there is an achievement tied to getting all the way to the end but like I said it does get pretty tough after a while.

Night in the Woods probably won't appeal to those gamers who like a steady diet of blood, guts and wall to wall action, but you probably already know if this is the sort of thing that will appeal to you or not.  If you are still on the fence about buying it right now, then I would suggest that you wait for a sale, or for the game to be featured in Games with Gold, PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass.  It's the sort of thing that I can see being offered up as part of those services onr day, and personally I would be thrilled to receive it, if I hadn't already bought it of course.

A feline after my own heart!

Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
This was a bit of tricky one to score - games like Night in the Woods have definitely been done before so it's not that high on innovation, though the cohesive design style, witty writing and arrays of fun mini games all contribute towards a decent cleverness score.  Let's go with a six then!

Value and Replayability: 8 out of 10
Night in the Woods wasn't quite as short as I had been led to believe it was - it look me about a dozen hours to complete which considering the price is more than reasonable.  Then there's the fact that you can play the game over again if you want to and see quite a few different scenes from your first time through.  The Demontower mini game is the very addictive cherry on top, and you could sink a fair few hours into just playing that should you wish.

Overall: 8 out of 10
Night in the Woods did take a litle while to get it claws into me, but after I had warmed up to Mae, her friends and the strange world they live in I really did start to love it. If this sounds like your sort of thing then I would really recommend checking it out without hesitation.

Thanks for reading - I will be back with my review of Oxenfree quite soon.  In the meantime you can check out the video version of this review below.   Take care!

Darksiders | Last Gen Regen: Forgotten Favourites

Welcome to the first article in a new, semi regular series entitled Last Gen Regen. There were tons of games released for the last generation of consoles that didn't perform as well as I think think they deserved, either crtically or financially, and I think they deserve a bit more love. Titles that fall under this category include Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the de Blob games and Binary Domain, just for starters. The reason that I'm not committing to a regular schedule is that most of these games take quite a while to complete, so I will just be releasing them as and when they are ready. This series also serves as an excuse to replay some of my favourite titles, so I will be savouring my time with them!

We begin with Darksiders - which was developed by Vigil Entertainment in the year 2010 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.  This team was assembled by legendary comic book artist Joe Madureira, whose unique art style is stamped all over the game.  While beloved by the majority of those who have played the game, there are still tons of people who have never given it a second glance.  With a remastered version on the horizon, and copies of the original version selling for just a few quid, now is the perfect time for you to pick it up for yourself if you have yet to do so. Now it's time for me to spend roughly ten minutes explaining why.

Plot and Character: 8 out of 10
The action of Darksiders revolves around the four horsemen of the apocalypse, or more specifically, War.  As the game begins, War is standing in the streets of what looks like New York city, doing battle with demons.  As you progress further into the prologue, angels will arrive on the scene as well.  Rather than the classical winged creatures that you're familiar with, angels in the Darksiders series make use of technology such as jet packs and guns.  Their halo is also a part of the armour that they wear. War is on earth because he believes the seventh seal has been broken and the riders have been called, but he was deceived by a powerful demon called The Destroyer and his minions.  After falling in battle against Straga, one of the Destroyer's lieutenants, War finds himself in front of the Charred Council, entities which act as the balance keepers between the forces of Heaven and Hell.  Displeased with Wars actions on Earth, they strip him of most of his power, before permitting him to set off on a quest for revenge against The Destroyer.  As a condition of his release, War is tethered to The Watcher, brilliantly voiced by Mark Hamill.  From there, it's up to you to restore War to his former glory, slaughter your way through The Destroyer's forces, and set things right.

While I am more than aware that there are plenty of people out there who hate fantasy nonsense like this, I absolutely love this kind of thing. While the game takes itself a bit too seriously sometimes and comes across as cheesy, for the most part it is really cool, and metal as fuck! War himself is built like a brick shithouse, with huge chunky limbs and a giant sword that you can do some serious damage with. So while it's definitely not for everyone, I really enjoyed the premise of Darksiders and the ride that it took me on during its 20 or so hour long campaign. Of course the game play had a lot to do with that as well, but I will get there all in due course!

Graphics: 8 out of 10
The chunky, American Football player proportions of War also apply to a lof of the other characters in Darksiders, from the Angels like Abaddon, to side characters like Ulthane, who belongs to a race called The Makers.  These guys heavily resemble the Norse gods like Thor, and wield mighty hammers like him as well.  While there were a few instances where the was some screen tearing and a drop in frame rate, for the most part Darksiders ran really smoothly and the environments look really nice. At one point the mixture of hack and slash combat and puzzle solving is punctured by a rather lengthy flying sequence on the back of a Pegasus, which is just one of many visually spectacular parts.  The huge golems that guard the various areas of the map are also impressive, and a sight to behold as they lumber away, shaking both the screen and your gamepad.

While there aren't that many in the game, the horsey bits in Darksiders are good fun.

Sound and Music: 8 out of 10
The audible portion of the presentation is equally as solid as the visual component, with some great noises while you're in combat and when you make use of your abilities. The music is well composed, but not particularly memorable after some time away from the game. It certainly doesn't measure up to the epic soundtrack of Darksiders II that was composed by Assassin's Creed veteran Jesper Kyd, but that is a matter for another time. The voice work in the game is generally well done again, though the dialogue that these guys have to read is incredibly melodramatic and can come across as a tad on the cheesy side at times. Still, it suits the subject matter.

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
Darksiders plays out like a mash up of God of War and one of the 3D Legend of Zelda games, and that is no bad thing, believe me!  As your basic abilities are doled out during the opening hours of the game, you will find yourself locked inside various combat challenges where you have to kill a certain number of demons within a strict time limit and while using a certain ability or weapon.  Just as was starting to tire of this, roughly nine of so challenges in, they stop, never to return throughout the rest of the adventure.  The majority of the game is spent exploring huge dungeons, solving relatively mild puzzles, hacking up demons (and the occaisional angel) and obtaining new equipment or powers that allow access to further sections of the overworld.  While the world of Darksiders is fairly extensive and interconnected, with few noticeable load times, it is still fairly linear for the most part, with just a brief quest towards the end of the campaign giving you free reign to travel back to the various zones in any order you choose.

For most of the game the difficulty level is pitched just about right, with combat keeping you on your toes but never becoming frustrating.  You may die once or twice, but the penalty is very benign, with you just going back brief way to the nearest checkpoint. There is one dungeon close the finale that I did find really frustrating to beat, though - or rather, one puzzle within it that involved warping boxes through portals in order to raise and lower huge chandelier style platforms. I got quite annoyed by that one, but it's not even close to being as annoying as the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, ultimately.

As you hack apart your enemies, souls will fly out of them and these can be drawn into you.  They can also be found inside chests that are liberally scattered around world, and in inanimate objects like cars, dustbins, and street lights.  These souls act your main currency in the game, and can be used to unlock new abilties and weapons, or power up those that you already have.  Speaking of weaponry, War mainly wields a huge sword, though you do also get access to a sythe, pistols, and a deadly disc launching thing.  You won't have enough souls to level everything up, so it's best to focus on whichever suits your particular play style and focus on them.  You can also find Zelda style upgrades to your health bar and rage meter hidden away all over the place, which will often be inaccessible the first time you find them.  You know what that means - come back later when you have the right ability.

This is Ulthane, one of the Makers - you will learn much more about these guys in Darksiders II.

Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
Ultimately, it's the solid game play combined with the setting that makes Darksiders such a great game, in my opinion. It's not particularly innovative, being an amalgam of several different genres, but that doesn't really matter to me. Zelda style puzzling and exploration will always be fun, and brutal hack and slash combat adds that extra spice to make it interesting.  Layer on the truly fantastic character designs and fleshed out game world, and you have something rather special on your hands.

Value and Replability: 7 out of 10
You will probably only want to play through Darksiders the one time, or maybe twice after enough time has passed by.  But that play through will last somewhere around the 25 hour range, even more if you try and hunt down every single health upgrade and the best armour in the game, which is scattered across the lands. I never felt that the game was dragging on at all, which is something that very few games get right.  The original release will probably only set you back a fiver or less, which is a real bargain.  I am not sure how much THQ Nordic is going to be asking for the HD remaster - I would guess somewhere around th £30 mark.  That's still not bad considering how much quality gameplay is on offer.  UPDATE: Since writing this article I have learned that the price of the HD remaster will be £15, which is an absolute bargain!

Overall: 8 out of 10
Xbox 360 and PS3 owners were not short of quality games to play, but there weren't many experiences that compared to the Zelda games (Okami being a notable exception). Darksiders takes the blueprint that Nintendo established, adds in a liberal dose of visceral combat, and makes the whole thing much more dark, gothic, and cool.  If the game somehow passed you by the first time it was released, then either pick up a nice and cheap copy and play it on your older system, or grab the upcoming "Warmastered" version.

Darksiders II will most definitely be getting its time in the sun at some point in the future as well, but I haven't played all the way through it yet.  Before then though, now that Lost Odyssey can be enjoyed on the Xbox One through the magic of backwards playability, I think it's time to revisit it.  It will take a while for me to finish it though, as it's absolutely massive.  To tide us over, I will try and find something a little shorter to talk about next.  I was thinking a racing game would make a nice change of pace, but which one? There's Blur from Bizarre Creations, or Split Second from Black Rock Studios.  Let me know in the comments if you have a preference, and in the meantime, take care!

Wii Hidden Gems #7 - Sam & Max: Season One

This time I'm taking a look at the Wii version of Sam & Max Season One.  The titular duo are freelance police, with Sam being a dog and Max being a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing" as the game often describes him.  They were created by Steve Purcell and originated as a comic book form in 1986, where they developed a cult following.  After Purcell became employed at LucasArts and worked on the graphics for titles such as Monkey Island 1 and 2, he was given the chance to make his own Sam & Max graphic adventure, which was subtitled Hit the Road and was released in 1993.  The game became hugely popular and ranks up there with the true classics of the genre, securing Sam & Max a much bigger audience.  In 1997 there was a fairly short lived TV series starring the duo, but then things went silent for quite some time.

Fast forward to around 2002, and there was word that a new Sam & Max game was in development, a true sequel to Hit the Road.  Unfortunately LucasArts decided to pull the plug on the project in March of 2004, which was the impetus for Dan Connors, Kevin Bruner and Troy Molander to leave and start their own company, Telltale Games.  After moderate success with early titles like Telltale Texas Hold 'Em, Bone, and some licensed CSI games, they manage to secure the rights for new Sam & Max games directly from Steve Purcell.  The six episode first season was originally made available from October 2006 to April 2007 on the PC, with the Wii version appearing on the Wii Shop in 2008.  A physical version containing all six episodes and some fairly inconsequential bonus materials was published by The Adventure Company in 2008.  The game was hugely successful for Telltale, and led to two further seasons for Sam & Max, as well as future series like Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future: The Game and The Walking Dead.  Nowadays Telltale Games are a really big deal in the industry, securing the rights to huge properties like Game of Thrones, Minecraft and Batman.  I intend review each of their series eventually, but I am starting here with Sam & Max: Season One, aka Save the World. 

Plot and Character: 8 out of 10
As each episode of Sam & Max: Season One introduces new characters and develops old ones, I am going to break them down into their own mini segments with my thoughts on each. Overall though the characters are very strong and entertainingly written.  One or two of them are on the verge of being extremely irritating but that is deliberate.  While there is an overarching plot that connects each episode to the one after it, the thread is pretty thin in this season to be honest, and Telltale definitely get much better at this by the time we get to Season Three.

The season premiere sees our crime fighting duo investigating an outbreak of hypnotism.  This episode introduces us to The Soda Poppers, former child stars who used to appear on an old sitcom called "Soda Jerks".  Each of them have their own characteristics and catchphrase - we have Whizzer, whose overactive bladder can cause him to rush off to the bathroom every few minutes ("Time out for number one!"), Peepers, whose over sized eyeballs give him fantastic vision ("I can see you!", and Specs, a super obsessive control freak who absolutely hates it when others ruin his plans ("You made me mess up!").  We also meet recurring characters Jimmy Two Teeth, who is a shady rat who lives in a hole in Sam and Max's office.  In this first episode, the duo have to negotiate getting their phone back from Jimmy by supplying him with Swiss cheese.  Then we have Bosco, the owner of the local "inconvenience" store and paranoid conspiracy theorist.  He is constantly trying to convince you that the government is out to get him (which to be fair, sometimes they are.  There's also Sybil Pandemik, who is working as a Psychotherapist when we meet her here, and finally Brady Culture, the villain of the piece, who is trying to spread his "Eye-Bo Ocular Exercises" program throughout the neighbourhood with the help of the hypnotised Soda Poppers.  It is up to Sam & Max to return Whizzer, Specs and Peepers back to normal and then stop the nefarious plans of Culture Once and for all.   7 out of 10

The second episode sees Sam & Max tasked with freeing the audience of a chat show, who have been taken hostage by the host, Myra Stump.  Myra herself appears to be based on Oprah Winfrey, at least partly, because of her penchant for giving away gifts to the entire audience.  As the villain of this episode, I think she is the weakest of all of them, having only a brief appearance right at the end.  The bulk of this episode is spent helping the studio director produce various TV shows, from a sitcom called "Midtown Cowboys", a cooking show, a parody of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and Embarrassing Idol.  You will encounter the Soda Poppers again while attempting to win Embarrassing Idol, and you will also meet new characters like Philo Pennyworth, a highly trained chicken thespian who stars as the landlord in Midtown Cowboys, where every episode sees the main characters attempting to hide the fact that they are keeping a cow in their living room.  You'll also meet Hugh Bliss for the first time, the father of Prismatology (a parody of Scientology), standing in as a game show host.  Bosco and Sybil are also back, with Bosco putting on a hilarious British accent, and Sybil changing professions to tabloid journalist for the "Alien Love Triangle Times". 7 out of 10

This time Sam & Max are investigating Ted E. Bear's Mafia Free Playland and Casino and trying to track down a mole who is working for the cops in secret, by using the phrase "Does the carpet match the drapes".  This is definitely the funniest episode so far, as it was hugely entertaining going around trying out the code phrase on everyone you meet, and the musical number that the creepy animatronic bear heads on the wall sing was great as well.  New characters this time around include Leonard Steakcharmer, a shady gambler to attempt to cheat Sam out of his tokens while playing Indian Poker, Chuckles, the second in command at the casino, and Ted E. Bear himself.  This time Sybil is a professional witness, preparing to testify against the Toy Mafia, who put a hit out on her.  Bosco is once again attempting to disguise himself by wearing a beret and affecting a bad French accent.  This was the briefest episode so far for me but also the best written.  8 out of 10

 

This was another great episode with another entertaining musical number part way through. This time, apparently the president of the United States has become a victim of hypnotism, but after further investigation, it is discovered he was a robot all along that was actually the one doing the hypnotising.  After the heroic duo have dealt with him, the chief of staff activates the Lincoln memorial, who it turns out is a huge stone robot.  An emergency election is called where Max stands as presidential candidate in opposition of robo-Lincoln, and it's your job to ensure he gets elected.  New characters this time around include Agent Superball, a member of the secret service who is always trying to deny you access from where you need to go, and the animatronic Abe Lincoln himself.  The Soda Poppers return, with Whizzer trying to start a campaign for the victims of Soda Abuse, and Specs and Peepers on the opposing sides of a civil war between North and South Dakota.  This time Sybil is running a dating agency, and Bosco has turned Russian.  8 out of 10

For me this was the best episode out of all of the first season.  It sees Sam & ; Max taking a trip into Reality 2.0 after acquiring some high tech goggles, and then attempting to prevent The Internet from enslaving the entire human race.  In this episode you will meet the C.O.P.S (Computer Obsolescence Prevention Society) who are a bunch of ageing machines attempting to preserve their usefulness.  They include an telephone, an classic 80's arcade machine that strongly resembles Sinistar (especially when he says "I hunger!"), an old timey computer, an Atari VCS and a printer / scanner.  Hugh Bliss reappears in virtual form as the Internet Wizard, who gives Sam & Max an important item for their quest.  Sybil is now a beta tester (at least until you come along and break her goggles, which incidentally how you obtain them in the first place), and Bosco has decided to be a half elf - for the shire!  This is definitely Telltale at its best.  9 out of 10

 

The final episode of the first season sees you visiting the moon as the title would suggest, in an attempt to stop the big bad's plan once and for all.  In case you haven't played the game yet and would like to, I am not going to reveal too much information about this one or I would spoil for you.  Overall I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the previous three episodes, but I would say it's on par with episodes one and two.  Pretty much all of the characters you've met over the course of the previous episodes come back in one way or another, and it all leads to a fairly satisfying climax. 7 out of 10
 

You will revisit certain locations, such as the office, multiple times throughout the season.

Graphics: 7 out of 10
The visuals of Sam & Max on the Wii are OK but definitely not the best I've ever seen by quite some margin.  There's also some really bad performance issues which I believe could have been sorted out if a bit more time was spent optimising the code.  With the Wii proving itself more than capable of running impressive software like the Super Mario Galaxy games or Xenoblade Chronicles, it should be able to run something as simple as a graphic adventure game without any difficulty, yet there are times where I encountered chronic slowdown with an absolutely abysmal frame rate.  Most episodes feature a rather ill advised and poorly implemented chase sequence in the Desoto, which is where the poor performance is most noticeable, although there were also a few moments in regular game play where the action slowed to a crawl and looked as if the game was about to crash at any moment.  It actually did lock up completely on me once.  The ugly looking background textures were a side effect of the episodes starting life as downloadable content on the Wii Shop, where they had to come in under a certain size.  If you play game on PC, it will look and perform a lot better.

Sound and Music: 8 out of 10
The voice work is really strong with a relatively small group of actors playing a whole bunch of different characters.  Bosco was definitely the highlight for me, with his British and Half Elven voices being extremely funny.  Hugh Bliss and the Soda Poppers could get irritating, though this is intentional.  Jared Emerson-Johnson has composed some great music for this series as well, from the main theme, the various background tunes and the musical numbers like the ones from The Mole, the Mob and the Meatball and Abe Lincoln Must Die!

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
Setting the technical performance of the game aside, graphic adventures like this actually work really well on the Wii thanks to the simple point and click interface.  You navigate around the different areas of the world, converse with the different characters to try and glean what you're supposed to be doing, pick up any objects you find and use them to progress through the story.  The episodic nature of the game means that there are never too many options available to you at once and though some puzzles will require a certain degree of thought with a bit of effort it should be possible for even genre newcomers to make progress.  These episodes are definitely on the easier end of the graphic adventure scale, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  They are meant to entertaining and completable within a few hours, not super challenging. 

 

On the set of Midtown Cowboys during Episode Two - Situation: Comedy.

Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
Telltale Games were the pioneers of the episodic adventure game, which have since become hugely popular and have seen other companies bring their own take on the genre into the market (such as Life is Strange and Blues & Bullets).  The Wii controller is also a perfect fit for this type of game, and Telltale were fairly big supporters of the system in the early days.  It's a shame that the third season of Sam & Max never came out for the Wii, but that's another review for a later time.

Value & Replayability: 6 out of 10
Copies of Sam & Max: Season One can be fairly easily obtained for about a fiver, and the game should take you about 12 hours to complete if you spend 2 hours on average on each episode.  I would say that's pretty decent value for money.  Whether you will ever replay the game again after the first time is questionable though.  I could potentially see myself playing through the episodes again in a few years time, although the plot is not in the same league as classics like The Secret of Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle.

Overall: 7 out of 10
Sam & Max: Season One is definitely worth playing.  If you have access to a PC though, I would definitely play it on there rather than the Wii as it will look nicer and not suffer the same embarrassing technical issues that are present on the Wii.  Having said that, for me personally it's still a nice game to have in my physical Wii collection as it is part of the diverse range of games that are available for the system.  Many people cannot look past the shovelware and see the quality titles underneath - whilst Sam & Max is not as polished as it could have been it is most definitely not shovelware and is still very entertaining despite its problems.  Hopefully Season Two will have ironed out the flaws - we will find out when I get around to playing it in a month or two!

The Secret of Monkey Island: Monkey Island Mondays #1

Welcome to the first edition of my new series, Monkey Island Mondays.  There will be five episodes in total, one for each of the first four games, and then a fifth covering the whole of the Telltale series, Tales of Monkey Island.  These are some of my favourite games ever, especially the first one, so I hope you enjoy taking a nostalgic look back at them.  Or perhaps you've never played them before? Then hopefully my videos will convince you to give them a try!

Part 1: The History of Monkey Island

The original version of The Secret of Monkey Island was released on the Commodore Amiga and PC in 1990, with an enhanced CD ROM version featuring much better music appearing in 1992. The project was the brainchild of Ron Gilbert, who started playing around with story ideas in 1988.  He first came up with a male and female villain, who eventually became LeChuck and Elaine - there was no Guybrush at this stage.  Gilbert pitched the idea of a series of pirate themed short stories to LucasArts, who liked the idea, but Gilbert was assigned to work on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Adventure which delayed the project.  That was completed in 1989, and he was finally free to work on his pirate game.

Working alongside Gilbert were Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, who as well as programming the game were also responsible for about two thirds of the dialogue. Steve Purcell was an artist on the game, while Michael Land and Patrick Mundy are credited with composing the fantastic soundtrack. Schafer, of course, went on create his own classic adventure games such as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango.  Grossman was one of the founders of the hugely successful Telltale Games, while Purcell created the Sam & Max comics and the Hit the Road adventure game that is also very fondly remembered.

What was the original inspiration for The Secret of Monkey Island?  The truth of the matter is a little hard to pin down:

Ron Giblert, from the Lucasfilm Adventurer, Fall 1990:
"I'd wanted to do a pirate game for a long time. You see, one of my favorite rides in Disneyland is Pirates of the Caribbean. You get on a little boat and it takes you through a pirate adventure, climaxing in a cannon fight between two big pirate ships. Your boat keeps you moving through the adventure, but I've always wished I could get off and wander around, learn more about the characters, and find a way onto those pirate ships."

From Grumpy Gamer, 2004:
"I was sorting through some boxes today and I came across my copy of Tim Power's On Stranger Tides, which I read in the late 80's and was the inspiration for Monkey Island.  Some people believe the inspiration for Monkey Island came from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride - probably because I said it several times during interviews - but that was really just for the ambiance.  If you read this book you can really see where Guybrush and LeChuck were -plagiarized- derived from, plus the heavy influence of voodoo in the game."

So it's fair to say that the truth is somewhere in the middle, you can definitely see elements of both in there.

In creating The Secret of Monkey Island, Ron Gilbert wanted to avoid certain aspects of adventure games that he found annoying and off putting.  These included cheap deaths, which were something that many of the Sierra games were guilty of, unclear objectives and non-linear game play.

"One of the things I did to make the story less linear was to add the three trials at the start of the game. You have to prove yourself as a pirate by completing these three tests, and you can do them in any order that you want. That was done on purpose, so that you don't have to finish trial one before you can try trial two. I think it's good design technique to have things as nonlinear as possible, but it does make the storytelling ten times as hard."

Gilbert wrote an article for The Journal of Computer Game Design detailing all his frustrations with the genre and how we would go about fixing them.  Most of these ideas informed the design for Monkey Island. The article can still be found online today, as is a fascinating read.  You can visit this page to read the article yourself.

Where did the name "Guybrush" come from?
For a long time during the games development, the main character didn't have a name.  Steve Purcell who had been working on the art for the character, saved the file as guy.brush and it stuck!

How was the game received?
The game garnered very positive feedback from various journalists of the time.  The attention to detail, artwork, puzzles and difficulty level we all praised.  They also invariably thought the dialogue was hilarious.  The only real criticism came from those who thought that the game was too expensive for the length of time it takes to complete, which was actually a fairly common complaint that people had from the adventure game genre.  They take a lot of work to make, and making a long adventure game is pretty difficult.

Nowadays, The Secret of Monkey Island frequently makes it into top games lists, and is very fondly remembered by a great many people.  I myself have named it as my favourite game of all time in the past, which is something I probably still agree with.  Regardless, it remains a title that I can come back to time and time again, and I cherish the time that I've spent with it.

The 2009 Special Edition looks great - you can read a full review later on in this article!

Part 2: Monkey Island Memories

There are loads of great moments in The Secret of Monkey Island.  I've decided to focus on just five, does your favourite make the cut?

5. Negotiating a better deal with Stan
This is actually one of the more annoying parts of the game, and it sticks in the memory for that reason! Stan is a used boat salesman, and has the pushy personality and penchance for patter that personifies that profession.  In order to get a good deal on a sea vessel, you need to go through the motions of listening to his pitch for all sorts of optional extras, haggle a bit, and then turn him down. Gradually you will wear him down to the point where you can actually afford to buy something (with some help from a credit note acquired through unconventional means from the storekeeper in town). Stan already came across as a smarmy individual in the original game, but the addition of voice work in the Special Edition puts the icing on the cake and really fits the character well.

4. The cannibals
After finally arriving on Monkey Island, you will start finding little notes left around the place between Herman Toothrot, a castaway who has gone a bit... strange, and a group of cannibals.  You might expect them to be fearsome, savage warriors, but they're actually quite friendly, and are currently watching their fat intake and eating mostly fruit.  They do lock you up, sure, but it's easy enough to escape - and if you give them a nice idol, they might help you get ahead!

3. The SCUMM bar and meeting the pirates
This is one of your first ports of call upon starting the game, and is full of colourful characters, from the pirate who will only respond with "Aye!" unless you ask him about Loom, Mancomb Seepgood, who pokes fun and your silly name, and the three pirate chiefs at the table who lay out your three tasks. When you talk to a lot of the characters in here, you are treated to a full hand drawn portrait of their face, which was mightily impressive upon the games release, and they still look pretty good now!

2. Stealing the Idol of Many Hands
Upon putting the deadly piranha poodles to sleep (no animals were harmed in the production of this game!), you are able to enter the governor's mansion and attempt to steal the Idol.  What plays out before your eyes is a truly bizarre scene, that pokes fun at how ridiculous some puzzles in adventure games had become by combining random objects like wax lips, a moose, angry midgets, and more!  It had been a while since I'd seen this part of the game and its daftness actually made me laugh out loud.

1. Insult sword fighting
This, for me is by far the most memorable part of the entire game.  In The Secret of Monkey Island, sword fighting is less about dexterity and fast reflexes and more about your rapier wit.  The aggressor will first toss out an insult, and then it's up to the defender to counter it with a sick burn.  If you choose the correct response, then you turn the tables on your opponent and get to choose the next insult, choose incorrectly and you will be on the back foot.  The thing is though, you won't know many insults or their responses to begin with, so you will need to go out and fight against random pirates to build up your repertoire.  The game will tell you when you probably know enough to be able to go up against the Swordmaster (10 - 12 should do it), though there is an achievement for learning all of them in the Special Edition.

The truly clever part is, when you finally do go and face the Swordmaster, all of her insults are different!  The responses you've learnt still work against them though, if you can figure out which goes with which. So not only is it an interesting and unique fighting mechanic, it's also a pretty clever puzzle!

What were your favourite Monkey Island Memories? Let me know by leaving a comment!

This image of the game in particular is really striking - I love the effect of the moonlight on the water!

Part 3: Special Edition review
In 2009, LucasArts released a Special Edition of The Secret of Monkey Island.  It featured completely redrawn graphics in HD and widescreen, full voice work including long standing cast members Dominic Armato as Guybrush and Earl Boen as LeChuck, and fully orchestrated music. Do these changes add or detract from the experience, and is the game underneath still enjoyable?  That's what we're about to find out!

Plot and Character: 9 out of 10
Aside from the game play and puzzles, this is the major factor that makes The Secret of Monkey Island so special.  The game is full of great characters, from the main ones like Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck, to the supporting cast including the men of low moral fibre (pirates) and their pet rat, Otis the prisoner, the cannibals, Stan, the shopkeeper and Herman Toothrot.  The passion that Guybrush shows toward wanting to be a pirate is infectious, and you will want to help him get there.

Graphics: 8 out of 10
For the most part, I really like the new artwork from the Special Edition version of the game.  The moonlight over the docks near the SCUMM Bar is particularly beautiful.  The one aspect of the visuals that I'm not that keen on is the style of the characters, and in particular the large portraits that you see when talking to people like the pirates in the bar, or the sword master.  This is really a matter of personal taste, but I prefer the more realistic style that was used in the original version of the game, compared to the more angular, abstract approach that has been taken with the redesign. Of course, you can actually switch between the new graphics and the original graphics on the fly, so if you do prefer one over the other, you can take your pick.

Seeing favourite scenes in lovely crisp HD is qute a treat.

Sound and Music: 9 out of 10
LucasArts managed to get the voice actors who first appeared in Curse of Monkey Island to reprise their roles for these Special Edition releases, which is great news.  Earl Boen, who plays LeChuck, may also be familiar to you as Doctor Silverman from the first three Terminator films.  While the voice acting is solid across the board, I think his is the stand out performance - it's apparent that he really has fun in this role.

I also really like the remastered music.  I'm not sure I prefer it to the original MIDI tunes, or to the music that was used for the CD ROM version.  It's all good.  The iMUSE system that dynamically changes the music based on where you area and who you're talking to wasn't introduced until Monkey Island 2 - I am looking forward to hearing how the new music works with that system though, in particular the Woodtick theme.

Game Mechanics: 9 out of 10
The writing is so well done and so funny, that you will always want to exhaust every possible dialogue tree to see where the conversation goes.  That there is no penalty for doing so is a master stroke - at worst the conversation will be ended and you will just have to speak to the person again.  There is no death or risk of permanent failure, which frees you up to just experiment and have fun.

The puzzles also have a degree of logic to them that wasn't always present in other games of the genre (much as I love the Discworld games, some of things were expected to do in those games were more than a little absurd).  There is nothing that you can't figure out in this game if you really think hard enough, and thoroughly check each area to make sure you aren't missing any important items.

Innovation and Cleverness: 9 out of 10
OK, so Monkey Island wasn't the first point and click adventure game, but it is an incredibly influential one.  The game scores major innovation points just for the introduction of the insult sword fighting alone - not only is it a clever way to do combat in a puzzle and plot centric game, it's also a lot of fun.  If you read Ron Gilbert's "Why Adventure Games Suck" article then you will see the amount of thought that went into tackling the known issues of the genre, such as rewarding players with new characters, areas or story for successfully completing a puzzle, or sequence of puzzles.

The game is full of great, memorable characters - including the cannibals!

Value and Replayability: 7 out of 10
The Secret of Monkey Island is actually a pretty short game, especially if you already know what you're doing.  You can breeze through the whole thing in about six hours if you're familiar with the puzzles and can remember the fine details.  If it's your first time, or it's been so long you just can't remember everything, then it will take a little bit longer.  Don't worry about getting completely stuck though, the game has a pretty good hint system built in.  As for price, as this was initially a digital release you can find it nice and cheap, either via PSN, Xbox Live or Steam, or on a physical disc bundled alongside Monkey Island 2.

Overall: 9 out of 10
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a superb version of an all-time classic game.  There are a few very minor things that I would have done differently, granted, but still this is a great package.  It's a shame that it didn't occur to LucasArts to add a commentary mode until Monkey Island 2, as I would have loved to play along with the game that started it all and hear what Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and others think about it nowadays.  Regardless, this Special Edition should be in every fans collection.

That brings us to the end of the first edition of Monkey Island Mondays then - I really hope you enjoyed it.  This really is one of my favourite games of all time, so I want to do it justice.  Next time, I'll be giving Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge the same treatment.  Not sure exactly when that will be yet, because I need to play through the Special Edition, do my research and come up with a script, but I will try not to leave it too long.  In the meantime, take care!

Shadow of the Colossus | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #13

Sorry for the belated post - this should have gone up last Tuesday.  As a result you will be getting a double dose this week!

Shadow of the Colossus is the follow up to Ico, a much beloved action adventure title that was first released in Europe in 2002, and then reprinted in 2006 due to demand from those who had heard of the game but not had a chance to pick it up.  I bought Ico the first time around, and I really tried to like it, but it just didn't grab me.  There was something about the gameplay that I just found annoying.  Since then I have tried again several times yet failed to finish the game each time - with the most recent attempt being a few months ago.  I had originally intended that Ico would be the first episode of PS2 Tuesdays season 2, but after putting the controller down in frustration once again, I finally made peace with the fact that I would never beat it, and I should just focus on enjoying the infitely more enjoyable Colossus.

I also bought Shadow of the Colossus on the day of its release in 2006, and this time fell in love with the game almost immediately.  I had already been smitted by the concept of battling one humungous boss creature after another after reading an article in Edge, when the game was still known as Wanda and the Colossus, and after that I followed the project with great interest until the game finally became available.  I can still vividly remember setting out from the temple for the very first time, using my sword to reveal the location of the beast, and then climbing a small cliff where the creature was to be found.  Battling this behemoth was quite clumsy to begin with, as I had to get to grips with switching between my bow and my sword, and the rather unorthodox grip mechanic.

Each of the 16 colossi that your main character has to slay have rather convenient tufts of hair and other bony ridges that you can hang onto or lodge yourself in while taking a quick breather.  It's up to you to navigate their bodies and locate a weak spot, which is denoted by a glowing runic symbol if you have your magic sword in your hand.  Some of the colossi have multiple weak spots, others just have one (usually on their forehead) and battles usually comprise of two stages, at least for me.  The first is simply working out how to get onto the boss - a fairly simple process for the first few battles but a increasingly complex procedure when your adversaries can fly, swim or are covered in tough armour plating.  A few violent stabs with your sword will wittle down their health bar, whereupon the weak spot either fades away and you must find another one, or you have slain the monster.

But just who is the real monster of the game?  These lumbering creatures that your bringing down don't seem to be doing anybody any harm until you come along at the behest of some disambodied voice.  It is clear that you are killing in the name of love, as the opening cut scene shows your character on his horse with the lifeless body of a girl draped across it.  Whether this is your lover or your sister isn't made clear.  There is a legend that this part of the world holds the secret to bring the deceased back to life, and the gentle giants that populate the landscape must pay the ultimate price.  The dark tentacles that writhe out of their fallen forms and shoot into your chest each time you bring one down suggest that you may also pay a steep price, however.

Shadow of the Colossus features an amazing soundtrack, and visuals that still look great to this day.  The original PS2 version did have quite noticeable slowdown at times, something which the HD rerelease has addressed, making it the utlimate version of the game. Team Ico have teased us for years with trailers and screen shots for The Last Guardian, the planned third part of the "Ico trilogy", yet it still hasn't been released, and Sony are still adamant that it hasn't been cancelled.  Let's hope it finally makes its way onto the PS4 in the near future, as what has been shown off looks fantastic!